Bosnia Cannot Squander UK’s Growing Interest in Its Fate

In that sense, Bosnia's sovereignty can only be truly championed by its own citizens. Still, it is striking that for a country which at one time was the poster child of the triumphs of international liberalism, the cause of liberal democracy in Bosnia effectively falls on deaf ears in most Western capitals.

The US was instrumental to securing the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, for instance, but the same Clinton administration which secured the landmark deal also dragged its feet on intervention during the Bosnian War, and remained ambivalent about backing the interests of the then Sarajevo government.

Today, Joe Biden's administration - whose executive was one of the celebrated "Bosnia Hawks" during the 1990s - appears primarily interested in appeasing Serbian secessionists and their Croatian collaborators.

Why the about-face? The reasons are myriad, but the simplest explanation appears to be that this White House, like its predecessors, does not consider fostering a liberal-democratic, rational regime in Bosnia a priority. Fair enough: Ukraine, Russia, China, Afghanistan - the Biden administration has not lacked foreign policy challenges in its first year.

But that is cold comfort for those confronting an alarming and accelerating political crisis in Bosnia.

US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Eric Nelson (L), Chairman of Bosnian Presidency Zeljko Komsic (2-L), member of Bosnian Presidency Sefik Dzaferovic (3-L), member of the Presidency of Bosnia Milorad Dodik (C), Johann Sattler (R) Ambassador and EU Special Representative (EUSR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, The US Secretary of State's Special Representative for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer (3-R), and Angelina Eichhorst (2-R), EU Director for Western Europe, the...