From Peacekeeper to Norm-Producer: A History of the Challenging European Involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina

What this proposal attempts to demonstrate is the unique and shifting nature of European involvement in the Western Balkans. The first move of the European Community (EC) towards Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was the attempted preservation of peace as the dissolution of Yugoslavia was leading the country into war. However, the inability of the EC to prevent  the conflict showed its unpreparedness to take on the role of peacekeeper. The EC was replaced in its role by the US and other global powers, and BiH remained a failure of the EC’s foreign policy.

Fifteen years later, a policy shift has been enacted and the European Union (EU) has become the most active external actor in BiH. It aims for the sustainability of the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA) signed in 1995 and first implemented by NATO. Moreover, the process of European integration has helped to stimulate reforms that were necessary to fully implement the peace process. As a result, the EU has become a norm producer, and seems to be leading the fragile country towards sustainability.

The historical process that changed the role of the failed peacekeeper into a real, though not always effective, state-builder, as well as the mechanisms implemented to achieve this new function, are at the centre of our contribution. Studying such a process and mechanisms will lead to a better understanding of the transformation of European expansion, now that it is directed towards the other post-war countries born from the collapse of the former Yugoslavia.