Destination NATO Defence Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2003&821113 [Paperback]

Defence reform has been a major component of Bosnias stabilisation and nation-building. Though true for many cases of post-conflict transition, it is especially so for Bosnia, which arguably has the most complex state structure in Europe. Ten years on from the start of Bosnias defence-reform process, Destination NATOrecords and reviews the Bosnian experience of defence reform. The monograph offers policy-makers, practitioners and academics knowledge of the specific case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and makes these insights relevant to defence-reform efforts in other contexts.

The research is based on original sources and an extensive set of interviews and talks with key individuals including ambassadors, ministers and civil servants, and other senior national and international actors, in addition to discussions with several hundred politicians at local levels, students and NGO representatives. The authors also use their first-hand knowledge and insights to complement the documentation, interviews and discussions.

In this excellent study, Maxwell and Olsen chart the rocky path of defence reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) since 2003. By placing defence reform in its proper historical and political context they have avoided the obvious pitfall (all too common in writings on Security Sector Reform) of treating the process as purely a technocratic exercise. As a result, they arrive at a carefully argued, balanced and cautiously optimistic set of conclusions; conclusions that are plainly of relevance well beyond the particular case of BiH.--Professor Mats Berdal, Kings College London

I recommend this excellent and most comprehensive report to anyone with an interest for Defence Reform, in particular to those interested in Bosnia Herzegovina and its prospects for the future. It is difficult to think of more difficult circumstances in which to reform a states defencl3*