| Matthew Parish | |
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Matthew Parish is a lawyer and scholar of international relations. He is best known for his writings about the politics of the western Balkans, in particular his prediction of the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina and his criticisms of the international community's presence in the country. His writings have been the subject of widespread commentary in the national and international press, both supportive and critical.
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Parish is an international lawyer who works in Geneva, Switzerland[1][2] with the international law firm Holman Fenwick Willan.[3] He was formerly Chief Legal Adviser to the International Supervisor of Brčko District, a region of northern Bosnia and Herzegovina run as a protectorate by the US Government since 1997. He previously worked in the legal department of the World Bank. He is an English barrister and a New York attorney, and teaches at the University of Geneva.
Shortly after leaving Bosnia in 2007, Parish wrote "The Demise of the Dayton Protectorate",[4] which became front page news in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[5][6] The piece accused the international community of running post-war Bosnia as a colony, and predicted that the Office of the High Representative (OHR), the country's post-war governor, would soon collapse. This article subsequently became cited in the state-building literature,[7][8][9] and was said to be a catalyst for disintegration of the country's international governing structure.[10] Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated half of the country, relied upon the article to argue for closure of OHR.[11][12]
Parish's most significant controversy arose when in 2009 he published "Republika Srpska: After Independence",[13][14] which predicted secession of Republika Srpska from the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was immediately front page news in Bosnia's biggest selling daily,[15] and was the subject of damning editorial criticism.[16] Valentin Inzko, the High Representative, appeared on national television and in the national press, describing the article as "extremely irresponsible".[17] The piece also attracted international attention in connection with Kosovo's declaration of independence.[18]
Parish has written a commentary criticizing the 22 July 2010 decision of the International Court of Justice declaring Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence to be lawful,[19] which he attacks as irrational and exhibiting judicial partiality. He also considers the implications of the ruling for the attempted secession of Republika Srpska, and his comments have been seized upon by RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik.[20]
Parish's book on reconstruction in post-war Bosnia, "A Free City in the Balkans",[21] has attracted national attention.[22] The book has been described as "telling the story of the successes wrought by innovative policy and the dangers of premature disengagement" and a "damning critique of the role and the actions of the OHR and the state-building attempts by the international community [that] can make for uncomfortable reading".[23] The book has been criticized for being too skeptical of the international community's statebuilding efforts in the country.[24]
While Parish purports to provide a critique of the international community's activities in the Balkans, at least one commentator has referred to his views as "colonialist."[25] Parish writes occasional columns for the Sarajevo-based newspaper Oslobodjenje and for Balkan Insight.
Parish's book "Mirages of International Justice",[26] advances a constructivist account of international law. He thinks sovereign states would never agree to create genuinely impartial and independent international courts that would enforce international law against themselves. Thus international courts are deliberately made powerless, and they occupy precarious roles in the balance of power in which they are liable to make decisions in accordance with Great Power interests. International tribunals proliferate not because states want to see international justice done but because they want to associate themselves with the ideals captured in discourse about international law without making any real commitments. The world of international relations remains an anarchy, but international courts (and indeed international organizations in general) are part of an illusion that the world is ordered in accordance with moral principles.
Parish has written a number of other academic and scholarly articles, including:
Parish is a graduate of Christ's College, Cambridge and the University of Chicago Law School, where he obtained his doctorate. From 2009 to 2010 he was a Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He is originally from Harrogate, Yorkshire.