The Struggle to Rebuild Ethnic Diversity in Sarajevo

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the international strategy to rebuild Sarajevo’s ethnic diversity after its urban area had been territorially divided between the two entities in the peace agreement. Firstly, there is an analysis of the changing interest of the international community in relation to minority returns during the first two post-war years. Subsequently, the empowerment of the High Representative in December 1997 is addressed considering that it culminated an increasing international involvement in the civilian annexes of the DPA and became a turning point in the promotion of minority returns. A direct consequence of the empowerment of the High Representative was the adoption of the Sarajevo Declaration, the internationally devised strategy aimed at remaking the symbolic ethnic diversity of the city. Finally, the focus on its complex implementation reveals SDA obstructionist practices as well as the limitations of the Sarajevo Declaration, which failed to rebuild ethnic diversity despite finally succeeding in the restitution of housing.