Wolfgang Petritsch, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina 1999-2002
Project results and research outlook
„I'm just the ‚good dictator‘. But I was concerned with something else“. With this sentence, Wolfgang Petritsch summarises the contradictions between the mission and the everyday life of his office, all the conflicts between the experiences and expectations of the international community and the people on the ground.
The Austrian top diplomat Wolfgang Petritsch was the United Nations High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999 to 2002. The research project „Through ‚autocracy’ to democracy?“ was the first to document and analyse the communication and negotiation processes of this „dictator against his will“ with international and domestic Bosnian actors: What strategies did Wolfgang Petritsch use to try to implement and enforce his policies for peace and reconciliation, for the reintegration of returnees, for the establishment of democratic institutions and the rule of law, for economic liberalisation and in favour of the European integration of this country on a daily basis?
This interdisciplinary project, funded by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) Jubilee Fund, has now been completed. It reveals the ambitions, but also the extraordinary and sometimes contentious ambivalences of such a mission.
At this event, the researchers will present the main results of their investigations - and discuss them with scientists and Wolfgang Petritsch.
18.00: Welcome and introduction
Gertraud AUER BOREA D'OLMO, Secretary General of the Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue, Vienna
Professor DDr Oliver RATHKOLB, Director of the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna
Dr Erhard BUSEK, Vice-Chancellor (ret.), Chairman of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna
Prof. Rainer GRIES, Franz Vranitzky Chair for European Studies at the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies and the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna
18.15: Ambitions and ambivalences:
The High Representative as an autocratic intervention manager
Dr Silvia NADJIVAN, Project Manager, Franz Vranitzky Chair for European Studies, University of Vienna; Research Associate at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna
MMag. Eva Tamara ASBOTH, Project Associate, Vranitzky Chair for European Studies, University of Vienna
Dr Gerulf HIRT, Co-project leader, research associate at the Chair of Modern History, Institute of History, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
18.45: In conversation with
Dr Wolfgang PETRITSCH, Ambassador (ret.), High Representative of the United Nations for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999 to 2002:
Prof Dr Sanja BOJANIĆ, Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) at the University of Rijeka
Prof Dr Anna GEIS, Chair of International Security Policy and Conflict Research at the Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg
MMag. Eva Tamara ASBOTH
Dr Silvia NADJIVAN
Moderation Prof Dr Silke SATJUKOW, Chair of Modern History Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg