Ohne Staat und Nation ist keine Demokratie zu machen

Since more than two decades, post-civil war societies have been prescribed democracy-building in order to ensure intrastate peace. In the long run, however, democracy can only work, when the state’s institutions are intact and all former warring parties accept the common state. These prerequisites are lacking in many ethically divided post-civil war societies.

The book investigates to what extent the peace strategy of democratization can nevertheless succeed. It reviews the post-war development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia, where relatively favorable starting conditions went along with extraordinary extensive efforts by external powers. If democratization fails in these cases, its chances to succeed else-where are much worse.