Nationbuilding as an Instrument of Peace? Exploring Local Attitudes towards International Nationbuilding and Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Building a durable peace by means of external nationbuilding can be a cumbersome and uncertain exercise. The outcome often hinges on the attitudes of the local population and elites and their willingness to endorse the process. This article scrutinises the attitudes of the recipient population and political elites towards different aspects of the external nationbuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It addresses the problems of state identity, reconciliation and democratisation in an externally administered nationbuilding endeavour. The empirical findings from Bosnia and Herzegovina are used to illustrate the degree to which external nationbuilding can lay the infrastructure for a durable peace in the aftermath of ethnic war.