Karadzic' Arrest, Serbia and Europe

Jacques Rupnik (1)

1 CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS)

The capture in Belgrade of Radovan Karadzic closes a chapter in the Balkan tragedy of the 1990's. It is of major symbolic and political significance for the chances of a healing process in Bosnia. It demonstrates the possibilities opened by the new political situation in Belgrade. It reveals the effectiveness of the European leverage on Serbian politics while leaving a number of open questions about the future prospects of the 'europeanisation' of the Balkans. The capture of the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs who is charged by the ICTY with genocide and war crimes and whose name will remain associated with the policies of "ethnic cleansing" in the Bosnia of the 1990's is first of major significance to the victims. With over a hundred thousand dead in Bosnia and half of the population displaced the country could not embark on a genuine healing process so long as the perpetrators were not brought to justice (...).

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science; Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology

Jacques Rupnik. Karadzic' Arrest, Serbia and Europe. 2008. ⟨hal-01066177⟩