Power Discourses and Power Practices: The EU’s Role as a Normative Power in Bosnia

Abstract

If there is one geographical region where the European Union (EU) has been said to have deployed its normative power, the Western Balkans is it. This chapter seeks to unpack the concept of Normative Power Europe (NPE) and examine its validity in explaining EU activities in the Western Balkans in general, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereafter Bosnia) in particular. Here the EU has tried to promote the Copenhagen criteria, and above all, the respect of minority rights, rule of law and compliance with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Together with its traditional economic and diplomatic instruments (including the membership carrot), the EU has deployed police and military missions in the region aiming to promote stability, democracy and human rights.