Status and challenges on defense reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina for Nato integration

Abstract

Аfter the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008, the focus of NATO discussions related to further enlargement has been directed towards considering the opportunities for admission of the interested countries from the region of Southeastern Europe. Most of them were countries with an Action Plan for membership in NATO for Southeastern Europe. Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of those countries. At the same time the Bosnia and Herzegovina's integration path to NATO has been set through more dependent scientific variables and indicators which are fundamental foundations for meeting the basic conditions for NATO integration, such as: political, economic and judicial reforms, defense reforms, Interior Ministry, etc. The comprehensive analysis of the defense reforms focused on expenditures of the state's annual budget in relation to the number of armed forces and the needs for progressive increase in the defense budget. In addition, the strategic position of Bosnia and Herzegovina was analyzed and assessed in relation to the following variables: projection of the overall defense forces,internal borders, new types of risks and threats to the national security, deterrence ability and influence on the cohesion of NATO. As a conclusion, an overall numerical assessment of the strategic position was made. Comparison of the defense spending was made with other NATO member states from Southeast Europe, such as the Republic of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. An analysis of the transformation of the number and effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been made with the countries of Southeast Europe which are NATO members and have approximately the same population, such as the Republic of Croatia and Albania. Research analysis has also been done on Freedom House estimates in order to make an overall analysis and assessment of the fulfillment of the basic criteria for membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in NATO: political, economic, military and final observations based on numerical parameters for Bosnia and Herzegovina's concluding assessments of the meeting criteria for NATO membership by 2020. Keywords: criteria, challenges, defense reforms, NATO integration, Bosnia and Herzegovin