Economic reform and the transformation of the payment bureaux

• Published in: International peacekeeping (London, England) Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 350 - 363
• Main Author: Zaum, Dominik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01.10.2005; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnia Herzegovina; Economic Development; Economic reform; Governance; Government Agencies; International community; International Organizations; International relations; Market Economy; Payments; Policy analysis; Policy implementation; Political participation; Politics; Post-conflict societies; State building; State Formation; Bosnia-Hercegovina
• ISSN: 1353-3312; 1743-906X
• DOI: 10.1080/13533310500074168

Economic reform has been central to the international state-building efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This essay discusses one of the key economic reforms pursued by the international community: the transformation of the payment bureaux. By analysing the initiation, drafting, and implementation of the reform, it identifies two different motivations behind the reform: the promotion of a free market economy, and the weakening of parallel structures challenging the authority of legitimate state institutions. It highlights the way in which this and other crucially important reforms have been seen by international administrators as technical requirements, to be overseen and implemented by experts, rather than as political decisions, requiring popular consultation and local input. The essay concludes by identifying how this approach of external governance has contributed to the successful elimination of the payment bureaux but also raises problems resulting from the downplaying of the importance of the political process and the implications this has for the success of the state-building project in Bosnia today.