ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the analysis to explore how local contention operates and interacts with international statebuilding practices. It sets out the analytical and conceptual foundations of the statebuilding study. It provides an overview of the existing accounts on local agency and statebuilding dynamics and makes a case for studying them by using contentious politics concepts. The book provides a detailed tracing of policies of the key international actors during and after the conflict in Bosnia. It provides an account of contentious local practices in Bosnia by engaging in detailed tracing of contention in the institutional domain. The book focuses on tangible practices of contention, and turns attention to the symbolic domain and traces acts of contention that deploy symbols or symbolic actions pertaining to identities.