Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T11:12:02.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Facing institutional change in Mostar: a litmus test for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Aleksandra Zdeb
Aleksandra Zdeb*
Affiliation:
Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
*
∗Email: aleksandra.zdeb@uj.edu.pl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The reconstruction of Mostar could have been a symbol of renewed multiethnic coexistence. Instead, it has become a synonym for failed institutions and divisions, mirroring the difficulties of the whole country. While imposition of both the 1996 and 2004 statutes establishing the city's administrative units was connected with crisis, the city has also faced two major deadlocks, in 2008–2009 and 2012. In the first, a solution was imposed by the international community's High Representative (HR). But the second remains unresolved, as the HR resists intervening. The aim of the paper is to analyze these impasses – moments when institutional change should have occurred, but for some reason did not. Even the solutions – acts of external imposition – might be treated at best as institutional pseudo-change that shows that imposed institutions have a particular inertia that resists change. The topic will be presented from the perspective of historical institutionalism, with special emphasis on the path-dependency approach, which refers here not only to the formal institutional structure of the city, but also to the decision-making processes in the moments of stalemate.

Keywords

Bosnia and HerzegovinaMostarpath dependencyinstitutional change
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 96 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Jazeera, Al. 2012. “Mostar, grad ‘poseban slučaj.”’ February 25. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/mostar-grad-poseban-slucaj.Google Scholar
Ambrosio, Thomas. 1996. “The FBiH: A Failure of Implementation.” In State and Nation Building in East and Central Europe. Contemporary Perspective, edited by Micgiel, John S., 225–241. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Ashdown, Paddy. 2007. Swords and Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st Century. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google Scholar
Balkan Insight. 2009. “Distressed Bosnians Suggest Donkey for Mayor.” March 16. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/distressed-bosnians-suggest-donkey-for-mayor.Google Scholar
Beall, Jo, Crankshaw, Owen, and Parnell, Susan. 2002. Uniting a Divided City: Governance and Social Exclusion in Johannesburg. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Behram, Mirsad. 2012a. “Izbora neće biti, politika i dalje vlada Mostarom.” Radio Slobodna Evropa, October 4. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/politika-ponovo-prevladala-mostar-ostao-bez-izbora/24729344.html.Google Scholar
Behram, Mirsad. 2012b. “Mostar – grad u ‘praznom prostoru.”’ Radio Slobodna Evropa, November 5. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/mostar-grad-u-praznom-prostoru/24761186.html.Google Scholar
Behram, Mirsad. 2013. “Devet godina Statuta: Mostar još više podijeljen?” Radio Slobodna Evropa, March 13. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/mostar-devet-godina-od-statuta-grad-podijeljeniji-ili-ne/24930047.html.Google Scholar
Belloni, Roberto. 2007. State Building and International Intervention in Bosnia. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Belloni, Roberto. 2013. “Bosnia: Building States Without Societies? NGOs and Civil Society.” In Routledge Handbook of International Statebuilding, edited by Chandler, David and Sisk, Timothy D., 281–292. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bevanda, Slađan. 2014. Interview – HDZ Mostar.Google Scholar
Bieber, Florian 2005. “Local Institutional Engineering: A Tale of Two Cities, Mostar and Brčko.” International Peacekeeping 12 (3): 420–433.Google Scholar
“BiH na probi u Mostaru.” 2004. Hercegovačke novine. February 16 (36).Google Scholar
Bljesak. 2014. “SDA: Mostar mora biti poseban.” June 10. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.bljesak.info/rubrika/vijesti/clanak/sda-mostar-mora-biti-poseban/87732.Google Scholar
Bollens, Scott A. 2013. “Governing Polarized Cities.” In Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places, edited by McEvoy, Joanne and O'leary, Brendan, 327–363. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Bose, Sumantra. 2002. Bosnia after Dayton. Nationalist Partition and International Intervention. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, John L. 2010. “Institutional Reproduction and Change.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis, edited by Morgan, Glenn, Campbell, John L., Crouch, Colin, Pedersen, Ove K., and Whitley, Richard, 87–115. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chandler, David. 2000. Bosnia. Faking Democracy after Dayton. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Chesterman, Simon. 2005. You, the People: The United Nations, Transitional Administration, and State-Building. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Collier, Ruth Berins, and Collier, David. 1991. Shaping the Political Arena. Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement, and Regime Dynamics in Latin America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
“Commitment to Participate in Deciding on the Future of the City of Mostar.” 2003. In Recommendations of the Commission for Reforming the City of Mostar. Report of the Chairman. December 15.Google Scholar
