The Improvised State: Sovereignty, Performance and Agency in Dayton Bosnia (RGS-IBG Book Series) - Hardcover

Jeffrey, Alex

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1444336991 ISBN 13: 9781444336993

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012

Synopsis

The Improvised State provides a highly developed account of the nature and outcomes of Bosnian state practices since the Dayton Peace Agreement. Jeffrey presents new and significant theories, based on extensive fieldwork in Bosnia, which advance understanding of state building.

• Provides a major contribution to recent academic debates as to the nature of the state after violent conflict, and offers invaluable insights into state building
• Introduces the idea of state improvisation, where improvisation refers to a process of both performance and resourcefulness
• Uses the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu to explore how powerful agencies have attempted to present a coherent vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina following the conflict 1992-5
• Advances our understanding of the Bosnian state by focusing on the practices of statecraft fostered in the post-Dayton era
• Research based on four periods of residential fieldwork in Bosnia, which allowed a detailed analysis of political practices in the country

About this title

About the Author

Alex Jeffrey is a University Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Cambridge. His research has focused on the governance of post-conflict environments, particularly the former Yugoslavia, and the role of non-governmental organizations in fostering democracy. He is co-author, together with Joe Painter, of Political Geography: An Introduction to Space and Power (2009) and with Anoop Nayak on Geographical Thought: An Introduction to Ideas in Human Geography (2011).

From the Back Cover

Over the past 15 years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has served as a laboratory of techniques to re-establish state sovereignty and promote democracy. The post-conflict intervention in Bosnia has justifiably received great interest from political theorists and scholars of international relations who have explored the limitations of the institutions and policies of international intervention. This book begins from an alternative premise: rather than examining institutions or charting limitations, Jeffrey argues for a focus on the performance of state sovereignty in Bosnia as it has been practiced by a range of actors both within and beyond the Bosnian state. In focusing on the state as a process, he argues that Bosnian sovereignty is best understood as a series of improvisations that have attempted to produce and reproduce a stable and unified state. Based on four periods of residential fieldwork in Bosnia, The Improvised State advances state theory through an illumination of the fragile and contingent nature of sovereignty in contemporary Bosnia and its grounding in the everyday lives of the Bosnian citizen.

From the Inside Flap

Over the past 15 years, Bosnia and Herzegovina has served as a laboratory of techniques to re-establish state sovereignty and promote democracy. The post-conflict intervention in Bosnia has justifiably received great interest from political theorists and scholars of international relations who have explored the limitations of the institutions and policies of international intervention. This book begins from an alternative premise: rather than examining institutions or charting limitations, Jeffrey argues for a focus on the performance of state sovereignty in Bosnia as it has been practiced by a range of actors both within and beyond the Bosnian state. In focusing on the state as a process, he argues that Bosnian sovereignty is best understood as a series of improvisations that have attempted to produce and reproduce a stable and unified state. Based on four periods of residential fieldwork in Bosnia, The Improvised State advances state theory through an illumination of the fragile and contingent nature of sovereignty in contemporary Bosnia and its grounding in the everyday lives of the Bosnian citizen.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1444336991
• ISBN 13: 9781444336993
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224