Unaware actors: Policies and random combinations of aid interventions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995)

In: Politička misao, Band 35, Heft 5, S. 125-135

Abstract

Now, three years after the Dayton Peace Accords, we can say that the war left the legacy of some malfunctions of the preceding years, even though we should underline considerable improvements in the political co-ordination of the diplomatic initiatives, an obvious result of the international political guidance that was much clearer than in the past. The creation of OHR joint diplomatic mission that is still trying to reconcile the different European and American approaches, was actually successfull in limiting the excessive activity of the single states and the spreading of disconnected diplomatic initiatives, that nevertheless are again the main protagonists in the political arena as regards governmental cooperation in the agencies' activities. The shift, still going on and not completed yet, from an emergency stage to the reconstruction, changed many of the subjects operating on-site, that still remain numerous and difficult to set in an overall rational framework The idea of the co-ordination between the different projects and interventions still remains an unfulfilled plan and BiH on many occasions seems like a country that has to face the dimension of the "forced aid" that generates an economy depending and feeding itself solely on the resources brought in by humanitarian as well as reconstruction/development projects. Sarajevo has become the portrait of this "after-war" and "before the peace" stage. Coming out of a very tough three-year siege that had made it the emblem of the war, Sarajevo became the symbolic destination of all the subjects who could not get there during the war due to obvious practical difficulties and that are now setting up their headquarters in BiH. Besides, we have been witnessing a Bosnian process of strong political and administrative centralisation on Sarajevo, that is a reaction to the phenomenon - unnecessary - of the increased municipal local authorities' competences witnessed during the war. This makes an equal distribution of the aid between the centre and the peripheries quite impossible, and Sarajevo soon becomes - with its more than 12.000 international operators - the clearest image of a system "overloaded" with aid intervention and personnel working there. Nevertheless, the myth of reconstruction overturns any other criticism on the international presence in BiH, in spite of the impression that, what with the war over, this is not simply a territory to be rebuilt, as promoted by the stereotypes that attract Western entrepreneurs who express their will to contribute in this stage. With the wounds and the local political class that, at a close look, came out of the conflict quite invigorated, the issue of political mediation on reconstruction becomes central. Foreign bodies do not always invest into this. (SOI : PM: S. 125; 134f.) + In the last ten years, international organizations have defmed more clearly the role and the tasks of humanitarian aid in contemporary international relations. The case of Bosnia and Herzegov is a good illustration of the advantages but also of the disadvantages of today's humanitarian operations. The peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the largest operation of this kind that has been set in motion by the international community. In its humanitarian aspect it is complex and multi-layered. Humanitarian campaigns today are more philanthropically than organizationally driven, but it is the latter aspect that makes them fail or succeed. It is not enough to provide humanitarian aid, but its distribution to the recipients who need it must be organized. That process involves several essential factors: international and interstate organizations governmental organizations as well as non-governmental (international and local) organizations and associations. The example of Bosnia and Herzegovina shows to what extent the mentioned factors contribute to the success of a operation, but also the problems which stem from their undefmed role and tasks