The Dayton Agreement and Elections in Bosnia: Entrenching Ethnic Cleansing through Democracy
![handle is hein.journals/stanit36 and id is 313 raw text is: The Dayton Agreement and
Elections in Bosnia: Entrenching
Ethnic Cleansing Through
Democracy
JOHN MALIK*
I. INTRODUCTION
The recent crisis in Kosovo has captured the world's attention. Press
coverage has been intense, focusing both on the massive number of refugees
created by the conflict and on NATO's practical and prospective intervention in
the region. To an observer familiar with that conflict-ridden region of the
world, however, an obvious question comes to mind: What was the final
outcome of the war that immediately preceded the conflict in Kosovo, namely,
the Bosnian civil war of 1992-1995?
An answer to this question hinges on an assessment of the Dayton Peace
Agreement (Dayton),l the U.S.-brokered plan that ended the Bosnian conflict
in December 1995. At the time of Dayton's conception, reactions to the plan
were mixed.
For some, it was enough that Dayton put an end to the bloodiest conflict in
Europe since World War II. For others, the settlement ignored the facts on
the ground. Given the long history of animosity between Serbs, Croats, and
Bosniacs,2 the three largest ethnic groups in the Balkans, the peace plan's
bipartite partition-comprising a Serb Republic and a weak Bosniac-Croat
Federation-merely delayed inevitable conflict. Yet, for others, the Dayton
* J.D. Candidate, 2001, Stanford Law School; M.Phil., International Relations, 1998, Cambridge
University; Dip., International Relations, 1997, London School of Economics; B.A., Philosophy, 1996,
Arizona State University. Former Elections Observer, Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, September 1997 Bosnian Municipal Elections and November 1997 Republika Srpska National
Assembly Elections. I am indebted to Marc Weller of the Centre of International Studies at Cambridge
University, whose substantive, editorial and disciplinary interventions made this work possible.
I The Dayton Peace Agreement, The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Annexes, Nov. 21, 1995, Bosn. & Herz.-Croat.-Yugo.,
<http://www.usis.usemb.se/bosnia/#dayton.htm> (visited Mar. 28, 2000) [hereinafter Dayton].
2 The term Bosniac, often used as a euphemism for Muslim, is meant in this work to refer to
Bosnian nationals who are neither Croat nor Serb.
36 STAN. J. INT'L L. 303 (2000)](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/stanit36&div=19&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Dayton Agreement and Elections in Bosnia: Entrenching Ethnic Cleansing through Democracy
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