Facing democratic indeterminacy: the consequences of the Dayton Agreement

This article was written to inform the author’s presentation to the SEER Journal online workshop on the Dayton Agreement held on 2 July 2021. Focusing on the issues of de-consolidation and de-democratisation which are inhibiting Bosnia and Herzegovina (among other western Balkan states) from becoming a credible EU accession candidate, the article locates the question of ‘othering’ within the need to rethink international relations given the global issues which are shaping today’s world. Drawing on recently published work in the areas of philosophy and international relations, the author identifies three approaches in the failures of cotransformation and transition, concluding that new democratic vistas may be opened for BiH up by the pursuit of interregional programmes as well as, in response to the climate emergency and its impact on flooding and other natural disasters, within a revitalised bioregional paradigm. None of the maps which arise out of the risks of natural disasters bear any resemblance to the ‘logic’ of the map drawn at Dayton and, in peacetime, may represent a viable way forward although time is required.