Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) maintains a unique and complex relationship with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as it was on BiH’s territory that the Alliance conducted its first direct military operation in 1994. Three decades later, potential NATO membership would represent a significant step toward political stability, national security, and integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. Moreover, it would serve as a symbolic break with the country’s wartime past. Political leaders in BiH frequently assert in public discourse that the country has already met all necessary conditions for accession. However, due to the absence of independent evaluations of such claims, this master's thesis poses the central research question: To what extent does Bosnia and Herzegovina actually fulfill the necessary criteria for NATO membership? The first part of the thesis applies the benchmarks set forth in NATO’s 1995 Study on Enlargement, while the second part examines the major obstacles impeding progress, namely, political opposition from Republika Srpska, the influence of Serbia and the Russian Federation, and the current lack of strategic interest within NATO regarding further expansion in the Western Balkans. The analysis demonstrates that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not, under current circumstances, meet all the requirements outlined in the Study on Enlargement. Furthermore, the country faces a pronounced deficit of internal political consensus, particularly between its two constituent entities. This political fragmentation significantly undermines the prospects for tangible progress in the country’s NATO accession process in the near future.
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