Books
A Free City in the Balkans: Reconstructing a Divided Society in Bosnia
I.B.Tauris, London (October 2009)
Following the brutal wars that raged in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Bosnia and Herzegovina divided awkwardly into two governing entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. However, one part of the country could not fit into either category: the Brcko District, a strategically critical land-bridge between the two parts of Bosnian Serb territory. This region became the subject of a highly unusual experiment. Under internationally supervised government, Brcko was placed under a ‘free city’ regime, which evoked the memory of Trieste or Danzig from over fifty years ago.
So, what has this state-building experiment revealed about the history of this troubled corner of the Balkans — and its future? Moreover, what lessons can policymakers apply to conflict resolution in other parts of the world?
And was the experiment successful or have the citizens of Brcko suffered further at the hands of the international community? A Free City in the Balkans investigates the rise and fall of Brcko and post-war Bosnia and investigates what lessons can be learned for international peacekeeping missions elsewhere.
- “Matthew Parish's analysis is rigorous, clear-eyed and extremely persuasive ... the book is a terrific as well as important read”
- “A vivid and at times very disturbing picture of multiple layers of institutional, cultural and political misunderstandings at all levels of Bosnian government”
- “This is a story that needed to be told, not least because it is a story of our times – one of internationally-driven state-building in the contemporary context, and all of the inherent problems associated with such projects. ... a timely and valuable addition to the existing literature”
- “a story of the problems that internationally driven state-building in failed states faces: dis-appointment, betrayal and illusions. … of interest to anyone interested in pitfalls and success of liberal peace and ethics of building”
- “a substantive and thoughtful contribution to the literature on the international intervention and involvement in the Balkans … will provoke thoughtful reevaluation that even the most read and informed observer of developments in Bosnia will be forced to consider”
- “[Your book] is written with so much of emotion, not to say frustration and bitterness that it becomes more a caricature of reality than a compilation of well considered observations and opinions. ... The result is a book full of twisted truths, half-truths and blatant lies”
ibtauris
Amazon
Reviews:
- Oslobodjenje, 20 March 2010
- Nationalities Papers 38(3): 440, May 2010
- Balkan Insight, 15 June 2010
- Balkan Academic News, 10 November 2010
- Journal of Serbian Studies, 21(2): 271 (2007)
- Slavic Review 70(2): 461 (2011)
- Enes Pašalić, Info Brčko, 20 December 2011
Mirages of International Justice: The Elusive Pursuit of a Transnational Legal Order
Edward Elgar, London (May 2011)
Since the end of the Cold War, international courts and tribunals have proliferated beyond domestic legal systems. However, many of these courts fail to fulfill their stated purposes adequately. This book explores common problems across these courts and applies a constructivist theory of international relations to explain how they operate.
Often, states establish these courts to signal their commitment to moral values and political ideologies. Yet, once created, these courts find themselves trapped between the interests of the Great Powers. Some courts become irrelevant, with their judgments ignored. Others suffer from unusable slowness, while still others show clear political bias. These common failings suggest that international law is not as robust as it claims to be.
The author skillfully demonstrates that international courts function as a type of international organization and face the same challenges of bureaucracy and unaccountability that have long plagued the United Nations. Therefore, Mirages of International Justice will particularly interest scholars and practitioners who critique institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights, the World Trade Organization, investment treaty arbitration, EU courts, international criminal courts, the International Court of Justice, and public international law in general.
Moreover, students of international relations and advocates for reform of international organizations will gain valuable insights from this compelling study.
- “This is a book of unusual power and insight. Parish's deconstruction of the illusory promise of international justice may make uneasy reading but it is a necessary addition to the literature in this field”
- “This book issues the latest blast against the crumbling battlements of the cloud-fortress of international law. Meticulous, engaging, and forcefully written, the book offers little consolation for defenders amid the ruins”
- "This is an excellent book … insightful and intelligent about international law and the international organizations who purport to administer it … without the cynicism one might expect from someone who has been through the system"
Second book, comparing structural failures in different international courts and tribunals. Applies the insights of realism and constructivism in international relations theory to international law. Compares the ECHR, investment tribunals, the ICJ, international criminal courts, the WTO and the EU courts.
Reviews:
- Russian Yearbook of Legal Theory, Vol. 3 (2010), 842
- Politika, 10 September 2011
- Law Society Journal of NSW, February 2012