Bosnia's third space? Nationalist separatism and international supervision in Bosnia's Brǎko District

Geopolitics

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 651-675

  Dahlman, Carl ^a   Ó Tuathail, Gearóid ^b  

^a MIAMI UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GEOPOLITICS; NATIONALISM; STRATEGIC APPROACH; TERRITORIAL DISPUTE; WAR;

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA; EURASIA; EUROPE; SOUTHERN EUROPE;

EID: 33747786012     PISSN: 14650045     EISSN: 15573028     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14650040600891063     Document Type: Article

References (110)

1. C. M. Hann, (ed.), Postsocialism: Ideals, ideologies and practices in Eurasia (New York: Routledge 2002).
2. V. Kolossov and J. O'Loughlin, 'Pseudo-states as Harbingers of a New Geopolitics: The Example the Trans-Dniester Moldovan Republic (TMR)', Geopolitics 3 (1999).
3. R. Caplan, A New Trusteeship? The International Administration of War-torn Territories (New York: Oxford University Press 2002) pp. 14-17.
4. G. Ó Tuathail and T. Luke, 'The Fraying Modern Map: Failed States and Contraband Capitalism', Geopolitics 3/3 (1998)
5. C. Nordstrom, 'Shadows and Sovereigns', Theory, Culture and Society 17/4 2000).
6. One could argue that Iraqi Kurdistan and Afghanistan under the Taliban were already territorial creations of the international community. M. Ottaway, 'Rebuilding State Institutions in Collapsed States', Development and Change 33/5 (2002)
7. R. MacGinty, 'The Pre-war Reconstruction of Post-war Iraq', Third World Quarterly - Journal of Emerging Areas 24/4 (2003)
8. A. Etzioni, 'A Self-Restrained Approach to Nation-Building by Foreign Powers', International Affairs 80/1 (2004)
9. F. Fukuyama, State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2004)
10. R. Paris, War's End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict (New York: Cambridge University Press 2004).
11. R. Mahmutćehajić, The Denial of Bosnia (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press 2000)
12. I. Lovrenović, Bosnia: A Cultural History (New York: New York University Press 2001).
13. N. Andjelic, Bosnia-Herzegovina: The End of the Legacy (Portland, OR: Frank Cass 2003).
14. The opština (plural opštine) was key to Yugoslavia's system of local self-management and is sometimes translated as 'municipality' or 'county.'
15. G. Ó Tuathail and C. Dahlman, 'The Clash of Governmentalities: Displacement and Return in Bosnia-Herzegovina.' in W. Walter and W. Larner (eds.), Global Governmentalities: Governing International Spaces (London: Routledge 2004).
16. R. J. Donia, The Assembly of Republika Srpska, 1992-95: Highlights and Excerpts (The Hague: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia 29 July 2003) p. 170.
17. Andjelic (note 7)
18. P. Andreas, 'The Clandestine Political Economy of War and Peace in Bosnia', International Studies Quarterly 48/1 (2004).
19. C. Dahlman and G. Ó Tuathail, 'The Legacy of Ethnic Cleansing: The International Community and the Returns Process in Post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina', Political Geography 24/5 (2005).
20. Speech by Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, 21 Nov. 2005.
21. A positive peace is marked by a sociality that moves beyond the mere cessation of violence through reconciliation and more just institutions.
22. H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell 1991)
23. E. Soja, Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places (Malden, MA: Blackwell 1996).
24. Fieldwork was conducted at various times from 2000 to 2005, focusing on Brčko during June and July 2002, during which time the authors conducted interviews with local authorities, displaced persons and international officers working in Brčko, Sarajevo and Banja Luka.
25. In Bosnia, the term Muslim denotes a nominal cultural identification regardless of religiosity and has been replaced by the term Bosniak since the war.
26. For a general discussion of the Serb war plan and a first-hand account of the war see J. Divjak, 'The First Phase, 1992-1993: Struggle for Survival and Genesis of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina', in B. Magaš and I. Zanic (eds.), The War in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina 1991-1995 (London: Frank Cass 2001)
