Whose line is it anyway? Understanding the military role in delivering rights based policies in post-conflict territories Jonathan M. Marley London School of Economics and Political Science A thesis submitted to the European Institute at the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, January 2016 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 98,420 words. 2 Abstract The post-conflict territories of the Western Balkans have been subjected to an unprecedented level of international attention since the mid-1990s. The EU, NATO and OSCE in particular converged on the region intent on redefining their image - if not purpose - in the first major crisis of the post-Cold War era. Responding to the horrific inter-ethnic violence that defined conflict in the region, International Organisations continually emphasised the importance of upholding standards regarding the protection of, and respect for, ethnic minorities. While literature acknowledges that military forces were deployed to establish and maintain a safe and secure environment for post-conflict peacebuilding to emerge, few scholars have explored the substance of the military role beyond the separation of former warring factions and provision of a secure humanitarian space. This research demonstrates that military actors adapted their approaches to contribute across the spectrum of the peacebuilding effort, including on rights based issues; specifically ethnic minority returns and participation. On the basis of case studies in Kosovo and Bosnia Herzegovina, the thesis adopts an empirical approach to exploring the reasons for military engagement on these issues and their respective successes and failures. It examines the sources that projected ideas on ethnic minority issues – international policy development, peace treaty composition, and domestic acceptance – and how they influenced military decision making processes. Through post-conflict phases it analyses the domestic footprint of international intervention – international administration and civil-military actors – and discusses thematically the means of military engagement, the receptiveness of domestic actors at multiple levels and the nature of compliance. Acknowledging the overarching civilian framework for intervention, where from the outset the prospective of NATO and EU membership were held forth as the 'prize' for a successful return to 'a Europe of integration, democracy and ethnic pluralism', it establishes the utility of strategic mechanisms – conditionality and normative pressure – in military hands acknowledging the potential for linkage to enlargement frameworks. It argues that in spite of principled objections, military operations can and do have influence in delivering policy on rights based issues. 3 Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Contents ................................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... 9 List of Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 10 Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 14 Map of Bosnia & Herzegovina ........................................................................................................... 15 Map of Kosovo ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Image: KFOR Negotiations with the KLA........................................................................................ 17 Chapter 1: Introduction...................................................................................................................... 18 1.1 Exploring the Potential of Military Forces’ Delivery of Rights-based Policies ............................. 18 1.2 Features of the Civilian-military Space: Key Actors and Institutions .......................................... 21 1.21 Characteristics of the Domestic Sphere ........................................................................... 24 1.3 Post-conflict Ethnic Minority Issues ............................................................................................ 25 1.31 Minority Returns .............................................................................................................. 26 1.32 Minority Participation ...................................................................................................... 27 1.4 Analytical Approach .................................................................................................................... 28 1.41 Conditionality, Normative Pressure and the Military Approach ...................................... 30 1.42 Nature of Compliance ...................................................................................................... 33 1.43 Evaluating Compliance and Research Hypothesis ............................................................ 35 1.5 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................ 37 1.6 Sources and Information Management ...................................................................................... 38 1.61 Primary and Secondary Sources ....................................................................................... 38 1.62 Interviews ......................................................................................................................... 39 1.7 Structure ...................................................................................................................................... 40 1.8 Summary: Research Parameters ................................................................................................. 40 Chapter 2: Post-Conflict Intervention and the Rise of Military Utility ......................................... 41 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 41 2.2 Understanding the Military Position in Post-conflict Intervention ............................................. 41 2.3 Perspectives on Civilian and Military Activity in Post-conflict Territories................................... 44 2.31 The ‘Humanitarian’ Perspective: Military ‘Aid’ and Rights-based Approaches ............... 45 2.32 Rights-based Approach ................................................................................................... 47 4 2.33 CIMIC ................................................................................................................................ 50 2.34 International Governance, Defence and Security Reform, and Rights Diffusion ............. 54 2.4 Conditionality, Norms and Compliance in Post-conflict Contexts .............................................. 59 2.41 Conditionality: Concepts and Impact ............................................................................... 59 2.42 Development and Membership Conditionality ................................................................ 60 2.43 Projecting Norms on Ethnic Minority Issues .................................................................... 63 2.44 Compliance ....................................................................................................................... 64 2.5 Minority Rights: Theory and Practice in International Intervention ........................................... 