BACK IN THE BALKANS

If you're a researcher interested in how countries define themselves and relate to others on the globe, there's probably no better place to be than in the capital of a burgeoning nation as its residents vote for their representatives.

Which is why Valery Perry '92 so often ends up in Bosnia, a country most world maps didn't depict until after 1995.

"Bosnia has been a big experiment for the international community," Perry says of the multinational consortium of governments and agencies trying to get the former republic of Yugoslavia on its feet as an independent state.

"On the one hand the international community wants innovative ideas, but on the other, you have to remember that people's lives are at stake with every decision that you make."

Perry, who is pursuing her doctorate in conflict resolution and analysis at George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Resolution and Analysis, traveled to the Balkan country last fall for the third time in three years.

While in Bosnia, officially known as the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Perry worked as a supervisor for the Sarajevo municipal election commission under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The last round of elections was the weekend of November 11, just days after voters in the United States went to the polls and smack in the middle of the battle to recount votes in Florida.

In addition to helping the budding nation learn the ins and outs of democracy, the trips also provide Perry with invaluable opportunities to complete research for her dissertation assessing the implementation of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords.

Last fall marked the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-brokered agreement that ended years of war in Bosnia. While recognizing the sovereignty of the country, the accords came with a political price, dividing the country into two entities-a Bosnian Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation.

Those divisions, along with the political structures needed to administer them, continue to be felt, Perry says, noting that each part of the country votes for the equivalent of local, state, and federal representatives.

The result is often continued ethnic distrust and political gridlock.

"Even rich countries would have trouble sustaining the levels of government that are here," she says.

A native of Buffalo, Perry enrolled at the University in 1988, planning to major in Spanish and economics. Those majors changed to Russian and political science (along with a certificate in international relations) as events in Eastern Europe took center stage, culminating with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

"It was a very exciting time to study the area," she says.

After graduation, she earned a master's degree in Russian and East European area studies from Indiana University. She worked in the Washington, D.C., area before enrolling at George Mason.

Drawn to an area on the globe that is a crossroads of the East and the West-and the religious, ethnic, social, and political fallout of that-Perry jumped at the chance to work as an election observer in 1997.

She's troubled by the complacency she senses in many young Bosnians and by the realization that ethnic considerations still often outweigh larger social concerns.

Change, Perry says, will not likely come soon, but she's optimistic about the country's long-term prospects.

"People forget that before the 10 years of war in Yugoslavia, there were 50 years of Communism," she notes.

"There is a lot of potential here," she says. "But I always tell people that I don't think there's going to be real change for a generation."

Perry's home country provided a pointed lesson in democracy last November as Bosnians watched the vote, and then the recounts and lawsuits in Florida.

All the issues brought up in Florida-confusing ballots, misplaced ballots, and the reported early closing of polling places-also happened in Bosnia. They can have enormous implications, wherever they occur, she says.

But whether citizens-in the United States, Bosnia, or elsewhere-are confident that such controversies will be handled fairly is crucial, Perry says.

She notes: "We're trying to teach people to have faith in a system rather than have faith in a political leader."

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