27. R. Mahmutćehajić, 'The Road to War', in B. Magaš and I. Zanic (eds.), The War in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina 1991-1995 (London: Frank Cass 2001).
28. Donia (note 10).
29. The JNA was the army of the entire Yugoslavia and military service was compulsory. JNA officers were predominantly Serbs loyal to Belgrade as were many of the units in Bosnia.
30. United Nations Commission of Experts, Final report of the United Nations Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780, Annex VIII Prison Camps (New York: United Nations 27 May 1994).
31. The war began with the JNA fighting alongside Serb territorial defense units and Serb police that together became the VRS (Vojska Republika Srpska or Bosnian Serb Army) by late May 1992.
32. United Nations Commission of Experts, Final report of the United Nations Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780, Annex IV The Policy of Ethnic Cleansing (New York: United Nations 28 December 1994).
33. Two individuals have been convicted of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague for their involvement in the Luka prison camp, Jelisic (IT-95-10) and Cesic (IT-95-10/1). See also C. Dahlman, 'Geographies of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: The Lessons of Bosnia-Herzegovina', in C. Flint (ed.), The Geography of War and Peace (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2004).
34. On displaced persons see UNHCR, Update on Conditions for Return to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees January 2005). The commonly cited number of 200,000 war deaths was produced by the UN Commission of Experts at the end of the war. Other sources have used estimates as low as 25,000 and as high as 329,000. Obvious problems with reliable death records and different techniques for estimating "war-related deaths" have combined with politically motivated agendas to increase uncertainty over this figure.
35. While an ICTY researcher has produced a new minimum figure of 102,622 war-related deaths, this, too, is based upon incomplete data. See E. Tabeau and J. Bijak, 'War-related deaths in the 1992-1995 Armed Conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina: A Critique of Previous Estimates and Recent Results', European Journal of Population 21/2-3 (2005).
36. For background on the political lives of demographic numbers in the former Yugoslavia, see D. B. MacDonald, Balkan Holocausts? Serbian and Croatian Victim-centered Propaganda and the War in Yugoslavia (New York: Manchester University Press 2002).
37. Interview with W. Quayle, OHR-North, Brčko, 19 June 2002. Interview with M. Dakić, displaced person association representative for Serbs from Jajce living in Brčko, Brxko, 27 June 2002.
38. BiHMAC, Mine Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Year 2003 (Sarajevo: BiH Mine Action Centre 2003).
39. IMG, War-Damaged Residential Buildings & Status on Repair/Reconstruction and Funding Requirement (Sarajevo: International Management Group 31 October 1999).
40. SCGFWC, Bulletin No. 1 Destruction of Religious Objects (Sarajevo: State Commission for Gathering Facts on War Crimes in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina October 1992)
41. SCGFWC, Bulletin No. 2 Documents and Facts: Destruction of Sacred Complexes (Sarajevo: State Commission for Gathering Facts on War Crimes in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina February 1993)
42. SCGFWC, Bulletin No. 3 Documents and Facts: Destruction of Sacred Complexes (State Commission for Gathering Facts on War Crimes in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo: March 1993)
43. SCGFWC, Bulletin No. 5 Documents and Facts: Destruction of Sacred Complexes (III) (Sarajevo: State Commission for Gathering Facts on War Crimes in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina August 1993).
44. These parties, along with the Croat HDZ, prosecuted the war in Bosnia and became the dominant political powers in the territories granted them at Dayton.
45. The machinations of the arbitration are important to understanding the path to Brcko's eventual District status but are beyond the scope of this study. See ICG, Brcko Arbitration: Proposal for peace (Sarajevo: International Crisis Group 20 January 1997)
46. ICG, Brcko: What Bosnia Could Be (Sarajevo: International Crisis Group 10 February 1998)
