Bosnia and Herzegovina : Post-Conflict Reconstruction and the Transition to a Market Economy, An OED Evaluation of World Bank Support

Abstract

Following three years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), during which over 10 percent of the population were killed or wounded, and over half of the population displaced, a peace agreement, the Dayton Accords (DA), was negotiated in November 1995. The DA acknowledged the bitter ethnic divides that led to war by establishing a government structure with a weak central State; the ethnically based Entities (the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska) retained political, military, and economic authority. The DA also provided for a strong international police and military presence and an international overseer-the Office of the High Representative (OHR). Although this structure was a necessary political compromise at the time of the DA, it has presented difficult challenges to the Bank as well as other donors.