KCL MUN Study Guide - The Bosnian Crisis (21/02/2012)

“The Bosnian Crisis”

UN Historical Security
Council (1993)

A study guide written as part of
the KCL Model United Nations
Chairing Training Program 2012
A didactic program by MUN University

http://www.mununiversity.org

2 “The Bosnian Crisis”

Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
The concept of a historical simulation ....................................................................................................................... 4
Workings of the Security Council .............................................................................................................................. 4
.

The Bosnian Crisis .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Historical setting – a timeline of events ..................................................................................................................... 6

Entities involved and important terms ........................................................................................................... 9
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ....................................................................................................... 10
Herzeg-‐‑Bosna ............................................................................................................................................................... 10
Republika Srpska ........................................................................................................................................................ 10
Croatia .......................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Serbia ............................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Slovenia ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11
FR Yugoslavia .............................................................................................................................................................. 11
JNA ................................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Key events leading up to the crisis ................................................................................................................ 12
Siege of Sarajevo ......................................................................................................................................................... 12
.
Operation Koridor: ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Operation Vrbas 92: .................................................................................................................................................... 12
Višegrad massacre ...................................................................................................................................................... 12
Prijedor massacre ........................................................................................................................................................ 12

Attempts at Peacekeeping ............................................................................................................................... 13
Carrington-‐‑Cutileiro plan .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Arms Embargo ............................................................................................................................................................ 13
Vance-‐‑Owen Plan ....................................................................................................................................................... 13
.
The Brijuni Agreement ............................................................................................................................................... 13
Graz Agreement .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Karadordevo Meeting ................................................................................................................................................ 14

A study guide written as part of the KCL MUN Chairing Training Program 2012



Ethnic wars defined .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Academic solutions to ethnic conundrums ................................................................................................. 16
.
Suppression ................................................................................................................................................................. 16
.
Reconstruction of ethnic identities ........................................................................................................................... 16
Power-‐‑sharing ............................................................................................................................................................. 16
State building ............................................................................................................................................................... 16

Issues and solutions ......................................................................................................................................... 17
Key issues ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17




Introduction
The concept of a historical simulation

A Historical Security Council is, in essence, a simulation of a session of the Security Council, in the past. The
historical approach replays historic Security Council sessions; simulating the debates, negotiations and decision
making on past crises. It is, if you will, a ‘return’ to peak conflicts and an attempt to address them in a more
effective and feasible manner. There is a strict cut-‐‑off date mentioned and no anachronistic statements are
permitted; thus no references beyond the date indicated may be made. No facts or events after the assigned date
may be referred to. However, this does not impede the working of the council as the council functions following
the functions and powers granted to it by the Charter of the United Nations. The issues are to be addressed as if
the issues given were occurring currently.

Delegates have a chance to re-‐‑live, not necessarily re-‐‑enact the crisis. Delegates are restricted by the foreign policy
of their respective member-‐‑states and must bear in mind to adequately adhere to the realpolitik of the set time
frame. However, it also presents the delegates, and the committee as a whole, a unique opportunity to re-‐‑write
history. They have the privilege of hindsight and better judgment and the possibility of avoiding the pitfalls of
their predecessors. Yet delegates must remember, that in order to have a veritable simulation of a past crisis, they
must maintain a strong delegation identity and uphold the foreign policy and protect the interests of their
respective governments.

Workings of the Security Council

One of the six principal organs of the United Nations, based at UN headquarters in New York, the United
Nations Security Council was established to serve as the organ with primary responsibility for preserving peace
and preventing armed conflict. It met for the first time at Church House in London in 1946, adopting its rules of
procedure and in the past has occasionally held meetings in various cities across the world including Paris, Addis
Ababa and Nairobi. For the most part however the Security Council remains in New York. Unlike the General
assembly however, the Security Council in theory exists in permanent session. Any member can call for a meeting
by informing the council’s President and the meeting must be held within an hour of this notification.
The council is comprised of 15 members, of which 5 sit on the council on a permanent basis (France, China,
Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States). The remaining 10 members are elected for 2-‐‑year terms
without the possibility of immediate re election with 5 new non-‐‑permanent members being elected every year.
Each member of the council has one vote. Procedural decisions require an affirmative vote of 9 out of 15
members. Substantive issues on the other hand require the affirmative vote of 9 out of 15 members, including all
P5 members. A ‘no’ vote from any permanent member (they may however abstain from voting and abstention




doesn’t count as a ‘no’ vote any more as it did originally) automatically results in a failure of the issue being voted
upon. This has come to be known as the veto power.
The Security Council is the primary executive organ of the United Nations. Its primary task is to maintain
International Peace and Security. Under Chapter VI, Article 35 of the UN charter:

“The Security Council may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to
a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of
international peace and security.”