47. ICG, Brcko: A Comprehensive Solution (Sarajevo: International Crisis Group 8 February 1999)
48. ICG, Bosnia's Brcko: Getting In, Getting On and Getting Out (Sarajevo: International Crisis Group 2 June 2003).
49. P. C. Farrand, 'Lessons from Brcko: Necessary Components for Future Internationally Supervised Territories', Emory International Law Review 15/2 (Fall 2001) pp. 542-544.
50. Voter fraud was common throughout Bosnia in 1996 and compounded by the international community policy to allow persons to register to vote in districts where they were not living but intended to. Nationalist parties exploited this provision, pressuring individuals to vote where it would make the most electoral or symbolic impact. D. Barnett, 'Brcko Vote Crucial in Bosnian Elections', Agence France Presse (5 September 1996)
51. H. Griffiths, The Dynamics of Multi-National Intervention Brcko under International Supervision. (Amsterdam: Research Centre for International Political Economy, University of Amsterdam)
52. ICG, Bosnia's Brcko: Getting in, getting on and getting out (note 31)
53. A. Jeffrey, 'Building State Capacity in Post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Case of Brcko', Political Geography forthcoming (2006).
54. Brcko Arbitral Tribunal, Preliminary Award (Rome: Brcko Arbitral Tribunal for Dispute Over the Inter-Entity Boundary in Brcko Area 14 February 1997).
55. Among displaced Serbs living in Brčko whom we interviewed, the Tribunal's decision was seen at the time as acknowledgment of the war-time property laws on 'abandoned property' in the RS, thus seeming to justify what was actually illegal occupation of others' property.
56. Interview with M. Maturo, former OHR-Doboj field officer, Tuzla, 9 July 2002. SFOR was the continuation of NATO's IFOR mission at the end of 1996.
57. ESI, From Dayton to Europe Land, Development and the Future of Democratic Planning (Sarajevo: European Stability Initiative, Berlin 12 December 2002) pp. 9-10.
58. Interview with W. Quayle, OHR-North, Brčko, 19 June 2002. Bosniak and Croat returns to RS Brčko whom we interviewed also described intimidation and occasional violence in the course of their returns.
59. ICG, Going Nowhere Fast: Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo: International Crisis Group 1 May 1997) p. 19.
60. Dahlman and Ó Tuathail, 'The Legacy of Ethnic Cleansing' (note 12).
61. ESI (note 37) pp. 14-15.
62. C. Stephan, 'Bosnian Serbs Win Key Town of Brcko, Moslems Win Mostar', Agence France Presse (Sep. 1 1997).
63. For more on voter fraud in Brčko see Griffiths (note 33) pp. 62-84.
64. Supervisor for Brcko, Order on Multi-Ethnic Adminstration in the RS Municipality of Brcko. (Brcko: OHR-Brcko 10 October 1997).
65. W. Sommers, 'Brcko District: Experiment to Experience', paper presented at 10th NISPAcee Annual Conference, "Delivering Public Services in CEE Countries: Trends and Developments," Krakow, Poland, 25-27 April 2002, p. 10.
66. Bosnian Croat returns in Bosnia are the weakest among the ethnic groups. In many ways, the number of Bosnian Croats living in Bosnia appears to be shrinking and may account for less than 10% of the population in the next census.
67. Interview with W. Quayle and K. Del Lange, OHR-North, Brčko, 19 and 27 June 2002.
68. Brcko Arbitral Tribunal, Supplemental Award (Vienna: Brcko Arbitral Tribunal for Dispute Over the Inter-Entity Boundary in Brcko Area 15 March 1998).
69. The Sarajevo Declaration of 3 Feb. 1998 was meant to reaffirm the commitment by Sarajevo's local Bosniak administration to minority returns though obstruction continued for years.
70. Brcko Arbitral Tribunal, Supplemental Award (note 48) pp. 1-3.
71. The term 'third entity' has been used to describe the Brčko District but it has been used separately by Bosnian Croats who sought an entity of their own, Herzeg-Bosna, during and after Dayton.
72. Brcko Arbitral Tribunal, Final Award (Vienna: Brcko Arbitral Tribunal for Dispute Over the Inter-Entity Boundary in Brcko Area 5 March 1999) para. 16.
73. Ibid., pp. 10-11, para. 18-21.
74. Ibid., pp. 7-8, para. 5.
75. Ibid., pp. 14-15, para. 36.
76. Farrand (note 32) pp. 551-552.
77. M. G. Karnavas, 'Creating the Legal Framework of the Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Model for the Region and Other Postconflict Countries', The American Journal of International Law 97/1 (January 2003) p. 114.
