Bosnia and Herzegovina's Bid to Enter NATO: Prospect or Mirage?

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European policymakers have gained a renewed sense of how fragile peace is in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). A brief brush through Bosnia's recent history reveals outstanding issues following the war in the 1990s, foreign meddling in internal politics, as well as an internal secessionist movement on the rise. All these factors point to the necessity of security guarantees. Moreover-due to its location in Europe and the majority of neighbouring Balkan states being part of NATO—the military alliance immediately springs to mind as the logical choice for security guarantees. However, BiH's bid to enter the Alliance has yet to come to fruition.