The Dayton Accords, drafted in Dayton, Ohio, in August 1995 and ceremonially signed in Versailles on December 14, 1995, are widely credited with ending the Bosnian War and establishing the conditions for peace in that troubled part of Europe. As fundamentally important as the restoration of peace was, Dayton also helped create new patterns of cooperation between the United States and its European partners and allies, even as the end of the Soviet threat was calling into question the entire purpose of NATO. The Balkans were, in the phraseology of the time, “out of area,” and thus any decisions to deploy NATO troops to the Balkans were new in concept. Dayton, which included detailed, written agreement by all sides on the governance of Bosnia, negotiated and signed by the parties themselves, also incorporated concepts of international justice and humanitarian law, all for the purpose of making a return to conflict less possible.
Most importantly at the time, Dayton reinforced the role of the United States in Europe, proof that Washington would continue to work with others to maintain peace and security on the continent wherever needed. The choice of the location of the conference, a medium-sized city in the Midwest, was meant as a sign of a wholehearted commitment on the part of the US.
Now, 30 years later, the spirit that drove the architects and builders at Dayton is very much in question. It is a time when senior US leadership has openly called into question the role of Washington’s interests in Europe, raising the possibility that the Dayton Accords, or any similar such agreement, might never happen again. A review of Dayton, of its underlying logic, complexities, and problems, and a sort of Dayton 2.0 may be the proverbial bad idea whose time has come.
Ambassador Christopher R. Hill is an American diplomat who has served in multiple regions, including as ambassador to Iraq, the Republic of Korea, Poland, North Macedonia, and, most recently, the Republic of Serbia. As Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, he led US efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, which induced Pyongyang to catalogue its nuclear activities and freeze and disable its plutonium production in 2008-2009. He was a lead State Department negotiator in the talks that ended the Bosnian War in 1995 and was the US special envoy in negotiations that ended the Kosovo War in 1999. Following his service as a career diplomat, Ambassador Hill was appointed dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He returned to diplomatic service in 2022 at the request of the incoming Biden Administration and served as the US Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia.
IWM Permanent Fellow Ivan Vejvoda moderated the discussion.
