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DPC POLICY NOTE 17: “Doing Democracy” at Home and Abroad: A Two-Way Street

Author(s): Valery Perry / Language(s): English

Keywords: protect democracy; Capitol attack; USA and Bosnica;

In the week after the January 6 mob attack on the Capitol I reached out to seven American friends and colleagues who are in or have recently lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) doing various kinds of democracy, human rights, and development work over the past 25 years. I asked the following broad questions: (a) What were you thinking while watching the events unfold on January 6? (b) Based on your experience in democracy promotion abroad, what do you think is needed in the US to move forward? (c) What do you think US democratization policy and support – globally – should look like moving forward?Our one-on-one conversations included a number of themes summarized below, and together offer food for thought on reconstituting democratic practices, institutions, and norms in the US, and also on US democratization policy abroad.

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DPC POLICY NOTE 16: The West’s Dirty Mostar Deal. Deliverables in the Absence of a BiH Policy

Author(s): Bodo Weber / Language(s): English

Keywords: Mostar-Deal;

Last June, the ambassadors of the European Union and the US to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), together with the UK ambassador to BiH, struck a deal on Mostar with the main Croat and Bosniak parties, the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH (HDZ BiH) and the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). The agreement ended a ten-year deadlock on implementation of a Constitutional Court of BiH (CC BiH) ruling that suspended the Election Law of BiH and provisions in the Mostar city statute that regulated local elections on the grounds they were discriminatory, and returned the right to vote to the Herzegovinian city’s citizens, who on December 20 will vote for the first time in 12 years to elect their local representatives. The deal was praised by the West as a major breakthrough, a long-awaited return of local elites to a policy of compromise, and even an expression of a “thriving democracy.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

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DPC POLICY NOTE 15: Reflections on Efforts to Prevent and Counter Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the Balkans

DPC POLICY NOTE 15: Osvrt na napore prevencije i borbe protiv radikalizacije i nasilnog ekstremizma na Balkanu

Author(s): Valery Perry / Language(s): Bosnian

Keywords: violent extremism; unrest in Bosnia;

This essay considers the “new” efforts aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism and argues that they are quite often the same kind of actions taken to establish the basic elements of democratic, resilient societies. Efforts aimed at post-war democratic consolidation or European enlargement support - ranging from strengthening local communities, working with youth, improving education systems, strengthening the independence of the police and justice sector and more – are becoming more overtly securitized. While such efforts in support of democratic reform have been viewed as a laudable goal in their own right for two decades, now they are linked to terror prevention. After an introduction on efforts to prevent and counter violent extremism, specific nuances in the Balkan region are explored. Three sets of challenges that limit genuine reform in the region – identity politics, the state of civic values and civil politics, and pervasive broken governance systems – are examined as both byproducts and drivers of unresolved conflicts.

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The EU Must Shift Out of Neutral in Its Enlargement Strategy: Championing Liberal Values Means Choosing Sides

Author(s): Kurt Bassuener,Valery Perry,Toby Vogel,Bodo Weber / Language(s): English

Keywords: EU-Enlargement; Western Balkans;

Immediately prior to the November meeting of the EU’s General Affairs Council, France released a non-paper that underscored that the enlargement halt was not really about enlargement at all. The non-paper was rife with contradictions and redundancies. Its main proposed innovation is a rejiggering of the enlargement policy into seven sequential phases. But the document also demonstrated a worrisome elite orientation, and was void of reference to or grounding in the EU’s foundational source code: the primacy of liberal democratic values and standards. This portends ill for Macron’s vision of the EU more broadly ... DPC recommends a different course to EU member states committed to enlargement and the EU-wide reinforcement of liberal democratic values, at a time when they are challenged both within the Union and from east and west. This does not require any major changes to mechanics, mandates, or procedures, but rather a philosophical shift in approaching the countries of the Western Balkans. The 2015-17 breakthrough in North Macedonia demonstrated two things: a) that the EU’s institutional default setting has for too long been on the side of illiberal elites; and b) the reality that in the expansion of a values-focused EU in the Western Balkans, citizens – not elites – are the Union’s real allies.

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Series:DEM. POLICY COUNCIL - Policy Notes

DPC POLICY NOTE 17: “Doing Democracy” at Home and Abroad: A Two-Way Street

DPC POLICY NOTE 17: “Doing Democracy” at Home and Abroad: A Two-Way Street

DPC POLICY NOTE 16: The West’s Dirty Mostar Deal. Deliverables in the Absence of a BiH Policy

DPC POLICY NOTE 16: The West’s Dirty Mostar Deal. Deliverables in the Absence of a BiH Policy

DPC POLICY NOTE 15: Reflections on Efforts to Prevent and Counter Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the Balkans

DPC POLICY NOTE 15: Osvrt na napore prevencije i borbe protiv radikalizacije i nasilnog ekstremizma na Balkanu

The EU Must Shift Out of Neutral in Its Enlargement Strategy: Championing Liberal Values Means Choosing Sides

The EU Must Shift Out of Neutral in Its Enlargement Strategy: Championing Liberal Values Means Choosing Sides