From Nation-(Re)building to Political Rights. : A Comparative Analysis between Bosnia and Herzegovina & Kosovo.

Abstract: The issue with achieving a balance between a stable democratization process and peacebuilding is an ongoing difficulty. Scholars argue that the long-term effects are not properly considered when constructing a peace accord and is affecting the process of nation-rebuilding. The integrationalist and consociationalist perspectives, two major strands within this field, disagree on the point of incorporating ethnicities in the political arena, in which both parties argue that the outcome is negative for a state's developmental process.  An analysis of state reports conducted by the U.S. Department of State and the cases´ peace accords, will be conducted using Freedom Houses indicators for political rights. This is to observe if there is a difference in efficiency between the two perspectives and to what degree it can be mirrored in the level of political rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. The Most Similar System Design is used to isolate the similar variables that the two case countries share in order to compare a possible difference in the level of political rights. The results show that there is a difference seen from the start to the end point for both cases, as well as a difference in the level of political rights between the two. This lines up with the findings of present scholars on this topic thus amplifying the need for more research to be conducted.