Under the aforementioned chapter VI of the charter the Security Council may issue recommendation to
conflicting parties to arrive at a peaceful settlement of disputes. However if a situation continues to jeopardize
International security, the council may invoke Chapter VII of the charter (Action with Respect to Threats to the
Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of Aggression). Decisions taken under Chapter VII are legally binding
under international law and must be carried out by the member state in question.
The Security Council gains its authority from article 25 of the charter:

“The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with
the present Charter”

In addition to the maintaining of International Peace and Security the Council, in accordance with the charter is
also tasked with:

Formulating plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;
Calling on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to
prevent or stop aggression;
Taking military action against an aggressor;
Recommending the admission of new Members;
Exercising the trusteeship functions of the United Nations in "ʺstrategic areas"ʺ;
Recommending to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-‐‑General and, together with the
Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice.




The Bosnian Crisis
Historical setting – a timeline of events

1989-‐‑ The Serbian government takes power over the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, thus giving it an
effective 3 out of 8 votes in the Yugoslavian Federal Government.

20th January, 1990-‐‑ At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the
delegations of the republics could not agree on the main issues in the Yugoslav federation. As a result, the
Slovenian and Croatian delegates left the Congress. The Slovenian delegation, headed by Milan Kucan demanded
democratic changes and a looser federation, while the Serbian delegation, headed by Milošević, opposed it. This
is considered the beginning of the end of Yugoslavia.

Throughout 1990 -‐‑ All nationalistic parties begin to attain power in the other Republics, most importantly being
the Croatian Democratic Union.

March, 1990-‐‑ The Karadordevo Agreement takes place. Serbia and Croatia decide to partition B & H (Bosnia and
Herzegovina) and consequently divide it between both of them. The newly formed Bosnian government was ill
equipped and when Serbs within Bosnia and Herzegovina began to attack from within (with the Serbian
government’s aid) the Bosnians were not prepared to meet these attacks. Serbia began to claim all Serbian
majority provinces within B & H as its own. The Bosnian government began to lose power over the nation. Croat
leader Franjo Tudman also had an extremely aggressive policy towards Bosnia, with the ultimate goal of Croatian
expansion.

November 1990-‐‑ The first multi-‐‑ party elections takes place, and the three most nationalistic parties win, the Party
of Democratic Action, The Croatian Democratic Union and the Serbian Democratic Party. The power is divided
among ethnic lines, giving the three most important positions being given to one Serb, one Bosniak, and one
Croat.

22nd December, 1990-‐‑ The Croatian government creates and adopts a new constitution which takes away some
of the rights of Serbia, which had previously been granted to it. This spearheads the process towards complete
independence. Slovenia follows suit.

25th June, 1991-‐‑ Slovenia and Croatia declare independence which leads to much widespread violence. The Ten-‐‑
Day war begins, which is a conflict between the Slovenian army and the Yugoslavian Army (JNA). Meanwhile,
the Croatian War of Independence raises substantial international attention, causing the United Nations Security
Council to intervene with the creation of a ‘Protection Force’.




15th October, 1991-‐‑ The nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares independence. This requires a 2/3rd majority
to pass. A memorandum takes place, but Serbs boycott it. The voter turnout is 63.4% with nearly all voting for
independence. Having failed to reach the 2/3rd majority required, Bosnia technically could not declare
independence but goes ahead and does it anyways on March 5th, 1992, much to the frustration of Serbian
politicians.

October 24th, 1991-‐‑ Serbian members of Parliament in B & H decide to part themselves from the rest of the
nation, forming their own Serbian Nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, known officially as the Republic of Sprska.

