Incompatibility between the High Representative’s decisions and European Union’s priorities for Bosnia and Herzegovina: analysis of the European Union’s performance towards the Office of the High Representative : master's thesis

Kerić, Azra (author), Kočan, Faris (mentor), Požgan, Jure (comentor)

The thesis deals with the European Union’s (EU) performance towards the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH). It is prompted by the incompatibility between the HR’s two decisions, made in October 2022 and April 2023, and the EU’s priorities for BiH. The EU’s performance is analyzed using a conceptual framework designed for assessing the performance of international organizations, with a particular focus on the process dimension, including output, effectiveness, and relevance. Three methods are employed: semi-structured elite interviews (with six employees of the EU Delegation to BiH and OHR), content analysis, and discourse analysis of 11 publicly available interviews, speeches, and reports from HR Schmidt. The findings suggest that the EU’s performance is characterized by a need to balance its principles with the perspectives of the OHR and other members of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Steering Board. The EU is identified as a cooperative, tolerant, and principle-driven actor, but its performance is influenced by its institutional complexity, the diversity of interests within the international community, and developments in the domestic political landscape. This thesis contributes to a broader understanding of the EU’s capacity to operate within other international organizations by analyzing its role in an institution with a specific mandate (OHR), situated in a local context where the EU wields significant influence, particularly given BiH's status as an EU candidate country.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Union, Office of the High Representative, performance of the European Union
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: A. Kerić
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 1 spletni vir (1 datoteka PDF (86 str.))
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-162150
• UDC: 061.1EU:327(497.6)(043.2)
• COBISS.SI-ID: 212764931
• Publication date in RUL: 19.09.2024

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Nezdružljivost odločitev visokega predstavnika in prednostnih nalog Evropske unije v Bosni in Hercegovini: analiza delovanja Evropske unije do Urada visokega predstavnika : magistrsko delo

Abstract

Magistrsko delo obravnava delovanje Evropske unije (EU) do Urada visokega predstavnika (Office of the High Representative – OHR) v Bosni in Hercegovini (BiH). Raziskovalni problem obravnava nezdružljivost dveh odločitev visokega predstavnika, sprejetih oktobra 2022 in aprila 2023, ter prednostnih nalog, ki jih je za BiH določila EU. Za te namene je uporabljen konceptualni okvir delovanja mednarodnih organizacij v luči procesne dimenzije njihovega delovanja, s posebnim poudarkom na učinkovitosti, rezultatih in relevantnosti. Empirični del magistrskega dela temelji na izvedbni šestih lastnih polstrukturiranih elitnih intervjujev in analizi diskurza ter vsebine enajstih javno dostopnih intervjujev, govorov ali poročil OHR z namenom prepoznavanja uporabljenih terminov, tona, konteksta, pogostosti sklicevanja na EU in manjkajočih informacij. Rezultati kažejo, da EU pri svojem delovanju upošteva lastna načela, pa tudi načela OHR in drugih pomembnih članov Upravnega odbora Sveta za implementacijo miru (Peace Implementation Council – PIC). To pomeni, da je EU razumljena kot sodelujoč in toleranten partner, ki deluje v skladu s svojimi načeli. Vendar pa na delovanje EU vplivajo njena institucionalna kompleksnost, različni interesi znotraj mednarodne skupnosti v BiH ter specifične notranjepolitične determinante BiH. Magistrsko delo prispeva k širšemu razumevanju zmogljivosti EU za delovanje znotraj drugih mednarodnih organizacij s posebnim mandatom (OHR), ki deluje v lokalnem okolju, kjer ima EU velik vpliv, saj je BiH kandidatka za članstvo v EU.

• Keywords: Bosna in Hercegovina, Evropska unija, Urad visokega predstavnika, delovanje Evropske unije