Post-war Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

TY - CHAP

T1 - Post-war Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

AU - Berdal, Mats

AU - Collantes-Celador, Gemma

AU - Buzadzic, Merima Zupcevic

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The levels and intensity of violence in Bosnia following the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in December 1995 present an encouraging exception to the patterns of violence observed in many of the other post-conflict settings examined in this volume.1 The suggestion here is emphatically not that post-war Bosnia has been spared ‘post-conflict’ violence. Indeed, violence was very much part of the early post-war landscape, especially so in the period between late 1995 and 1998. The overall picture nonetheless compares favourably to other cases of war-to-peace transitions where civil wars were also brought to a formal end through a negotiated settlement. This requires explanation. After all, from the vantage point of late 1995 there were good grounds for expecting a ‘violent peace’ in Bosnia, the most diverse and delicately balanced of the former Yugoslav republics in terms of ethnicity. And there were certainly warnings to that effect from thoughtful and perceptive observers. Writing in May 1996 Susan Woodward concluded:The anarchy, chaos, and marauding by ex-soldiers and police that accompanied the transfer of Serb areas of Sarajevo [February-March 1996] will not be an isolated case. The conditions for a general breakdown in order as soldiers are sent home without jobs, politicians are preoccupied with elections, the trauma of war begins to be felt, and the resources for economic reconstruction are slow in coming will surely increase.

AB - The levels and intensity of violence in Bosnia following the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in December 1995 present an encouraging exception to the patterns of violence observed in many of the other post-conflict settings examined in this volume.1 The suggestion here is emphatically not that post-war Bosnia has been spared ‘post-conflict’ violence. Indeed, violence was very much part of the early post-war landscape, especially so in the period between late 1995 and 1998. The overall picture nonetheless compares favourably to other cases of war-to-peace transitions where civil wars were also brought to a formal end through a negotiated settlement. This requires explanation. After all, from the vantage point of late 1995 there were good grounds for expecting a ‘violent peace’ in Bosnia, the most diverse and delicately balanced of the former Yugoslav republics in terms of ethnicity. And there were certainly warnings to that effect from thoughtful and perceptive observers. Writing in May 1996 Susan Woodward concluded:The anarchy, chaos, and marauding by ex-soldiers and police that accompanied the transfer of Serb areas of Sarajevo [February-March 1996] will not be an isolated case. The conditions for a general breakdown in order as soldiers are sent home without jobs, politicians are preoccupied with elections, the trauma of war begins to be felt, and the resources for economic reconstruction are slow in coming will surely increase.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84920903941&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9780203808924

DO - 10.4324/9780203808924

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9780415609326

T3 - Studies in Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding

SP - 75

EP - 94

BT - Peace in between

A2 - Berdal, Mats R.

A2 - Suhrke, Astri

PB - Routledge

CY - London

ER -