18th November, 1991-‐‑ Following Serbian example, the Croatian leaders (with the support of Franjo Tudman)
establish a Croatian Republic of Herzeg-‐‑Bosna as a completely separate entity from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Thus the idea of dividing B & H between the Serbs and Croats has materialized.

September 1991-‐‑ March 1992-‐‑ The Lisbon Agreement
The Carrington-‐‑Cutileiro plan, AKA the Lisbon agreement was a plan devised by the Portuguese to end the
conflict. In short-‐‑ it was a plan that devised a sort of power sharing along the ethnic lines at the administrative
levels. It also recognized all provinces as belonging one of the three distinct communities-‐‑ Bosniak, Serb or Croat.
Finally on March 18th all three sides accepted the agreement. Sadly, only 10 days later, Izetbogevic, met with US
ambassador to Yugoslavia and withdrew his support, thus rendering it null and void.

September 1991-‐‑ Temporary ‘End of conflict’
The UN resolution passed called for an arms embargo in the entire region. However this was somewhat unfare as
the Serbian army was far better equipped than the Bosnians, who got a very small share of JNA arms. Also, many
reports that surfaced showed that the Serbs were importing weapons illicitly from many European nations. The
US lobbied for this to be withdrawn, but when it did not happen they also began to funnel arms into Bosnia,
along with a few Islamic nations who, for obvious reasons were supporting Bosnia.

1992-‐‑ This year was characterized by the actual start of the war, as well by the first real instances of an organized
and systematic ethnic cleansing. The first casualty of the war is widely believed to have occurred on the 1st of
March 1992.

7th January 1992-‐‑ Allegations surface which shows a very clear plan to clear cut plan for the Serb takeover of
municipalities within Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also included the creation of a crises committee. The head of
this assembly was the notorious Miliomir Stakic, later convicted of human rights abuses.

9th January 1992 -‐‑ a declaration proclaimed the creation of a Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which
was basically in the regions with a high frequency Serb population.




28th February 1992-‐‑ under the ongoing expansionist policy, the Serbs declared that parts of Bosnia and
Herzegovina that may have had a Serb majority (were it not for the genocides during the Second World War) also
as part of the new Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, they changed the name of the above to
‘Republika Sprska’

March to May, 1992-‐‑ These months were characterized by heavy gunfire, violence as well as the first indications
of large scale genocide attempts. The war had finally begun to materialize. The SDS, together with the JNA now
began to create a sort of information and communication blockade on the Eastern front.

The 1992 Ethnic Cleansing
-‐‑Serb forces began in 1992, to target and capture Serb majority towns. With the help of the Serb population, they
often raided the houses of non Serb-‐‑subjects, that is the Bosniaks. Then, they would very methodically capture
them, destroy their houses and detained in camps. Men and women were separated. Allegations of mass
murders, rapes and beatings were very common.

18th June 1992 -‐‑ the Bosnian Territorial Defence in Novi Tranik received an ultimatum from the HVO that
included demands to abolish existing Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions, establish the authority of the Croatian
Community of Herzeg-‐‑Bosnia and pledge allegiance to it, subordinate the Territorial Defense to the HVO and
expel Muslim refugees, all within 24 hours. The attack was launched on 19 June. The elementary school and the
Post Office were attacked and damaged. Croats initially attacked Gornji Vakuf on 20 June 1992, but the attack
failed. Vastly underequipped Bosnian forces, fighting on two fronts, were able to repel Croats and gain territory
against them on every front. At this time, due to its geographic position, Croat and Serb forces from all sides
surrounded Bosnia. There was no way to import weapons or food. What saved Bosnia at this time was its vast
Industrial complex (Steel and Heavy Industries) that was able to switch to military hardware production.

August 1992 -‐‑ HOS leader Blaz Krajilevik was killed by HVO soldiers, which severely weakened the moderate
group who hoped to keep the alliance between Bosniaks and Croats alive.

October 1992 -‐‑ Croat forces attacked Bosniak civilian population in Prozor burning their homes and killing
civilians. According to Jadranco Plidic indictment, HVO forces cleansed most of the Muslims from the town of
Prozor and several surrounding villages. In October 1992 the Serbs captured the town of Jajke and expelled the
Croat and Bosniak population. The fall of the town was largely due to a lack of Bosniak-‐‑Croat cooperation and
rising tensions, especially over the previous four months.

