Security sector reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The limitations of “Europeanization”

Abstract

Security sector reforms (SSR) generally refer to a process in Western-based international development and democratization to make changes to the security sector of a state toward good governance and its principles, such as freedom of information and the rule of law. SSR has become a vital part of the European Union’s (EU) efforts to transform the Western Balkans from a conflict-ridden area into a stable and democratic region of Europe. This paper focuses on SSR in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter, Bosnia) as a case study of the multidimensional and complex Europeanization policies employed by the EU in the region. The research examines the changes in two sectors of Bosnia’s security system with the aim of providing an understanding of the EU’s impact on the domestic conditions of candidate states. The main argument is that the EU used police and intelligence reforms in Bosnia (both of which were part of the SSR efforts in the country) as state-building tools. However, due to Bosnia’s lack of domestic competence and the inexperience of the EU to properly and effectively implement SSR, the reforms have had very little success and reveal the limitations of the state’s Europeanization.