The Dayton Legacy: Geopolitical Deadlock and Media-Driven Policy (eurozine.com)

• Dayton Agreement created a permanently divided state structure.
• Western intervention was reactive to media pressure, not strategy.
• Three-year political deadlock preceded the eventual peace deal.

"The 1995 Dayton Agreement halted the Bosnian war but institutionalized a divided state. The intervention, often framed as a triumph of the liberal order, followed three years of strategic paralysis. Western policy was largely reactive, driven by media coverage of atrocities rather than long-term geopolitical planning, resulting in a fragile peace that persists today."