Gatekeepers of Serbia’s and Croatia’s Influence in BiH. The OHR and the Dayton Agreement
Gatekeepers of Serbia’s and Croatia’s Influence in BiH. The OHR and the Dayton Agreement

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the Office of the High Representative (OHR) as a gatekeeper of neighbourly influence in post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Drawing on sixty-seven OHR reports submitted to the United Nations Security Council between 1996 and 2025, it traces how the OHR has discursively regulated the involvement of Serbia and Croatia. The OHR’s legitimacy has rested on its capacity to define the boundaries of acceptable cross-border engagement. The three phases are identified in the OHR’s rhetorical evolution: from cooperation and oversight (1995–2006), to depoliticization and rhetorical gatekeeping (2006–2021), to crisis-oriented guardianship (2021–2025). As it transitioned from institution-building to boundary management, it increasingly relied on normative language to assert its relevance amid declining coercive power. The findings contribute to broader debates on post-liberal peacebuilding and the discursive practices through which international supervision sustains itself.

• Details
• Contents