January 8th, 1993 – The Prime minister of the RBiH is assassinated by Serbian forces while being escorted to the
airport by a United Nations convoy. Serbian forces are the chief suspects. Only a day later, we the members of the
United Nations Security Council are supposed to resolve the crises at hand.




Entities involved and important terms

Introduction

There are various countries and political entities involved in the Bosnian war. The countries included in this war
are The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Slovenia and to a lesser extent,
Montenegro and Macedonia. On the other hand, the political entities are the Republika Srpska and the Herzeg
Bosnia. This war is a result of the fragmentation of the six republics of Yugoslavia. Slovenia and Croatia, initially
a part of Yugoslavia declared independence in 1990, which led to a mass outbreak followed by a similar
declaration from Bosnia. The Serbians however were against such a division and this conflict led to a prolonged
struggle. This matter was put to vote, the Serbians boycotted the parliament session, and Bosnia was declared
independent. Fortunately for Bosnia, the European community and the United States of America recognized them
as a country in 1992.




Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This country was mainly inhabited by Bosniak Muslims, orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats and hence has been
divided into two, along the lines of ethnicity, into the Republika Srpska or the Serbians and Herzeg-‐‑Bosna or the
Croats. The Yugoslavs people’s army (JNA) supported this format as they stayed on in Bosnia and joint the
Republika Srpska.

Herzeg-‐‑Bosna

This is an unrecognized entity supported by Croatia, which uses their language, currency and are even citizens of
the Republic of Croatia. They define themselves as a distinct "ʺpolitical, cultural, economic and territorial whole,"ʺ
located within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The leaders of this organization, Mate Boban and Dario
Kordic, who have been in command since 1991, believe in ethnic cleansing of the non-‐‑Croat population. Their
main aim is to take control of all the areas within Bosnia and Herzegovina that have Croats. This however,
coincides with their own internal struggle for independence.

Republika Srpska

They are a political entity, supported by Serbia and Montenegro and want to form a greater Serbia by dividing
the country along ethnic lines. They declared themselves independent in 1992 and were supported by the United
States of America, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands. Originally the Serbians living
in Bosnia, they later broke way and formed this political organization as they were against the Bosniaks who
wanted to break away from Yugoslavia. Their army is known as the Vojska Republike Srpska and has orthodox
Serbians as their officers while Russians and other Serb paramilitary forces form an integral part of their group.
They are supported by the Yugoslavs people’s army (JNA) and hence receive much of their arms and ammunition
from them. This resulted in many massacres and severe human rights violations committed by this organization
and they managed to get a large portion of the country under their control. Since they were a part of Yugoslavia,
they could enter into various unions with political bodies representing certain people within Bosnia and
Herzegovina. According to their constitution, they define themselves as "ʺa territorially unified, indivisible, and
inalienable constitutional and legal entity that independently performs its constitutional, legislative, executive
and judicial functions"ʺ. Its territory includes districts, municipalities, and regions where Serbs were the majority
and also those where they had become a minority because of the persecution during World War II.

Croatia
During the Second World War, Croatia was a fascist puppet state but after Stalin and Broze Tito broke of all ties,
the country became socialist and was a Constitutional Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, the Yugoslav
Army and Serbians fought together against the Croatian paramilitary units. The military formation of the Croats,




The Croatian Defense Council, sieged many municipal governments and services and removed local Bosniak
leaders.

Serbia
Serbians never wanted Bosnia and Herzegovina to break away from Yugoslavia and hence were in full support of
the Republika Srpska. With the help of the army of the Republika Srpska, the Serbians brought 70% of the
territory in dispute under their control. The Serbian military and police force were extremely violent and believed
in ethnic cleansing.

Slovenia
They declared their independence from Yugoslavia on the 25 of June 1991. On the same day, their defense units
captured Yugoslav control posts on the borders of Italy, Hungary and Austria. They established border control
posts on their own border with Croatia. As a result of these actions, the Yugoslav People'ʹs army (JNA) attacked
the Slovenian army. They only withdrew after signing the Brijuni agreement.

