No abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. ridden fitting EU security concerns and needs. As a result, the police reform process can beand often is-disconnected from the political and socio-economic reforms necessary for longterm stability and sustainable peace. Police assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been shaped by a determined albeit questionable focus on organised crime and corruption. The focus of EU police reform in Macedonia on primarily crime fighting aspects of policing has compromised the functioning of the Macedonian police. Similarly, the politics of (non)-recognition of Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence and the intrusiveness of EULEX Kosovo's executive mandate contravene meeting local challenges. Permanent repository link2

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent AbstractPolice reform plays a key role in Bosnia and Herzegovina's internationally-supervised statebuilding process. It is one of the four key conditions to move the country closer to its European future. Against this background the article analyses the role that the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) plays in preparing Bosnian police agencies for this challenge. Using as guiding tools some of the key elements of the Mission's leitmotif -local ownership, European police standards -the article comes to the conclusion that EUPM has introduced much needed reforms but these have been overshadowed, among other things, by the police restructuring process and its unnecessary politicisation of "European police standards/practices" to fit a model of statehood not shared by all local stakeholders.

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. It identifies an increasing tension between, on the one hand, the Union's use of its border strategy to foster the long-term stabilisation of the countries of the Western Balkans and their future integration into the EU and, on the other hand, the use of border management as an instrument to ensure its own internal security. This tension can be broken down into a three-fold contradiction inbuilt into the EU's strategy: short-term vs. long-term objectives; a security vs. development focus; and interventionism vs. local ownership approaches. Permanent repository linkThese contradictions, aggravated by local and regional political, economic and security challenges, can explain existing shortcomings in the EU's border interventions in the Western Balkans.

This chapter focuses on a very particular aspect of the democratic reform of police forces that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the post-conflict reconstruction efforts.i It provides an account of the 'certification process' -or vetting -of all police officers, carried out by the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) and the International Police Task Force (IPTF). This process, which officially was completed at the end of 2002 when the United Nations (UN) mission left the country, was kept alive -at least in part -by the activities of two groups (Association of DecertifiedPolicemen of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska Association of Decertified Policemen), which contested the outcome of the process on the basis that it suffered from operational and, more importantly, structural shortcomings. In other words, they considered that the process had been undemocratic and its outcomes were having adverse repercussions for the rights of decertified police officers. The two associations engaged in a legal battle and a political fight, for the policy and related legislation to be changed. Their efforts failed to yield the desired response from national actors due to the powers enjoyed by the UN during its mission in Bosnia. However, the matter was referred to the UN Security Council, which ultimately was forced to overrule its policy of If you wish to cite it please consult the final published version for the correct pagination.2 out, 'it reminds us that in the final analysis the client of state security institutions is the individual citizen'.ii Civil society performs this role through three types of actions. First, it can be the source of information and knowledge on security and defence matters for both the public and policymakers and, thereby, can contribute to the shaping, implementation and acceptance of policies. Second, it can promote and facilitate wider participation in the process through public debate on security and defence matters (newspaper reporting, public meetings and so on), which also contributes to the development of reforms that are locally owned and locally sustainable. Third, civil society can hold security actors accountable for wrongdoing and malpractice by performing an external oversight role.iii It is this third type of action that best describes what was achieved by the two Associations of Decertified Policemen. In Bosnia this oversight was directed at both the Bosnian authorities and the UN, whose extensive powers drove the process of certification of police officers. Thus, the case study If you wish to cite it please consult the final published version for the correct pagination.