ABSTRACT

This chapter shows how the institutions and processes of governance are deployed by local agencies to contest the process, while rebuilding the institutional domain that has been the primary objective of the international statebuilding actors. It briefs an overview of the local state formation processes and agendas. The chapter highlights the variety of motivations behind local contentious practices. While many Bosniaks challenge the international statebuilding project as half-hearted and ineffective, Serbs see it as oppressive and biased. The analysis then moves onto discussing different modalities of contention at the state-level institutions, touching upon some of the main contentious practices such as boycotts and walk-outs and key events such as the defense and police reforms. The chapter indicates the contests between "moderate" and "radical" forces within the statebuilding projects take frequently place and the statebuilding agendas shift in accordance with the internal balance of power, as the analysis. It further focuses on contentious practices at the entity and cantonal level institut