The limits of state building. A comparative research on the negative aspects of state building regarding human rights in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

This thesis focusses on the relation between state building and human rights and. How and why did the state building processes differentiate between Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the breakup of Yugoslavia both states conducted a state building process where in the areas of the government, legal settlement and output levels, different actions have been undertaken to produce strong state institutions. While this is normally seen as a prerequisite to adequate protection of human rights within states, this thesis has found that there are numerous negative consequences of this process for the human rights of both states. In Slovenia the process was done out of an ideological move away from Yugoslavia and because of this, identity played a large role. The largest issue was the discrimination on (former) Yugoslav minorities that came to be known as the erased. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, state building was centered around limiting the possibility of renewed violence. Because of this the process became more decentralized, and in turn giving way to the emergence of ethnically based politics and policies hindering successful state building.