The Improvised State: Sovereignty, Performance and Agency in Dayton Bosnia

Series Editors’ Preface x

Acknowledgements xi

Abbreviations xiii

1 Introduction 1

1.1 States, Performance and Improvisation 4

1.2 Towards a Political Anthropology of the Bosnian State 7

1.3 Critical Geopolitics and Qualitative Research Strategy 13

1.4 Structure of the Book 16

2 The Improvised State 20

2.1 The State Idea 22

2.2 Performance and Performativity 26

2.3 Improvisation: Performed Resourcefulness 32

2.4 Improvising the State 38

3 Producing Bosnia and Herzegovina 41

3.1 Fault Line 44

3.2 Barrier 50

3.3 The Balkan Vortex 62

3.4 The General Framework Agreement for Peace 67

3.5 Conclusion 70

4 Performing Brčko District 72

4.1 Brčko District and Arbitration 75

4.2 Stability: Getting the Job Done 85

4.3 Security: Constructing Legality 91

4.4 Neutralization: Making People Think 97

4.5 Conclusion 102

5 Gentrifying Civil Society 107

5.1 Building Civil Society 111

5.2 Social Capital: The Autonomy of Civil Society 115

5.3 Cultural Capital: ‘Don ’ t Just Ask for Another Copy Machine!’ 118

5.4 Beyond Gentrified Civil Society: Roma and Mjesne Zajednice 123

5.5 Conclusion 129

6 Enacting Justice 132

6.1 Spaces of Justice 134

6.2 Contesting the State 139

6.3 Enrolling Civil Society 145

6.4 Conclusion 153

7 Becoming European 156

7.1 Europeanization and the State 158

7.2 Nested Balkanism 162

7.3 Conclusion 166

8 Conclusion 169

References 179

Index 197