ABSTRACT
In recent times, international actors (states, organisations and agencies) involved in state-
building and post-conflict reconstruction have exhibited a growing tendency to promote
group-differentiated rights and multicultural citizenship as a solution to issues regarding
ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and diaspora integration. In part, this is due to
the fact that the concept of group-differentiated rights is often seen as a panacea for con-
flict-ridden multi-ethnic societies and states, such as the ones in the post-communist
Balkans. However, despite the promise of achieving equality, functionality and prosperity
within the newly created ‘liberal and democratic’ states, the international community’s
approach to state-building in the Balkans-specifically the citizenship models applied
therein, and the interplay between local and external agents-has resulted in a cluster
of weak and internally divided states and societies. Moreover, in some cases, the appli-
cation of group-differentiated rights in divided societies has perpetuated ethnic differences
and increased group inequalities rather than contribute to achieving equality for previously
disadvantaged groups. In other words, the international actors involved in the region pro-
moted the ideal of liberalism while implementing regimes grounded in group
differentiation.
