Summary
Peter Bas-Backer
Voorwaarden voor internationaal bestuur: terugkeerbeleid op de Balkan
Peter Bas-Backer contends that post-conflict problems could be reduced if one would apply two phases: a first phase directly after the conflict in which the international mission is given a mandate with sufficient powers to separate the wheat from the chaff (war criminals, old institutions, security services) and to introducé better governance and new standards. This mission would be accountable to the international community (the UN, the Security Council, the EU Council). In a second phase government responsibility would be transferred to local political leadership, after conditions fulfilled, and preferably after and through general elections. The key condition for a successful transfer seems to be from 'day one' after the conflict has ended (with a peace agreement or a Security Council resolution) that there is a strong international presence to restore confidence among the population - for whose sake the international community intervened in the first place - in good governance. Next to material assistance, restoring confidence from the start should constitute a main objective of a post-conflict mission: mutual confidence, confidence in a sustainable society and in democratic government. The above lessons should be learned from experience in Bosnia and Kosovo.