ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Book
Reconstruction and Peace Building in the Balkans
The Brčko Experience
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by
Robert William Farrand
In collaboration with
Allison Frendak-Blume
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. November 2011
304 pp, 18 photos & maps, figures, tables, textboxes, notes, bibliography, and index
Cloth $39.95 (members' price $36.00)
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Brandon Grove, president emeritus, American Academy of Diplomacy:
"Brčko constitutes a unique and informative case study, covering the intricacies of multilateral diplomacy in a war-torn Balkan city pulsating with ethnic, religious, and political tensions. It is must reading for anyone engaged in [contemporary peace operations] and an indispensable reference for students, scholars, policymakers, and diplomats alike." |
In the tense aftermath of the 1992–95 Bosnian War, U.S. diplomat BILL FARRAND was assigned the daunting task of implementing the Dayton Peace Accords in the ethnically divided Balkan city of Brčko in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serb, Muslim, and Croat political leaders alike had blocked agreement over Brčko’s political status and threatened to derail U.S.-brokered peace talks at Dayton, Ohio, in late 1995.
Over three tumultuous years, 1997–2000, Ambassador Farrand wielded wide authority in efforts to restore
travel across former cease-fire lines, return thousands to their destroyed and confiscated homes, conduct
free and fair elections, and reestablish multiethnic government bodies—all in a climate of obstruction and
fear. In this book, Farrand highlights the complex challenges peace builders confront, especially the role
of civilian leadership in a post-conflict zone rent by ethnic cleansing. Analytic and prescriptive, the book
explains in vivid detail the groundbreaking roles of arbitration and of civilian peace workers living among
the people. His story is rich in lessons for all those engaged in or studying peace building abroad.
ROBERT W. “BILL” FARRAND, a 34-year career Foreign Service officer, was Supervisor of Brčko and
Deputy High Representative for the northern sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1997 to 2000.
Before serving as ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, 1990–93, his posts
included Malaysia, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia and in the State Department, inter alia, as
principal deputy assistant secretary, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs (1987–90). In
the U.S. Navy (1957–64), after serving on sea duty, he taught at Annapolis. A 1981 National War
College graduate, he holds a B.S. (Mount St. Mary’s College) and an M.A. (Georgetown University)
and is now a distinguished senior fellow and affiliate professor at the George Mason University School
of Public Policy’s Peace Operations Policy Program, co-directed by Professor ALLISON FRENDAK-BLUME,
who collaborated on the book.
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U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) James M. Dubik, Senior Fellow, Institute for the Study of War:
"A no-holds-barred story of determination, leadership, ingenuity, and the realities of peace building described from the inside. Ambassador Bill Farrand holds nothing back." |
"An unsung hero of America's peacekeeping history, Bill Farrand has written a fascinating account of how an American Foreign Service officer, with all of his experience focused in diplomacy, taught himself to become a wise and successful ‘proconsul’ in the bitterly divided Balkan city of Brčko. Despite facing outspoken enmity among three hostile ethnic groups, Farrand transformed the city into a model of relative peace and prosperity."
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