The research project will examine international policy dilemmas in the post-conflict reconstruction of cultural heritage as a model of society and peace building in war-affected states. The study will go beyond well-known civil aspects of society building and will analyze international efforts in that field through innovative perspective: the social construction of collective identities/memories as a process initiated and launched on supra-national, rather than national level. The research will be based both on the theory of neo liberal-institutionalism and on the theory of social constructivism emphasizing the adoption of public policy functions by international actors even in traditionally ‘national' fields such as cultural and identity politics.
The research will argue that international strategies on reconstruction of cultural heritage posses the potential to create social frames in which collective memory can be rebuilt/ reshaped and therefore could prove key security factor in war-torn societies. It will demonstrate how, seeking to reverse war effects and to promote inter-ethnic reconciliation, the international community tried to change the meaning of Bosnian cultural heritage and to ‘invent' new, common, multicultural past not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but for the entire Balkan region.

The project will be based on the empirical examination of three case-studies:

• International policies towards (re)construction of historical sites as instruments for the invention and fixation of common past.
• International policies towards (re)construction of museum institutions as centers for preservation of the common past.
• International policies towards (re)construction of libraries/archives as centers for documentation of the common past.

By examining the political meaning of cultural heritage in collective memory building and international policies in modifying that meaning, the project will try to answer challenging theoretical and empirical questions whose validity falls far beyond the region of Southeast Europe: How does social constructivism approach in international relations interact with theories on collective identity/memory building? Can cultural/national identities be created/reshaped through externally imported policy mechanisms? What are the practical implications of the reinvention of history/past? What will be the micro and macro political role of cultural heritage in terms of potential ‘clash of civilizations'?