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ConflictsBosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina - A Fragile Peace

August 21, 2024

Will Bosnia-Herzegovina soon be at war again? Almost three decades after the end of the Bosnian war, the country is a new EU candidate. But the situation here is more fragile than ever.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina - A Fragile Peace
Bosnia-Herzegovina is the land of three peoples: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. It’s a meeting point of the Muslim, Orthodox, Christian and Jewish worlds.Image: Java

Who will prevail in multi-ethnic but divided Bosnia?

Bosnia and Herzegovina - A Fragile Peace
Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for EU membership in February 2016 and was granted EU candidate country status in December 2022.Image: Eldar Emric/AP Photo/picture alliance

In December 2022, some three million Bosnians received hopeful news: after years of waiting, the small multi-ethnic Balkan state is finally an EU candidate. However, peace in the Western Balkans is more fragile than at any time since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995, which left 100,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina - A Fragile Peace
Image: Java

Might Putin be trying to open a second front in the divided country? Why is Bosnia so central to so many geopolitical desires - both in the West (EU, UK, USA) and in places like Russia, Serbia, China and Turkey? And why is the country still suffering from the complex legacy of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement?

Bosnia and Herzegovina - A Fragile Peace
The Dayton Agreement (also known as the Dayton Treaty) ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995 after three and a half years.Image: Java

Interviews with the main players then and now unravel the secessionist aspirations of the Bosnian Serbs, the influence of EU member Croatia on the country and Bosnia’s structures of corruption. Bosnia-Herzegovina is the land of three peoples: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. It’s a meeting point of the Muslim, Orthodox, Christian and Jewish worlds. And it’s a place that shows that while it is difficult to end a war, it’s even more difficult to make a lasting peace.

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