TWENTY YEARS AFTER THE DAYTON ACCORDS: ETHNIC DIVERSITY, INSTITUTIONAL FIXES, AND LOCAL PUBLIC GOODS PROVISION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

Given the poor governance outcomes in Bosnia, there is a need to analyze the institutions that were put in place twenty years ago by the Dayton Accords to keep the peace. The objective of this thesis is to observe governance outcomes at the local level to determine how ethnic diversity and institutions have interacted in order to understand the challenges to good governance in Bosnia. To do so, I perform quantitative analysis on public goods provision as a proxy for governance outcomes using survey data collected from 2000-2004 that covers a random sample of 25 nationally representative municipalities. I first test how diversity impacts both the efficiency and equitability of public service outcomes. Then I test how institutions influence these effects. I find that while diversity negatively impacts the efficiency of outcomes, it does not impact equability. I then find that institutional complexity is beneficial to efficiency in some situations and harmful in others. Thus, ethnic discrimination and institutional complexity are not the mechanisms through which diversity negatively effects public goods provision. Therefore, I suggest lower levels of rule of law in diverse municipalities as the mechanism through which diversity negatively impacts outcomes.