Bosnia's failure in creating a truth commission - How institutions and functions encourage post-conflict countries to create a truth commission

Although the use of truth and reconciliation commissions has grown considerably over the last years, little knowledge exists about the underlying causes that lead to the creation of a truth commission. What is missing is a clear-cut insight into the causes in order to draw conclusions from the best practices of countries that decided for a truth commission. By naming these causes, this study aims at explaining why Bosnia and Herzegovina fails to establish a truth commission. The 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina showed how a fragile, yet community can disintegrate into a shattered entity of feuding ethnic groups living together in parallel societies, simultaneously creating bogeyman of each other. A truth commission might serve as a panacea for the EU-driven state-building process. By using a qualitative comparative analysis the study concludes, that no single theoretical concept itself can explain the why post-conflict countries are able to create a truth commission. It is rather a conjunction of multiple functionalist and institutionalists´ concepts that explains these causes. Concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina it shows, that most likely the truth commission approach is currently not a feasible option for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Encouraging factors like the conjunction of civil war with a post-war power sharing governmental system are not conducive for the Bosnian case. Furthermore the study shows that both in Bosnia as well as in general, that the influence of a third party mediator in a conflict often hinders the creation of a truth commission.