The Peacemaker’s poison pill: Jus cogens and the Dayton Accords
Main Article Content
Abstract
The rigid invalidating effect of jus cogens on a conflicting peace treaty may risk blocking a pathway to peace. This article tests this tension through a case study of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, employing a doctrinal analysis of treaties, case-law, and international materials. It contrasts textual and functional interpretations under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The analysis finds that while Dayton is textually valid for ending atrocity, it functionally conflicts with jus cogens by entrenching territories born of ethnic cleansing. It concludes that the international community’s endorsement has tempered this conflict for the sake of stability, but it also proposes a legal compromise: partial invalidity of entrenching clauses paired with positive obligations for restitution and minority return. This ensures peace is disciplined, preventing a violation of fundamental norms, and a return to armed conflict.
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How to Cite
Rasendriya, M. D. (2026). The Peacemaker’s poison pill: Jus cogens and the Dayton Accords. Journal of Law Science, 8(1), 42-50. https://doi.org/10.35335/jls.v8i1.6770
References
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Saunders, A. (2023). Constitution-Making as a Technique of International Law: Reconsidering the Postwar Inheritance. American Journal of International Law, 1–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2022.86
Tahirovi?, E., & Kuka, E. (2021). The Dayton controversies – public decision-making between parliamentary democracy and partitocracy. Historijski Pogledi, 4(6), 283–301. https://doi.org/10.52259/historijskipogledi.2021.4.6.283
Tladi, D. (2025). Jus Cogens and Reparations: Can We Just End the Separation? American Journal of International Law, 119(3), 530–549. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2025.10079
Urs, P. (2025). The Articulation of Obligations Erga Omnes and Erga Omnes Partes by the International Court of Justice: Coherence or Confusion? International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 74(2), 257–286. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589325100729
Yip, K. L. (2024). Reconceptualizing Norm Conflict in International Law. Asian Journal of International Law, 15(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/s2044251324000031
Žíla, O. (2021). ‘Sarajevo is not what it used to be’: Ex-Sarajevan Serbs and their ambivalent relationship to their place of origin. Journal of Refugee Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feab043
Arnaut Haselji?, M. (2021). The Dayton peace agreement – The end of greater state claims? Historijski Pogledi, 4(6), 135–183. https://doi.org/10.52259/historijskipogledi.2021.4.6.135
Barber, R. J. (2022). Cooperating through the General Assembly to end serious breaches of peremptory norms. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 71(1), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1017/s002058932100049x
Brunk, I., & Hakimi, M. (2024). The prohibition of annexations and the foundations of ,odern international law. American Journal of International Law, 1–70. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2024.26
Fox, G. H., & Jones, T. (2025). Peace agreements and the persuasive authority of international law. Minnesota Journal of International Law, 34(1). https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/minn-jrnl-intl-law/vol34/iss1/1/
International Court of Justice. (2012). Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy: Greece intervening).
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. (2004). Prosecutor v. Radislav Krsti?, Case No. IT-98-33-A, Appeal Judgment.
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. (2009). Prosecutor v. Mom?ilo Krajišnik, Case No. IT-00-39-A, Appeal Judgment.
International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. (2021). Prosecutor v. Ratko Mladi?.
Karreth, J., Quinn, J., Joshi, M., & Tir, J. (2022). International third parties and the implementation of comprehensive peace agreements after civil war. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 67(2–3), 002200272211132. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221113273
Katselli Proukaki, E. (2025). Enforcing collective/community interests through essential security clauses and solidarity measures in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Journal of Conflict and Security Law. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcsl/kraf007
Linderfalk, U. (2020). The legal consequences of jus cogens and the individuation of norms. Leiden Journal of International Law, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0922156520000357
Lobo, F. (2024). ‘Here be dragons’: mapping the legal contours of jus cogens in international law. Groningen Journal of International Law, 10(2), 72–90. https://doi.org/10.21827/grojil.10.2.72-90
Marhold, A.-A. (2023). Responses of international legal academia to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Leiden Journal of International Law, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156523000304
Murphy, S. D. (2023). Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens) (Revisited) and Other Topics: The Seventy-Third Session of the International Law Commission. American Journal of International Law, 117(1), 92–112. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2022.80
Pepic, I. (2023). Territorial Distribution Requirements Without Centripetal Pitfalls: Electoral Design for Power-Sharing Collective Presidencies. Ethnopolitics, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2023.2216978
Peter, M., & Houghton, K. A. (2025). The Dayton Peace Process: A Keyhole into Russian and Chinese Engagement with Liberal Peacebuilding. International Peacekeeping, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2025.2492705
Peters, A. (2023). The War in Ukraine and Legal Limitations on Russian Vetoes. Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, 10(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/20531702.2023.2264085
Richmond, O. P. (2025). A prelude to revisionism? The stalemated peace model and the emergence of multipolarity in international order. Contemporary Security Policy, 46(2), 197–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2024.2437928
Ruiz-Fabri, H., & Steppioni, E. (2021). Jus cogens before international courts: the mega-political side of the story. Law and Contemporary Problems, 84(4), 153–181.
Saunders, A. (2023). Constitution-Making as a Technique of International Law: Reconsidering the Postwar Inheritance. American Journal of International Law, 1–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2022.86
Tahirovi?, E., & Kuka, E. (2021). The Dayton controversies – public decision-making between parliamentary democracy and partitocracy. Historijski Pogledi, 4(6), 283–301. https://doi.org/10.52259/historijskipogledi.2021.4.6.283
Tladi, D. (2025). Jus Cogens and Reparations: Can We Just End the Separation? American Journal of International Law, 119(3), 530–549. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2025.10079
Urs, P. (2025). The Articulation of Obligations Erga Omnes and Erga Omnes Partes by the International Court of Justice: Coherence or Confusion? International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 74(2), 257–286. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589325100729
Yip, K. L. (2024). Reconceptualizing Norm Conflict in International Law. Asian Journal of International Law, 15(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/s2044251324000031
Žíla, O. (2021). ‘Sarajevo is not what it used to be’: Ex-Sarajevan Serbs and their ambivalent relationship to their place of origin. Journal of Refugee Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feab043
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