65 2.51 Ethnic Minority Issues: Returns and Participation ........................................................... 69 2.6 Conclusions: Consideration of the Military Role on Ethnic Minority Issues ............................... 72 Chapter 3: Mapping a Moving landscape: External Influences and Policy Development ........... 74 3.1 “Something Must be Done”: Experimentation, Exposure and Personalities .............................. 74 3.11 Discourse and Experimentation in International Security ............................................... 74 3.12 Personalities Matter ......................................................................................................... 76 3.13 Media Discourse and Agenda Setting .............................................................................. 78 3.2 The Evolution of the Normative Basis for Intervention: Responding to the New World Order . 79 3.21 The Recognition of the Yugoslav Republics: EC Conditionality and NATO’s Path to Intervention .............................................................................................................................. 80 3.22 UN Intervention: Discourse and experimentation ........................................................... 83 3.3 Articulation of Norms during Conflict in the Western Balkans ................................................... 84 3.4 Founding Treaties and Documents: A Minority Rights Vacuum? ............................................... 88 3.41 Dayton Agreement and UNSCR 1244 (Including the Rambouillet Accords) .................... 90 3.5 Conclusion: A New Environment for the Application of Membership Conditionality and Normative Pressure? ........................................................................................................................................... 91 Chapter 4: The Civil-Military Balance: Examining Post-conflict Transition and Domestic Influences ............................................................................................................................................. 94 4.1 Understanding the Application of Strategic Mechanisms in Post-conflict Western Balkans: Opportunities and Challenges .................................................................................................................................. 94 ........................................................................................................................................................... 96 4.2 Phases of Post-Conflict Interaction: Security and Reconstruction .............................................. 96 4.21 The Price of Stability and Security: Military Intervention and the Humanitarian Rush ... 96 4.22 Complex Division of International Organisation’s Labour: Reconstruction and Donor Priorities ................................................................................................................................. 100 4.23 Operational Planning and the Military Decision-Making Process .................................. 102 4.3. State and Nation-building ........................................................................................................ 103 5 4.31 The approach of International Administrations to State and Nation Building .............. 104 4.32 Networks of Interaction ................................................................................................. 106 4.33 Strategic Oversight of Interim Administrative Structures .............................................. 109 4.34 The Emergence and Evolution of Domestic Institutions ................................................ 111 4.35 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 112 4.4 International (Re)integration: Peacebuilding and Striving for Sustainable Outcomes ............. 113 4.5 Relevant Features of Post-conflict Transition ........................................................................... 113 4.51 Returns and Property Rights .......................................................................................... 114 4.52 The Evolution of Civil-military Interaction: The Space for Military Contributions ......... 114 4.6 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 117 Case Study 1: Bosnia & Herzegovina 1995-2005 ............................................................................ 119 Chapter 5: Military Engagement with Ethnic Minority Issues in Bosnia Herzegovina 1995- 2005: Framework and Context ........................................................................................................ 120 5.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 120 5. 2 The Dayton Framework: Policy on Ethnic Minority Issues ....................................................... 120 5.21 The Evolution of International Administration 1995-2005 ............................................ 123 5.22 IFOR to the Fore ............................................................................................................. 124 5.23 The Role of the OHR: between Conditionality and Coercion ......................................... 126 5.24 The Role of the UNHCR .................................................................................................. 129 5.25 The Role of the OSCE and CE .......................................................................................... 131 5.26 The Growing Role of the EU and NATO .......................................................................... 132 5.3 The Domestic Context for Military Engagement ....................................................................... 133 5.31 The Politics of Returns: Intransigence, Agitation and Hope .......................................... 134 5.32 Characteristics of Domestic Politics ............................................................................... 138 5.4 The Military Role under Dayton ................................................................................................ 140 5.5 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 142 Chapter 6: The Military Application of Conditionality and Normative Pressure on Ethnic Minority Issues in Bosnia Herzegovina 1995-2005 ......................................................................... 144 6.1. Application of Conditionality and Normative Pressure by Military Forces on Ethnic Minority Returns: 1995-2005 ....................................................................................................................................... 144 6.11 Stabilisation and Reconstruction 1995-1997: Humanitarian Aid ................................... 144 6.12 State and Nation-building 1997-2003: CIMIC ................................................................ 146 6.13 The Impact of Military CIMIC on Returns ....................................................................... 152 6.14 Liaison Networks and Military Leadership 2003-2005: LOT Houses .............................. 153 6 6.15 Liaison Networks and Military Leadership 1995-2005: The role of Military Commanders ................................................................................................................................................ 