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OHR’s continued interference in politics became one of the causes of the low commitment of citizens towards the
state and of low accountability of politicians.
When it comes to 2002 which is the beginning of the process of integration with Europe, It is very difficult to say
that there was a political and social consensus among the ethnic groups of Bosnia, and that the common Institu-
tions have been created in many areas (economy, security, education, military) for the establishment of a unified
multi-ethnic society.
Just like the elections in 1996, the 1998 and 2000 general elections showed that democratic elections alone are
not sufficient for democratization. Although public support for nationalist parties in the 2000 elections decreased
slightly, open external manipulation of elections for the benefit of moderate parties, strengthened separatist dis-
courses of the nationalist parties. This has contributed to the continuation of the feeling of insecurity and fear
among the ethnic groups.
The common institutions which is often blocked with a vital interest veto has become quite complex and dysfunc-
tional structures (Belloni, 2004: 337-338).
While the elections were free and fair than before, the frequency of them has contributed to spreading of the
nationalist rhetoric by keeping the country in a permanent election atmosphere and weaken also the activities of
the common institutions of BiH.
The local police force still was not a reliable law enforcement. They were the law enforcement agents acting in a
system which is fragmented, ethnically divided, highly politicized and nationalized. They have been instrumental
for implementing the local politicians’ nationalist and discriminatory and some times illegal violance policies
(International Crises Group, 2002).
The judicial system was far from being an independent structure under the control of political power structures
which is fragmented along ethnic lines. Ethnic and nationalist bias continued to be decisive in functioning of the
judicial system (International Crises Group, 1999).
In the first phase of post-war reconstruction of Bosnian economy, the international community has achieved
considerable successes including the introduction of a stable currency, and the functioning of a central bank,
improvements in the banking sector. Still however, Bosnian economy continued to be a fragile and weak, due to
the reliance on foreign aid, divided economic space, smuggling, growing unemployment (International Crises
Group, 2001). while the Bosnia lacked a strong institutionalization, an integrated and independent judicial system
and a durable political system which is required for a robust economy.
These negative developments revealed the urgency of constitutional reform which is blocked by the local political
elites frequently. Thus, the absence of a strong and legitimate political will which is required for the constitutional
reform will be a most debatable issue in the second phase of the transition which is characterized by the prospect
of European integration and EU membership accession that will make the existence of the OHR and even Dayton
system debatable.
2.1.2 The Process of European Integration And Democratization; OHR/EUSR
The BiH has been a special case for the EU, comparing to the other countries from the Western Balkans on the way
to EU. This is why both processes of European integration and EUmembership accession of BiH went on together
with the intensive involvement of EU in BiH. Thus, Bosnia’s transition process has entered a new phase with the
BiH’s inclusion into the processes of the European integration and EU membership accession
European Union issued a roadmap in 2000 stating that BiH should take some important steps before launching
the feasibility study for Stabilization and Association Agreemet (SAA). This roadmap includes fourteen concrete
steps on three main areas of politics, economy and human rights, rule of law and democracy (Chandler, 2005).
The roadmap which took BiH to the feasibility study was completed in September 2002 and the Commision initi-
ated the feasibility study for the SAA with the expectation of offering a SAA next year. The conditions that BiH had