Ćurak, Nerzuk, and Turcalo, Sead. 2012. “Bosnia and Herzegovina: The International Administration of a Captured Country.” In Unfinished Business. The Western Balkans and the International Community, edited by Dzihić, Vedran and Hamilton, Daniel, 61–80. Washington, DC: Center for Transatlantic Relations.Google Scholar
Dnevni avaz. 2014. “Kako je grad na Neretvi propušten HDZ-u.” September 27.Google Scholar
Dnevnik. 1996. RTV Mostar. July 1 [VHS].Google Scholar
Dnevni list. 2008a. “Opet će gradonačelnik biti Hrvat.” June 1.Google Scholar
Dnevni list. 2008b. “Sporazum iz 2004. Ne precizira nacionalnost gradonačelnika?!” July 18.Google Scholar
Dnevni list. 2012a. “Pomoć za Mostar se trazi od visih razina vlasti.” July 14.Google Scholar
Dnevni list. 2012b. “OHR se ukljućio u Mostarski problem.” July 25.Google Scholar
Everly, Rebecca. 2008. “Assessing the Accountability of the High Representative.” In Deconstructing the Reconstruction. Human Rights and Rule of Law in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, edited by F Haynes, Dina, 79–114. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Fokus. 2003a. RTV Mostar. February 21. [VHS VB 31]. Mostar: Centar za mir i multietničku saradnju.Google Scholar
Fokus. 2003b. RTV Mostar. June 30. [VHS VB 24].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2004. RTV Mostar. January 15. [VHS VB 48].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2008. RTV Mostar. November 20. [VHS VB 647].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009a. RTV Mostar. January 22. [VHS VB 655].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009b. RTV Mostar. February 5. [VHS VB 657].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009c. RTV Mostar. April 2. [VHS VB 665].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009d. RTV Mostar. April 9. [VHS VB 666].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009e. RTV Mostar. April 20. [VHS VB 669].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009f. RTV Mostar. October 29. [VHS VB 684].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009g. RTV Mostar. November 12. [VHS VB 686].Google Scholar
Fokus. 2009h. RTV Mostar. December 24. [VHS VB 692].Google Scholar
FPI. 2008. Governance Structures in BiH. Capacity, Ownership, EU Integration, Functioning State. Sarajevo: Foreign Policy Initiative BH.Google Scholar
Hall, Peter A., and Taylor, Rosemary C. R. 2006. “Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms.” Political Studies 44 (5): 936–957.Google Scholar
Head, Thomas C., and Sorensen, Peter. 2011. “Exploring the World of Pseudo Change.” Academy of Management Proceedings 1: 1–6.Google Scholar
Hoare, Marko Attila. 2007. The History of Bosnia. From the Middle Ages to the Present Day. London: Saqi.Google Scholar
Holbrooke, Richard. 1996. “Battles after the War.” The New York Times, September 14.Google Scholar
HR's TV Address. 2004. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/presso/presssp/default.asp?content_id=31685.Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group). 2000. “Reunifying Mostar: Opportunities for Progress.” ICG Balkans Report No. 90.Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group). 2003. “Building Bridges in Mostar.” ICG Europe Report No. 150.Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group). 2009. “Bosnia: A Test of Political Maturity in Mostar.” Policy Briefing 54. doi:10.1163/2210-7975_HRD-9812-0116.Google Scholar
Interim Statute of the City of Mostar. 1996. Official Gazette of the City of Mostar. February 20.Google Scholar
Kesić, Obrad, Meyer, Steven, and Vlastelić-Rajić, Drina. 2012. The Battle for Mostar. Trans Conflict. June 6. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.transconflict.com/2012/06/the-battle-for-mostar-066.Google Scholar
Knaus, Gerald, and Martin, Felix. 2003. “Travails of the European Raj.” Journal of Democracy 14 (3): 60–74.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 2004. “Sharing Sovereignty: New Institutions for Collapsed and Failing States.” International Security 29 (2): 85–120.Google Scholar
Lovrenović, Ivan. 2001. Bosnia: A Cultural History. London: Saqi Books.Google Scholar
Mahoney, James. 2000. “Path Dependence in Historical Sociology.” Theory and Society 29 (4): 507–548.Google Scholar
Mahoney, James. 2001. The Legacies of Liberalism. Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Mahoney, James, Kathleen, Thelen. 2010. Explaining Institutional Change Ambiguity, Agency, and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Makas, Emily Gunzburger. 2005. “Representing Competing Entities in Postwar Mostar. Spoke at an EES Noon Discussion.” Meeting Report 318.Google Scholar
Moore, Adam. 2013. Peacebuilding in Practice: Local Experience in Two Bosnian Towns. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
“Mostar jedan grad.” 2004. Hercegovačke novine. March 26 (46).Google Scholar
Narten, Jens. 2009. “Dilemmas of Promoting ‘Local Ownership.’ The Case of Postwar Kosovo.” In The Dilemmas of Statebuilding Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations, edited by Paris, Roland and Sisk, Timothy D., 252–283. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
“Neustavno i nezakonito rjesenje.” 2004. Hercegovačke novine. January 30 (38).Google Scholar
The New York Times. 1997. “Croats Fire on Muslims in Bosnia.” February 11.Google Scholar
North, Douglass. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
OHR. 1999. Decision Adding the Fundamental Interest Clause and the Position of Deputy Head of Municipality to the Mostar City Municipalities. July 6.Google Scholar
