The Vareš Mining Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Case Study of Corrosive Capital in an Already Corroded Political Economy
The GEO-POWER-EU project has published a case study on the Vareš mining project in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an example of “corrosive capital” originating from liberal democracies rather than authoritarian states. Drawing on desk research and expert analysis, the in-depth case study demonstrates that the corrosive nature of capital is not determined by its origin, but by how it interacts with domestic governance structures.
The findings highlight how Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fragmented governance system, rooted in the Dayton Peace Agreement and characterised as a “peace cartel,” creates conditions for jurisdictional ambiguity and weak oversight. These structural vulnerabilities facilitated the incremental expansion of mining concessions, blurred responsibility across multiple governance levels, and enabled regulatory decisions that bypassed or contradicted judicial rulings.
The case study concludes that more coherent responses, especially from actors like the European Union are needed, and proposes “democratically reinforcing capital” as an alternative model in which investment is aligned with transparency, accountability, and governance reforms in EU candidate countries.
📥 Download the full report (PDF).
*Featured image: The Region