Nine years after the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by NATO troops, the movement toward authentic constitutional government has been…well, read for yourself.
(It’s true that the war ended — nine years ago, but we’re still waiting for a viable constitutional government that is not subject to the suzerainty of the European Union.)
Is this another case of Cato hates NATO?
Anyway, I have the feeling, this one calls for an answer.
Yes, there is a problem in Bosnia:
Apart from the ethnic /religious issues there are: Major brain drain, a weak political elite, no grassroot democracy, no sufficient culture of parliamentarism, mafia structures, a certain lethargy and an underdeveloped economy. Now, we could argue why no economic “take off” has taken place but it is certainly not the fault of the Alliance… which leads us to question the role of the EU re: nation-building. I agree with you, to this date, it is a fiasco. If the EU put at least as much energy into supporting the few Bosnian Democrats as they put into supporting the corrupt Palestinian Authorities…Bosnia would have overcome all the problems listed above long ago.
Now, concretely, what would you do if you were P. Ashdown, with the Bosnian Serbs protecting Mladic and Karadcic and a country not cooperating AT ALL?
So, let us hear your views on the question… Ground control to Major Tom! any suggestion?
NV
Nathalie poses a good question at the end, to which I’ll respond first.
I think it quite likely that, were I the imperial Proconsul of Bosnia, I would do what Paddy Ashdown has done. My point was that Bosnia shows virtually no signs of achieving independence. Few institutions, other than the monetary authority (basically a currency board, if I understand it correctly) are functioning and there’s almost no economy.
But I do recall being told many years ago, under President….um…uh…Clinton!…. that U.S. troops would be there for six months.
The occupation did help to put an end to a series of wars that were partly exacerbated (although not caused) by the intervention of the European and American powers, when they rejected first the partition of Yugoslavia and then the partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina. In each case, horrible fighting and mass murder was initiated in order to “cleanse” areas of members of unwanted ethnic groups. Having made things worse, the European and American governments then occupied the country (and attacked Serbia over the Kosovo issue), but have made little progress toward constitutional government that could keep the peace when foreign forces are removed. That is not, pace claims made by enthusiasts for “nation building” through humanitarian intervention, a success story.