The effects of European Unions' securitization policies: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2004-2018)

This study demonstrates how and in what parameters the security policies implemented by the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2004 and 2018 affected the security, stability and lasting peace in the country. Although 23 years have passed since the Dayton Peace Treaty, which lasted 3.5 years between 1992 and 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to end the unjust war that ended hundreds of thousands of lives, and millions of people took refuge or were displaced in their country, the international community, in particular the EU, still continues to work to ensure lasting peace and stability. The ethnic line in Bosnia and Herzegovina politics is more fragmented than ever, and the war between the parties continues in other means. The international community hopes that Bosnia and Herzegovina's full membership in the European Union will heal the traces of war on all sides. The EU has been examined in consideration of political, military, social, economic and environmental sectors within the framework of the strategy of integration of BiH into the EU - which was developed as an answer to the deficiencies of the Dayton system - the Copenhagen School Security Theory and Huntington's Theory of the Clash of Civilizations. Significant efforts have been made towards EU membership with the provisional trade agreement signed by the EU in 2008 and the Stabilization and Association Agreement which entered into force in 2016. However, it is likely that BiH will not even become a candidate country for the EU without completing the EU-required regulations in many areas, from its constitution to the electoral system, where BiH is at the forefront of meeting EU membership criteria. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still in a stalemate of 1995 politics because of Dayton's political structure and the rights it offers to the parties. Key Words: Dayton Peace Treaty, High Representative, European Union, EU Force, EU Special Representative