154 6.2 Application of Conditionality and Normative Pressure by Military Forces on Ethnic Minority Representation and Participation: 1995-2005 ................................................................................ 156 6.21 The Dayton Framework for Minority Representation and Participation ....................... 156 6.22 Countdown to the First Elections: 1995-1996................................................................ 157 6.23 Features of Domestic Politics and Minority Participation: 1997-2004 .......................... 160 6.24 State and Nation Building: CIMIC 1997-2004 ................................................................. 162 6.25 State and Nation Building: LOT Houses, Key Leader Engagement and Defence Reform 2003-2005 .............................................................................................................................. 165 6.3 Conclusion: Policy Outcomes and the Nature of Compliance................................................... 172 Case Study 2: Kosovo 1999-2009 ..................................................................................................... 175 Chapter 7: Military Engagement with Ethnic Minority Issues in Kosovo 1999-2009: Framework and Context ................................................................................................................... 176 7.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 176 7.11 The UNSCR 1244 Framework and Policy on Ethnic Minority Issues .............................. 177 7.2 Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo and Parallel System of Serbian Governance ..................................................................................................................................... 180 7.3 Standards for Kosovo ................................................................................................................ 182 7.4 The Evolution of International Administration: 1999-2009 ...................................................... 185 7.41 KFOR to the Fore ............................................................................................................ 186 7.42 The Role of UNMIK in Post-conflict Governance: Joint Interim Administrative Council, Provisional Institutions of Self-Government and the Unilateral Declaration of Independence ................................................................................................................................................ 188 7.43 The Role of the UNHCR .................................................................................................. 191 7.44 The Role of the OSCE ...................................................................................................... 194 7.45 The Growing Role of the EU ........................................................................................... 200 7.5 The Domestic Context for Military Engagement: Reconstruction and Institutionalising the Politics of War ......................................................................................................................................................... 202 7.51 The Politics of Minority Participation and Returns: Revenge, Accommodation and Benign Attrition .................................................................................................................................. 205 7.52 Characteristics of Domestic Politics ............................................................................... 210 7.6 The Military Role under UNSCR 1244 ....................................................................................... 212 7.7 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 213 Chapter 8: The Military Application of Conditionality and Normative Pressure on Ethnic Minority Issues in Kosovo 1999-2009 .............................................................................................. 215 7 8.1 Application of Conditionality and Normative Pressure by Military Forces on Ethnic Minority Returns 1999-2009 ....................................................................................................................................... 215 8.11 Stabilisation and Reconstruction: Humanitarian aid 1999-2000 ................................... 215 8.12 KFOR Policing Role.......................................................................................................... 218 8.2 State and Nation Building 2000-2008: CIMIC ............................................................................ 219 8.21 Liaison Monitoring Teams .............................................................................................. 226 8.22 Key Leader Engagement and the Role of Military Commanders ................................... 227 8.3 Application of Conditionality and Normative Pressure by Military Forces on Ethnic Minority Representation and Participation 1999-2009 ................................................................................. 231 8.31 State and Nation-building 2000-2008: CIMIC ................................................................ 231 8.32 Liaison and Monitoring Teams ....................................................................................... 234 8.33 Key Leader Engagement and the Role of Military Commanders ................................... 236 8.34 Institution Building and the Military Role in Police Reform ........................................... 239 8.35 Security Reform in Kosovo ............................................................................................. 242 8.4 Conclusion: Policy Outcomes and the Nature of Compliance................................................... 245 Chapter 9: Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 249 9.1 Overview of the Dissertation .................................................................................................... 249 9.11 Evaluating the Military Contribution .............................................................................. 249 9.2 Emerging Themes of Military Engagement on Rights-based Issues ......................................... 251 9.3 Explaining Military Engagement and Impact ............................................................................ 253 9.31 Reasons for Military Engagement .................................................................................. 253 9.32 Means of Military Engagement ...................................................................................... 255 9.33 The Military Effect on Compliance: Successes and Failures ........................................... 257 9.4 Research Contribution: A military ‘Right’ of Passage? .............................................................. 262 9.5 Future Research ........................................................................................................................ 263 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………….265 References………………………………………………………………………………………..306 8 List of Tables 1.1 Methodological Framework 4.1 Phases of Post-conflict Transition 9 List of Appendices I. Membership Progress II. Operationalising the Independent Variables III. Operationalising the Dependent Variables IV. NATO Planning Approach V. Kosovo Projects Sample VI. Bosnia Projects Sample 10