78. Brcko Arbitral Tribunal, Final Award (note 52) p. 21, para. 67.
79. Ibid., p. 9, para. 11.
80. Interview with W. Blatter, UNHCR Southeast Europe Head of Mission, Sarajevo, 4 July 2002. Data provided by UNHCR, Displaced Person Re-registration Exercise (Sarajevo: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees July 2000).
81. A small number of persons (333 mostly Bosniaks and Croats) displaced from other areas of the RS were residing in the Federation part of Brxko in 2000.
82. UNHCR, Displaced Person Re-registration Exercise (note 60).
83. Interview with Y. Ishihi, UNHCR, Tuzla, 11 March 2004.
84. UNHCR, Report by Statement of Return, Report A3a (Sarajevo: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the Chief of Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina 29 November 2001).
85. Interview with M. Dakić (note 26).
86. Interviews with B. Čavara, Mayor of Jajce Opština, and with Jajce housing office staff, Jajce, 16 July 2002.
87. M. Garlick, 'Protection for Property Rights: A Partial Solution? The Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees (CRPC) in Bosnia and Herzegovina', Refugee Survey Quarterly 19/3 (2000)
88. C. Dahlman and G. Ó Tuathail, 'Broken Bosnia: The Localized Geopolitics of Displacement and Return in Two Bosnian Places', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95/3 (2005).
89. Interview with W. Quayle (note 26)
90. Interview with Bukvik MZ officers, Brčko, June 27, 2002.
91. UNHCR, UNHCR's Position on Categories of Persons from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Continued Need of International Protection (Sarajevo: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees September 2001) pp. 2-3.
92. Supervisor of Brcko, Report From the Supervisor of Brcko to the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board on the Progress Of Implementation of the Final Award of the International Arbitral Tribunal for Brcko, 8 March 2003-8 March 2004 (Brcko: Supervisor of Brcko 8 March 2004).
93. Interview with M. McMinn, OHR, Zvornik, 15 March 2004
94. UNHCR, Survey on Displaced Persons in Tuzla Canton from the Podrinje Area, Eastern Republika Srpska (Tuzla: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2003).
95. G. Ó Tuathail and C. Dahlman, 'The Effort to Reverse Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Limits of Returns', Eurasian Geogaphy and Economics 45/6 (2004).
96. Report of the cemetery desecration from OHR Media Roundup, 13 Feb. 2005; war crimes from OHR Media Roundup, 21-22 Aug. 2005, available at http://www.ohr.int.
97. Brcko Arbitral Tribunal, Final Award (note 52).
98. World Bank, Local Level Institutions and Social Capital Study (Washington, DC: World Bank, ECSSD June 2002) pp. 29, 40-41.
99. Interview with W. Quayle and K. Del Lange, OHR-North, Brčko, 19 and 27 June 2002. The OHR staff later recognised the importance of MZs, which the Supervisor planned to implement in 2004-2005 through a law on local government.
100. OHR, Economy Fact Sheet (Brcko: Office of the High Representative 10 December 2002)
101. United Nations Development Programme, Early Warning System, Quarterly Report, January-March 2003 (Sarajevo: United Nations Development Programme 2003).
102. J. Dobbins, J. G. McGinn, et al., America's Role in Nation-Building From Germany to Iraq (Santa Monica, CA: RAND 2003)
103. United Nations Development Programme, International Assistance to BiH, 1996-2002: A Tentative Analysis of Who is Doing What, Where (Sarajevo: United Nations Development Programme 2003).
104. Due to the lack of signage and difficulty with the local language, American IFOR troops gave roads familiar names.
105. B. Feit and M. Morfit, A Neutral Space: The Arizona Market as an Engine of Peace and a New Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Prepared for the USAID DG Partners Conference (Development Alternatives, Bethesda, MD: December 2002).
106. These problems were finally addressed in 2000, after it was revealed that members of the International Police Task Force and SFOR were involved in human trafficking and prostitution.
107. Many of the traders were from neighbouring countries and as far away as Hungary, Turkey and Romania.
108. Nordstrom (note 4)
109. Paris (note 5).
110. Personal communication with Larisa Jašarević and from portions of her unpublished master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago.