The Improvised State E-Book

Alex Jeffrey

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: RGS-IBG Book Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 449

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The Improvised State provides a highly developed account of the nature and outcomes of Bosnian state practices since the Dayton Peace Agreement. Jeffrey presents new and significant theories, based on extensive fieldwork in Bosnia, which advance understanding of state building.

• Provides a major contribution to recent academic debates as to the nature of the state after violent conflict, and offers invaluable insights into state building
• Introduces the idea of state improvisation, where improvisation refers to a process of both performance and resourcefulness
• Uses the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to explore how powerful agencies have attempted to present a coherent vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina following the conflict 1992-5
• Advances our understanding of the Bosnian state by focusing on the practices of statecraft fostered in the post-Dayton era
• Research based on four periods of residential fieldwork in Bosnia, which allowed a detailed analysis of political practices in the country

Leseprobe

Contents

List of Figures

Series Editors’ Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 States, Performance and Improvisation

1.2 Towards a Political Anthropology of the Bosnian State

1.3 Critical Geopolitics and Qualitative Research Strategy

1.4 Structure of the Book

Chapter Two The Improvised State

2.1 The State Idea

2.2 Performance and Performativity

2.3 Improvisation: Performed Resourcefulness

2.4 Improvising the State

Chapter Three Producing Bosnia and Herzegovina

3.1 Fault Line

3.2 Barrier

3.3 The Balkan Vortex

3.4 The General Framework Agreement for Peace

3.5 Conclusion

Chapter Four Performing Brčko District

4.1 Brčko District and Arbitration

4.2 Stability: Getting the Job Done

4.3 Security: Constructing Legality

4.4 Neutralization: Making People Think

4.5 Conclusion

Chapter Five Gentrifying Civil Society

5.1 Building Civil Society

5.2 Social Capital: The Autonomy of Civil Society

5.3 Cultural Capital: ‘Don’t Just Ask for Another Copy Machine!’

5.4 Beyond Gentrified Civil Society: Roma and Mjesne Zajednice

5.5 Conclusion

Chapter Six Enacting Justice

6.1 Spaces of Justice

6.2 Contesting the State

6.3 Enrolling Civil Society

6.4 Conclusion

Chapter Seven Becoming European

7.1 Europeanization and the State

7.2 Nested Balkanism

7.3 Conclusion

Chapter Eight Conclusion

References

Index

RGS-IBG Book Series

Published

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Forthcoming

Spatial Politics: Essays for Doreen MasseyEdited by David Featherstone and Joe PainterIn the Nature of Landscape: Cultural Geography on the Norfolk BroadsDavid MatlessWorking Memories: Gender and Migration in Post-war BritainLinda McDowellFashioning Globalisation: New Zealand Design, Working Women and the ‘New Economy’Maureen Molloy and Wendy LarnerDunes: Dynamics, Morphology and Geological HistoryAndrew WarrenScalar Politics of Food in CubaMarisa Wilson

This edition first published 2013© 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jeffrey, Alexander Sam.The improvised state : sovereignty, performance and agency in Dayton Bosnia / Alex Jeffrey.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4443-3699-3 (cloth) – ISBN 978-1-4443-3700-6 (pbk.)1. Bosnia and Hercegovina–Politics and government–1992– 2. Sovereignty. 3. Geopolitics–Bosnia and Hercegovina. 4. Dayton Peace Accords (1995)JN2203.A58J44 2012320.94974–dc23

2012015743

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image © Alex JeffreyCover design by Workhaus

Dedicated to the memory of Ellie Maxwell (1977–2009)

List of Figures

1

Palestinian chair at the United Nations

2

Map of Yugoslavia in 1990

3

Brčko municipality and BiH after the GFAP

4

Monument to the Serb defenders of Brčko

5

Supervisory order creating Brčko District

6

Burnt apartment building, Brčko, April 2003

7

Dual script road sign, Klanac, Brčko District, February 2003

8

New house number, Brčko, July 2003

9

Farm well in Bukvik, Brčko District, June 2003

10

Examples of graffiti, Brčko town centre, December 2002

11

The State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo

12

The Judge’s Bench, Court Room Six, The CBiH, Sarajevo

13

PDP election poster, Brčko, 2002

Series Editors’ Preface

The RGS-IBG Book Series only publishes work of the highest international standing. Its emphasis is on distinctive new developments in human and physical geography, although it is also open to contributions from cognate disciplines whose interests overlap with those of geographers. The Series places strong emphasis on theoretically informed and empirically strong texts. Reflecting the vibrant and diverse theoretical and empirical agendas that characterize the contemporary discipline, contributions are expected to inform, challenge and stimulate the reader. Overall, the RGS-IBG Book Series seeks to promote scholarly publications that leave an intellectual mark and change the way readers think about particular issues, methods or theories.For details on how to submit a proposal please visit:www.rgsbookseries.com

Neil CoeUniversity of Manchester, UKJoanna BullardLoughborough University, UKRGS-IBG Book Series Editors

Acknowledgements

The arguments in this book have been developed over a decade of ­researching international intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Part of the writing emerges from doctoral work conducted at the Geography Department at Durham University and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC award number R42200134266). I am extremely grateful to my three supervisors, Joe Painter, Emma Mawdsley and Luiza Bialasiewicz, for their support and advice over this project and beyond. The arguments were refined through an ESRC-funded post-doctoral fellowship (ESRC award number PTA-026-27-0576), also at Durham University, and I would like to thank Ash Amin for his guidance and feedback through this process. Finally, the book proposal and the majority of the writing were completed while I was lecturing at Newcastle University’s School of Geography, Politics and Sociology. I would like to thank my colleagues over this period, in particular Nick Megoran, Matthew Rech, Alison Williams, Fiona McConnell, Rachel Woodward, Nina Laurie, Andy Gillespie, Martin Coward and Stuart Dawley. I am especially grateful to Raksha Pande who provided assistance with synthesizing literatures on improvisation and the state. Beyond these institutional contexts I am grateful to a range of people for advice and ­support over the writing period, in particular Colin McFarlane, Alex Vasudevan, Carl Dahlman, Dan Swanton, Peter Thomas, Briony Jones, Merje Kuus, Stuart Elden, David Campbell, Klaus Dodds and Lynn Staeheli.

The process of writing the book has been made considerably more straightforward by the expertise and support of those on the RGS-IBG Book Series editorial team; in particular I would like to thank Kevin Ward and Neil Coe for their extremely supportive and constructive editorial skills. I would also like to thank Jacqueline Scott and Isobel Bainton at Wiley-Blackwell for their advice and encouragement. The proposal and ­manuscript were strengthened through the feedback and suggestions of the anonymous referees; I am grateful for their assistance. I am also grateful to the ­publishers for the permission to draw on material from previously published material in three of the chapters of this book. Chapter Four contains material ­previously published in Political Geography 25(2) 203–227 (Elsevier, Philadelphia); Chapter Five contains discussions previously published in Development and Change 38(2) 251–274 (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford), and a version of Chapter Seven appeared in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26(3) 428–443 (Pion, London).

There are a large number of people to thank who assisted with the empirical research for this book. In Brčko District I would like to thank Goran Mihailović, Saška Haramina, Mirella, Davor and Aleksa Ceran, Leila Jaserević, Gordana Varcaković, Kristina Varcaković, Elenora Emkić, Jack Richold, Catharina de Lange, Slawomir Klimkiewicz and Mary Lynch. In Sarajevo I would like to thank Zlatan Musić, Asim Mujkić, Damir Arsenijević, Refik Hodzić and Selma Hađzić. I would also like to thank Matt Bolton for his support and friendship since we met in Brčko in 2002. Many of the arguments in the book began as discussions with Matt, and I have benefited greatly from his wisdom.

Over the final months of the book writing I am indebted to the support and friendship of Michaelina Jakala, as research assistant on a two-year study of the public outreach strategies of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ESRC award number RES-061-25-0479). I am grateful for her insightful reading of the manuscript and her wise advice. I am also grateful to her husband Martin and daughter Nia for being such great hosts in Sarajevo.

I would like to thank Craig Jeffrey, Jane Dyson, Ewan Jeffrey and my ­parents for all the help over the years, in particular Craig’s assistance in thinking through improvisation. The biggest thanks go to Laura Jeffrey. It certainly wouldn’t have been possible to complete this project without her support and help; I am forever grateful for all the interest, the careful readings, the ideas and the encouragement. A final big thanks and hug to Rufus and Clemence for making the time between writing so much fun.

This book is dedicated to Ellie Maxwell, an inspirational friend and ­colleague who worked tirelessly over her lifetime for causes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in the town of Brčko. Ellie and I met as fellow students at Edinburgh University, and it was through working for Firefly Youth Project in Brčko in 1999–2000 that I first became interested in the question of state building in Bosnia. Ellie is greatly missed, and all who knew her continue to be inspired by her insights, intelligence and compassion.

Abbreviations

ARBiH

Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine

(Army of the Bosnian Republic)

BiH

Bosnia and Herzegovina

CBiH

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

CCI

Centri civilnih inicijativa

(Centre for Civil Initiative)

CSN

Court Support Network

DMT

District Management Team (in Br

č

ko District)

DP

Displaced Person

EU

European Union

FRY

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

GFAP

General Framework Agreement for Peace (Dayton Peace Accords)

GTZ

Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

(German Technical Cooperation Agency)

ICG

International Crisis Group

ICTY

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

IEBL

Inter-Entity Boundary Line

I-For

Implementation Force

IHC

International Housing Commission

IPTF

International Police Task Force

IRC

International Rescue Committee

JNA

Jugoslovenska narodna armija

(Yugoslav People’s Army)

MZ

Mjesna zajednica

(local community association)

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NGO

Non-Governmental Organization

OHR

Office of the High Representative

OSCE

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

OZNa

Odeljenje za zastitu narodna

(Department for the People’s Defence)

PIC

Peace Implementation Council

RRTF

Return and Reconstruction Task Force

RS

Republika Srpska

(sub-division of Bosnia and Herzegovina)

SDA

Stranka demokratska akcije

(Party for Democratic Action)

SDP

Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine

(Social Democratic Party)

SDS

Srpska demokratska stranka

(Serb Democratic Party)

S-For

Stabilization Force

SIDA

Swedish International Development Corporation Agency

SNSD

Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata

(Alliance of Independent Social Democrats)

UN

United Nations

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNHCR

United Nations High Commission for Refugees

USAID

United States Agency for International Development

USDA

United States Department for Agriculture

VOPP

Vance Owen Peace Plan

VRS

Vojska Republike Srpske

(Army of Republika Srpska)

WCC

War Crimes Chamber

ZOS

Zone of Separation

Chapter One

Introduction

Figure 1 Palestinian chair at the United Nations

Source: © Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

New York, 23 September 2011. The head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is seeking a vote at the United Nations on an application for Palestinian admission to the UN as a member state. In the build-up to the request for the vote, Palestinian activists have produced a chair as a symbol of the desire for a Palestinian seat at the General Assembly of the United Nations. In the preceding weeks the chair has toured the Middle East and Europe, before taking pride of place at news conferences in New York in the lead-up to the vote. The symbolism is easy to grasp: the chair is covered in blue velour, marked with the UN olive branches encircling a symbol of another seat, on which the Palestinian Authority’s flag is imprinted. Underneath these images are sewn the words ‘Palestine’s Right: A full membership in the United Nations’. But underpinning this stark imagery are two more subtle assumptions: the first, that desire for Palestinian statehood could be fulfilled through the recognition granted by UN membership. Membership would serve as a symbol of statehood, despite not necessarily changing the forms of authority or territorial control in the West Bank and Gaza. Indeed, youth activists in Ramallah in the West Bank were keen to distinguish between the ‘emotional’ nature of international recognition and the unchanging ‘practical’ everyday experience of militarized check points: settlement construction and inhibited freedom of movement (see BBC, 2011). But the second assumption is reflected in the symbolism of the seat itself. The claim to Palestinian statehood is not made solely in a speech to the General Assembly of the UN, but is rather symbolized through the creation of the seat. The act of producing the seat, and its tour through Europe and the Middle East, provide a chance to perform statehood, to ground the legitimacy and effect of the claim through repeated enactments of the securing of a UN seat. In this sense, performance is at the heart of attempts to convey state legitimacy. The design of the chair draws on audience expectations of a ‘real’ UN seat, primed as they would be to recognize the appropriate colours and symbolism for UN furniture.