A one-day conference on 20 years since the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina

For the past twenty years, since the signing of the General Framework Agreement, also known as the Dayton peace agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) has in many ways been a social experiment and an exercise in learning-by-doing. It has provided a fruitful ground for various international peacebuilding and statebuilding instruments and initiatives. NATO and EU missions, international representatives with executive powers, and EU special representatives are but some of the mechanisms that have been used in BH. Some of the lessons learned from the peace process in BH have already been reflected and implemented in the peace processes in Kosovo and Macedonia. 

Please register at Bosnia_Herzegovina_Dayton@ceu.edu  by November 16.

PROGRAM

9 – 9:30 a.m. OPENING REMARKS / John Shattuck | CEU President and Rector /  Jan Niklas Engels | Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Leader of the Budapest Office

9:30 – 10 a.m.  /  KEYNOTE ADDRESS /   Amer Kapetanovic  | Founding Member, Foreign Policy Initiative Think Tank, Bosnia and Herzegovina

10 – 10:15 a.m.  /  Coffee break

10:15 – 11:45 a.m.  /  Panel I: Socio-economic issues beyond the ethno-nationalist impasse

This panel aims to tackle the following questions: What are the most prominent socio-economic challenges to BH today? How have the BH institutions and the international actors on the ground approached them so far? Can the socio-economic issues be addressed across ethnic lines?

CHAIR  /  Elissa Helms  | CEU, Hungary

PRESENTATIONS  / Jasmina Husanovic  | University of Tuzla, BH /   Carna Brkovic | Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, Germany /  Mirna Jusic | Analitika, BH /  Karla Koutkova | CEU, Hungary

11:45 – 12:45 p.m.  /  Buffet lunch

12:45 – 2:15 p.m.  /  Panel II: Foreign influences in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnian interests abroad
This panel aims to address the following questions: How and to what extent do powerful international actors influence political, economic, and social developments in BH? To what extent and in what ways do various interest groups in BH attract international actors to engage politically and economically in BH?

CHAIR  /   Peter Balazs | Director of Center for EU Enlargement Studies, CEU

PRESENTATIONS  / Bruce Berton  | Principal Deputy High Representative and Brčko District Supervisor, US /  Sanja Tepavcevic | CEU, Hungary /  Esref Kenan Rasidagic  |  University of Sarajevo /  Danijela Majstorovic | University of Banja Luka, BH

2:15 – 2:55 p.m.  /  Coffee break

2:55 – 3 p.m.  /  Screening the trailer of the film “Ordinary Heroes”

3 – 4:30 p.m.  /  Panel III: Coexistence two decades after the war
This panel focuses on the following questions: Is coexistence in BH is a myth or a reality? What does coexistence mean in the current Bosnian context? How and to what extent has coexistence been achieved in BH? Which ones have been the relevant actors in this process? What are the still pending issues on this agenda?

CHAIR  /   Erin Jenne | CEU, Hungary

PRESENTATIONS  / Roberto Belloni  | University of Trento, Italy /   Natalia Andrea Peral | CEU, Hungary /   Elena B. Stavrevska | CEU, Hungary  /   Roland Schmidt | CEU, Hungary

4:30 – 5:10 p.m.  /  CLOSING ADDRESS  /  Marsaili Fraser  | Acting Head of the Political Section at the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina / John Shattuck | CEU President and Rector

5:10 – 5:50 p.m.  /  Reception

5:50 – 7:20 p.m.  /   “Ordinary Heroes” –film screening
MODERATOR  /  Nevena Medic  | Researcher, Post Conflict Research Center, Sarajevo