Abstract
Does war transform policy-making, and if so, how? By scrutinizing an oft-neglected public policy in Bosnia – public employment services – this article highlights the relative continuities of employment policies before, during and after the 1992-1995 war. A multi-level investigation conducted with international financial institutions as well as local, cantonal and municipal actors reveals that the relations between peacebuilders and their Bosnian interlocutors feature mutual dependence and the externalisation of bureaucratic labour. Like in socialist Yugoslavia, local ruling parties discreetly weigh on policy-making, and this despite the emergence today of some internationalised governance modalities.