FR Yugoslavia
FR Yugoslavia was consisted of the two remaining republics of Yugoslavia: Serbia and Montenegro. They wanted
to maintain the state of Yugoslavia instead of split up into various republics.

JNA
The Yugoslavs people’s army was formed during World War II. In 1990, the Republic of Slovenia stopped
contributing to the annual military expenses and Croatia tied up with paramilitary forces. The Yugoslavs Army
withdrew from Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, after being defeated in many wars and losing a large chunk of
their soldiers and equipment. They were dissolved in 1992, on the 20th of May. Their remnants formed a part of
the new military of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.




Key events leading up to the crisis
Siege of Sarajevo
Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 5 April 1992, till date, the Serb forces of the Republika
Srpska have joint forces with the Yugoslav People'ʹs Army and taken over this city, committing heinous human
rights violations and destruction.

Operation Koridor:
A codename for an operation conducted by the army of the Republika Srpska in June of last year. The primary
motive of this operation was to unite the Western and Eastern factions of the Republic Srpska. Although the
operation was successful, there were a shockingly large number of casualties.

Operation Vrbas 92:
Military attack planned by the army of the Republika Srpska in June 1992. The main aim was to capture the town
of Jajce, which the Croat forces wanted. After months of fighting, the Army of the Republika Srpska captured the
town and drove out their forces.

Višegrad massacre
Mass murder committed against the civilians of Bosnia in 1992, where 3000 Bosniaks were murdered.

Prijedor massacre
Ethnic cleansing committed on the Bosniaks in 1992 by the Serbians.




Attempts at Peacekeeping
A few countries and the United Nations tried peacekeeping methods to prevent the war. However, when those
failed, they tried to stop the war. These plans included:

Carrington-‐‑Cutileiro plan
The Carrington-‐‑Cutileiro plan was a peace-‐‑making plan, created during the European Community'ʹs peace
conference held in February 1992, to prevent the Bosnian war. The plan proposed, "ʺethnic power sharing on all
administrative levels and the devolution of the central government to local ethnic communities."ʺ The districts of
Bosnia and Herzegovina would be classified based on ethnic majority and in some cases even if there was no
clear majority. On 18 March 1992, all three sides signed the agreement: Alija Izetbegovic for the Bosniaks,
Radovan Karadzic for the serbs and Mate Boban for the Croats. On March 28, Izetbegovic withdrew his signature
from the agreement after he met with US ambassador Zimmerman and opposed any kind of division of Bosnia
and Herzegovina which entailed the division of Bosnia into three, based on ethnic grouping. This showed a
certain level of support towards Bosnia by the United States of America because Zimmerman supposedly told
Izetbegovic to disagree with the document and stated that The US would recognize them as an independent
country if he did so.

Arms Embargo
This was declared by the United Nations Security Council and hurt the sentiments of the Bosniak leaders because
Serbia had got their arms from the JNA while Croatia could smuggle them through the coast and hence, Bosnia
and Herzegovina were left with very few armaments. The few barracks and arms remaining in Bosnia were
controlled by Serbia or could not be utilized owing to poor electricity and scarce raw material. the United States
of America supported them in their plea to have the embargo lifted but UK, Russia and France opposed it, as a
result of which US smuggled weapons in discretely as they didn'ʹt want to offend the opposing countries or lose
their support.

Vance-‐‑Owen Plan
A peace plan, which entailed negotiating a proposal with the leaders of Bosnia'ʹs warring factions to divide it into
ten autonomous states, backed by the United Nations. The European community supported this plan.

The Brijuni Agreement
A document signed by the representatives of the Republic of Slovenia, Republic of Croatia and the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on July 7th, 1991. This was under the political sponsorship of the European
community and hence was supported by Luxembourg, Netherlands and Portugal. As per this document, the




SFRY would stop all hostilities on Slovenia, thus ending the Slovenian war and Slovenia and Croatia would
freeze independence activities for three months.

Graz Agreement
This was a partition agreement signed by the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic and the Bosnian Croat
leader Mate Boban on May 6th, 1992 in Austria. According to this document, Bosnia and Herzegovina would be
divided between the Republika Srpska and the Herzeg-‐‑Bosnia. The Bosniaks, were not in favor of this settlement
and the Bosnian croats felt they would be betraying their Bosniak allies by seizing their land.

