The role of international actors in post-conflict Bosnian elections

This thesis discusses the role of international actors in the post conflict elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It focuses mainly on the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as well as the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in shaping the electoral system and influencing electoral politics through conflict management strategies. The main focus is placed on the entity parliamentary elections in 2000 and 2002 in order to assess the value and success of the conflict management strategies employed as well as the success of the international actors themselves. The thesis concludes that while international actors have been successful in producing a degree of stability in Bosnia since 1995, they have been less successful in reducing the saliency of ethnic politics in elections and consequently the role of the major ethno-nationalist parties in the post-conflict political system