The Foreign Service Journal, November 2005

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51 he 20th century began and ended with wars in the Balkans. The First World War started with the assassi- nation of Archduke Franz Ferdi- nand in Sarajevo, and at century’s end the dissolution of the Yugoslav republic made Bosnia and Kosovo synonymous with brutal ethnic wars and crimes against humanity. Then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher described the 1992-95 Bosnian War as “a problem from hell.” It produced acts of genocide and war crimes on a scale unprecedented in Europe since World War II, accounting for nearly two million refugees and internally displaced persons. A series of failed peace plans under- scored the impotence of the international community and dashed hopes that the end of the Cold War could empower the United Nations as a force for collective security and humanitarian intervention. It also proved a false dawn for those eager to declare that the “hour of Europe” as a force for regional security had arrived. Ten years ago this month, the Dayton accords finally brought that bloody conflict to an end, constituting a signal achievement for U.S. diplomacy. The agreement was the product of a marathon three-week negotiating session led by U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and held under quarantined conditions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Initialed at Dayton on Nov. 21, 1995, and signed in Paris on Dec. 14, 1995, by representatives of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Dayton Peace Agreement created a loosely unified Bosnian state com- prised of the Croat-Bosniak Federation and the Republika Srpska. It also set the stage for a massive military and civil- ian intervention that continues today. This anniversary is a good time to look back at a decade’s worth of lessons about humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction, and to contemplate the steps needed to ensure that peace continues to take root in this troubled region. Dayton was a success story, but also a work in progress. The Dayton blueprint had significant deficits in the recon- struction pillars of security, justice and reconciliation, and in ensuring social and economic well-being. Yet as the inter- national community’s interpretation of the accords evolved, implementers assumed more robust powers and expanded the original agreement’s terms to strengthen the Bosnian state’s stability. The result has been a decade of peace, the return of over a million displaced persons, and a growing commitment by all ethnic groups to rejoin international society through the creation of a multi-ethnic state at peace with its neighbors. Some observers might be tempted to ask whether the Bosnian experience still matters. Beyond the country’s prox- imity to Western Europe, there are several other reasons to pay close attention to its prospects: • Bosnia’s porous borders, abundance of loose weapons L EARNING FROM D AYTON A DECADE AFTER ITS SIGNING , THE D AYTON P EACE A GREEMENT STILL OFFERS VALUABLE LESSONS ABOUT HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION , PEACEKEEPING AND POST - CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION . B Y T HEODORE T ANOUE Theodore Tanoue has been a Foreign Service officer since 1982. He served in Sarajevo as political counselor from 2002 to 2004, and recently completed a year as State Department Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he drafted this article. His previous overseas postings include assignments in Munich, Rome, Taipei, Osaka and Manila. T