ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the operational dynamics of the European Union (EU) approach to peacebuilding in the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although the EU failed to resolve the open conflict in the Western Balkans, it became the leading actor in post-conflict peacebuilding. BiH provided a laboratory for the realisation of the EU’s CSDP. The military operation Althea and the civilian police mission became the key instruments in the EU’s state-building and reform attempts in BiH. The two CSDP actions were part of the accession process which strengthened the influence of the EU in the peacebuilding efforts in BiH. This case illuminates how the EU operation and mission in BiH have been shaped by international peacebuilding norms and the EU foreign policy. The EU’s approach to peacebuilding in the two CSDP actions spans between the promotion of peacebuilding norms on the one hand and EU foreign policy preferences and constraints on the other hand. While analysing the CSDP operation and mission in BiH, the chapter explains how the EU’s involvement in post-settlement peacebuilding through these instruments became a unique opportunity for the block to demonstrate its actorness.
