Imposing the ‘rule of law’: the lessons of bih for peacebuildingin iraq

With the task of establishing a new set of regime structures in Iraq, many policy-makers have turned to the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) experience for lessons in peacebuilding. The key lesson advocated by international officials has been the prioritization of the ‘rule of law’ rather than the focus on political processes and elections. It is held that while regular elections have merely reinforced the dominance of political elites hostile to reform, internationally-imposed legal changes have galvanized the peacebuilding process. This article challenges that perspective through focusing on three areas of legal activism in BiH: constitutional change, property return and employment laws. It suggests that the ‘rule of law’ approach sees legal or administrative solutions as a short cut to addressing political problems, fetishizing the legal framework at the same time as marginalizing the political sphere. Rather than more coercive external involvement in the form of pressures for more legislation and better law enforcement, the experience of BiH highlights the need for greater levels of political legitimacy, a need which runs counter to the logic of the ‘rule of law’ approach.