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European Centre for Research on Federalism, Tuebingen/Germany

Yearbook on Federalism 2006

Europäische Länderberichte [European country reports]

Von Dayton nach Brüssel Bosnien und Herzegowina auf dem Wege staatlicher und europäischer Integration

Alexander M. Rehs

pp. 430-444

On november 21, 2005, the tenth anniversary of the Dayton Agreement, the Foreign Ministers of the European Union have finally decided to open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina on the conclusion of a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). This is an important step of Bosnia's ongoing EU-member-state-building process. However, trying to assess the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one has to keep in mind that the country presently has to grapple with two overlapping processes of political transformation. On the one hand, the European Union has unequivocally underlined its intention to integrate the countries of the Western Balkans into its framework, at least in the long term. On the other hand, the process of nation-building, i. e. the rebuilding and development of viable state structures after the collapse of state and society during the war, is not yet completed, which is evidenced by the continued presence and authoritarian rule of the international civil administration and the international military stabilization forces. On its journey from Dayton to Brussels Bosnia and Herzegovina now stands at the crossroads and faces complex questions to answer: Is the country able to develop into a fully self-supporting multi-ethnic federal state by reforming its complicated constitutional system, or will it continue to appear as an artificial union of two politically and ethnically separated entities created by international law, prevented from breaking apart by international administrators and dependent on international financial support? Which steps of constitutional reform seem necessary and politically feasible with regard to EU-integration? What will be the role of the organs of the international community still present in the country on Bosnia's envisaged way to full EU-membership? The article deals with these central questions that are on top of the political agenda today and tries to give a realistic prognosis of the near future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Suggested citation for this article:
Rehs, Alexander M. 2006: Von Dayton nach Brüssel Bosnien und Herzegowina auf dem Wege staatlicher und europäischer Integration, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (ed.): Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2006. Föderalismus, Subsidiarität und Regionen in Europa, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, p. 430-444.