The media as a tool of international intervention: house of cards

In: Southeast European studies

Abstract

"This book explores the role of external powers and international organisations in media assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through analysis of key documents, media reports, and interviews with key participants it examines the main actors, their roles, and the way in which they influenced the media and society. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains one of the biggest experiments in international intervention in modern history. Media assistance, as well as international intervention, was an enormous project which involved many donors and recipient organisations, and large amounts of money, but it is just one of many countries where democratisation and state-building took place with little to no input from the local community. Since the mid-eighties, media assistance has been an integral part of international intervention used as a tool of democratisation in post-conflict countries and societies. The process is often led and created outside these countries and implemented by various international organisations, led by technocrats and dictated by the will of donors. The author uses the case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina to assess this in a broader context. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students of Southeast Europe, international organisations, peacebuilding, and rebuilding society in postwar countries, as well as journalists and policy-makers"--