OHR. 2003a. High Representative Renews Call for Agreement on Mostar Statute. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/presso/pressr/default.asp?content_id=30476.Google Scholar
OHR. 2003b. High Representative Welcomes Establishment of the Mostar Commission and Provides Eight Principles for Its Work. March 23. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/presso/pressr/default.asp?content_id=297721.Google Scholar
OHR. 2003c. Decision Establishing the Commission for Reforming the City of Mostar. September 17.Google Scholar
OHR. 2004a. Decision Enacting the Statute of the City of Mostar. January 28.Google Scholar
OHR. 2004b. Decision on the Implementation of the Reorganization of the City of Mostar. January 28.Google Scholar
OHR. 2009a. Decision Repealing the Conclusion of the City Council of the City of Mostar No. 01–02-10/09 of 29 January 2009 and Ordering Election of the City Mayor of the City of Mostar to be Held. October 30.Google Scholar
OHR. 2009b. Decision Enacting Amendment to the Statute of the City of Mostar. December 14.Google Scholar
OHR. 2012–13. 43rd OHR Report of the High Representative for Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. October 27, 2012–April 20, 2013.Google Scholar
Oručević, Safet. 1996a. “Mostar je proba za svu Bosnu.” Business Magazin 6 (June).Google Scholar
Oručević, Safet. 1996b. “Opasan model.” Erazmus, (April).Google Scholar
OSCE. 1996. “April 23 Visit to RC Mostar.” OSCE Report (April).Google Scholar
OSCE. 1997. “Should Election Be Held in Mostar.” OSCE Report. February 23.Google Scholar
OSCE. 2000. “RCM – Weekly Political Report” (November 11–16). OSCE Report.Google Scholar
Paris, Roland. 2004. At War's End. Building Peace after Civil Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paris, Roland, and Sisk, Timothy D. 2009. “Introduction. Understanding the Contradictions of Postwar Statebuilding.” In The Dilemmas of Statebuilding Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations, edited by Paris, Roland and Sisk, Timothy D., 1–20. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pasić, Amir. 2004. “A Short History of Mostar.” In Conservation and Revitalization of Historic Mostar. Geneva: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture.Google Scholar
Zoran, Perić. 2014. Interview – SDP Mostar.Google Scholar
Perry, Valery. 2009. “At Cross Purposes? Democratization and Peace Implementation Strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina's Frozen Conflict.” Human Rights Review 10.Google Scholar
Peters, B. Guy. 1999. Institutional Theory in Political Science. The New Institutionalism. London: Pinter.Google Scholar
Peters, B. Guy. 2012. Institutional Theory in Political Science: The New Institutionalism. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 2004. Politics in Time: History, Institutions and Social Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
“Principles for the Interim Statute for the City of Mostar in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Dayton Agreement on Implementing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Attached Agreed Principles for the Interim Statute for the City of Mostar.” 1996. International Legal Materials 35 (1).Google Scholar
Recommendations of the Commission for Reforming the City of Mostar. Report of the Chairman. 2003. December 15.Google Scholar
Sewell, William H. Jr. 1996. “Three Temporalities: Toward an Eventful Sociology.” In The Historic Turn in the Human Sciences, edited by McDonald, T. J., 245–80. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Shaw, Emily. 2003. “A Tale of Three Cities: Considering Divided Cities in the Former Yugoslavia.” Center for Slavic and East European Studies Newsletter 2.Google Scholar
Solioz, Christophe. 2007. Turning Points in Post-War Bosnia. Ownership Process and European Integration. Baden-Baden: Nomos.Google Scholar
Sporazum o uspostavljanju i funkcjonisanju predstavničke i izvršne vlasti u Gradu Mostaru nakon održanih lokalnih izbora 2004. god. (HDZ-SDA sporazum). 2004. December 4.Google Scholar
Spotovi i izjave SCD. 2000. RTV Mostar. [VHS MB 313]. Mostar: Centar za mir i multietničku saradnju.Google Scholar
Statute of the City of Mostar. 2004. Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.mostar.ba/statut-181.html.Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang, and Thelen, Kathleen. 2005. “Introduction: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies.” In Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies, edited by Streeck, Wolfgang and Thelen, Kathleen, 1–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thelen, Kathleen. 2003. “How Institutions Evolve. Insights from Comparative Historical Analysis.” In Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences, edited by Mahoney, James and Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, 208–240. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thelen, Kathleen, and Steinmo, Sven. 1992. “Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics.” In Structuring Politics. Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis, edited by Steinmo, Sven, Thelen, Kathleen, and Longstreth, Frank, 1–32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Winterstein, Norbert. 2003. “Letter from the Chairman of the Commission.” In Recommendations of the Commission for Reforming the City of Mostar. Report of the Chairman. December 15.Google Scholar
Yarwood, John. 1999. “Rebuilding Mostar. Reconstruction in a War Zone.” TPR Special Studies 3.Google Scholar