Karadordevo Meeting
The aim of this plan was to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia in such a way that
territories with either majority would be annexed. This meeting , however , did not discuss the share of the
largest group ,the Bosniaks.




Ethnic wars defined
Civil wars are not all alike. Ethnic conflicts are disputes between communities, which see themselves as having
distinct heritages, over the power relationship between the communities. Ethnic war also shrinks scope for
individual identity choice. Even those who put little value on their ethnic identity are pressed towards ethnic
mobilization for two reasons. Extremists within each community are likely to impose sanctions on those who do
not contribute to the cause. In 1992 the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union in Bosnia was dismissed on the
ground that he "ʺwas too much Bosnian, too little Croat."ʺ Once ethnic groups are mobilized for war, the war
cannot end until the populations are separated into defensible, mostly homogeneous regions. Even if an
international force or an imperial conqueror were to impose peace, the conflict would resume as soon as it left.
Even if a national government were somehow re-‐‑created despite mutual suspicions, neither group could safely
entrust its security to it. Continuing mutual threat also ensures perpetuation of hypernationalist propaganda,
both for mobilization and because the plausibility of the threat posed by the enemy gives radical nationalists an
unanswerable advantage over moderates in intra-‐‑group debates.

Once populations are separated, both cleansing and rescue imperatives disappear; war is no longer compulsory.
At the same time, any attempt to grab more territory requires a major conventional military offensive. Thus the
conflict changes from one of mutual pre-‐‑emptive ethnic cleansing to something approaching conventional
interstate war in which normal deterrence dynamics apply. Mutual deterrence does not guarantee that there will
be no further violence, but it reduces the probability of outbreaks, as well as the likely aims and intensity of those
that do occur.




Academic solutions to ethnic conundrums

Suppression
Many ethnic civil wars lead to the complete victory of one side and the forcible suppression of the other. This may
reduce violence in some cases, but will never be an aim of outsiders considering humanitarian intervention

Reconstruction of ethnic identities
The most ambitious program to end ethnic violence would be to reconstruct ethnic identities according to the
"ʺConstructivist Model"ʺ of nationalism. Constructivists argue that individual and group identities are fluid,
continually being made and re-‐‑made in social discourse. Replacement of ethnicity by some other basis for
political identification requires that political parties have cross-‐‑ethnic appeal, but examples of this in the midst of
ethnic violence are virtually impossible to find. In late 1992 Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic attempted to
reconstruct Serbian identity in a less nationalist direction. Running for the Serbian presidency against Miloševic,
Panic promised democratization, economic reform, and ends to the war in Bosnia as well as to UN sanctions.
Miloševic painted him as a tool of foreign interests, and Panic lost with 34 percent of the vote.

Power-‐‑sharing
The best-‐‑developed blueprint for civic peace in multiethnic states is power-‐‑sharing or "ʺconsociational
democracy,"ʺ

The key components are:
Joint exercise of governmental power;
Proportional distribution of government funds and jobs;
Autonomy on ethnic issues (which, if groups are concentrated territorially, may be achieved by regional
federation); and
A minority veto on issues of vital importance to each group.

State building
As with imposing power sharing, this requires occupying the country (and may require conquering it), coercing
all sides to accept a democratic constitution, enforcing peace until elections can be held, and administering the
economy and the elections. Conservatorship thus requires even more finesse than enforced power-‐‑sharing and
probably more military risks.




Issues and solutions
It is widely agreed by international analysts that in lead up to the war, European powers took decisions keeping
in mind only regional problems and without the involvement of international institutions or international powers
like USA. This is also one of the reasons for the escalation of the issue.

Key issues
Three important issues that the international community must handle are:
Working towards a diplomatic solution that would uphold the value of tolerance in the form of
preserving a multiethnic community;
Moderating the fight and attempting to end it through diplomacy;
Protecting human rights and providing humanitarian aid.

One of the reasons why the war has gone on for so long was that the global powers chose a strategy that
preserved their power and cooperation rather than a strategy that would halt the bloodshed.



KCL MUN Study Guide - The Bosnian Crisis (21/02/2012)

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