The Bosnian State a decade after Dayton

A decade on from the Dayton peace settlement, this essay sets out to examine two questions. First, is the consociational and confederal paradigm established by the Dayton agreement, and subsequently institutionalized, the appropriate framework for the Bosnian state? It will be suggested that in the circumstances that prevail, this framework does in fact provide the most feasible and most democratic form of government for Bosnia's precarious existence as a multi-national state. My second question is inextricably linked to the first: since Bosnia is a state of international design that exists by international design, is this international engagement with state-building and democratization an example, indeed exemplar, of liberal internationalism at its best – or of liberal imperialism at its worst? I will suggest that, though this presence and activity has had many aspects deserving of serious criticism, on balance it has done more good than harm. Bosnian society would clearly have been worse-off without the international community in its midst.