ABSTRACT
Bosnia-Herzegovina has been a prominent case in the peacebuilding literature, a benchmark by which other conflict-ridden societies have been evaluated or to which they have been compared. The Bosnian War began at the threshold of a post-Cold War era when new international rules were in the process of being formed. Bosnia-Herzegovina is an ideal case study for understanding the complexities of post-Cold War conflict resolution. Bosnian Serb military and political objectives in the ensuing conflict were made public from the very beginning; if a Serb-dominated Yugoslavia were not possible, the second-best solution was to establish a territory of their own. The chapter provides an overview and an evaluation of the lessons that can be drawn from the Bosnian peace process. More specifically, it addresses how the Dayton peace process can be evaluated from the perspective of the past 20-some years and how Bosnia-Herzegovina can be genuinely upheld as the 'gold standard' of peacebuilding.
