The Brcko Experience.

• Author: Murphy, Dennis M.
• Position: Book review

Reconstruction and Peace Building in the Balkans: The Brcko Experience by Robert William Farrand. With Allison Frendak-Blume, Rowland and Littlefield: Lanham, MD, ISBN: 978-1-4422-1235-0, 2011. 310 pp, $39.95.

Consider a newly contrived nation in the immediate aftermath of war, consumed by ethnic strife, with tensions simmering directly beneath the surface and often boiling over to violence. The infrastructure is destroyed, there is no rule of law, no economy to speak of, displaced citizens cannot safely return to their homes. Thus was the case of the municipality of Brcko when the Dayton Accords were signed in November 1995 ending that conflict in the Balkans. But so difficult was the Brcko situation that it was held up as a special case in the Accords, to be solved by arbitration under the direction of an appointed supervisor, U.S. Ambassador Robert W. (Bill) Farrand. In his autobiographical case study, Farrand provides a first-hand look into a role that, as he notes, no one person is trained or educated to carry out.

The Dayton Accords established the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina composed of two semi-autonomous entities: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb Republic. Brcko straddles the Posavina Corridor that links two portions of the Serb Republic and is in some places only three miles wide. Thus, as the author points out, the outcome of war made a relatively obscure place a strategically important crossroads (much like Gettysburg). Brcko had a rich multiethnic heritage prior to the conflict, with Bosniaks (Muslims), Serbs and Croats living in relative peace. Factories abounded, and the port on the Sava River was an active center of commerce and transportation. The war saw ethnic cleansing on a monumental level by the Serbs leaving the municipality in ruins and hatred palpable among all three ethnic groups.

Farrand takes the reader step by step through the process of reconciliation and rebuilding in all its myriad forms and with all its significant warts. He repeatedly emphasizes the important role of culture in his efforts, but not just the expected cultural filters of the indigenous populations on the ground, but significantly the organizational cultures of those charged with rebuilding the nation and Brcko itself. Non-governmental organizations, the international community, the bureaucracy of donor nations and entities, all complicated the already complex task of making Brcko whole. Among the more interesting...