How the Office of High Representative has impacted the reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: Twenty eight years ago there was a brutal war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the three main ethnic groups in the country as a part of the bracke-up of Yugoslavia  (Balazs, 2008). This thesis analyses how the OHR has contributed to the reconciliation process in Bosnia and Herzegovina by looking at academic articles, information from local actors, analysing the local debate and semistructured interviews within the international community in BiH. Primarily, Bar-Tals conditions for reconciliation are used to measure how the OHR has contributed to the reconciliation process. It is clear that OHR has contributed positively to the reconciliation process however the process has been slow and some consider the reconciliation process to go in the wrong direction right now. To push the reconciliation process forward is explicitly not a part of the OHRs mandate however there is a lack of actors working with it and OHR has been a suitable actor to do so. However, the OHR have lost respect because they have not held people accountable when violating the OHR decisions. Additionally, the OHR is seen as anti-Serb by the Bosnian Serbs, even though it is unrightfully so this has resulted in there decisions occasionally leading to further polarisation between the ethnic groups. Thus, the OHR may not be the most suitable actor to push BiH forward in the reconciliation process in the future, however they are still needed to make sure that the peace agreement is followed to avoid another war. There is already extensive research on the reconciliation process in BiH and the OHR separately however there is very limited research on how the OHR have worked with the reconciliation process even though the research is relevant considering that there is an discussion on about how much influence the OHR should have in BiH and if they should remain in BiH (Hayat Media BiH, 2023). As well as to give the OHR an opportunity to learn from perilous mistakes and perfect their way of working with reconciliation.