Contemporary Violence: Postmodern War in Kosovo and Chechnya draws on several years of field research, as well as interpretive IR theory and analysis of empirical source material so as to shed light ...on contemporary violence. Drawing on interpretive approaches to International Relations, the book argues that founding events and multiple contexts informed the narratives deployed by different members of each movement, illustrating why elements within the Kosovo Liberation Army and the armed forces of the Chechen republic of Ichkeria favoured regional and local strategies of war in the Balkans and the North Caucasus. The book draws on post-positivist analysis and empirical research so as unravel the relationship between narratives, stories and hermeneutic accounts of International Relations; regional politics and trans-local identity; globalisation and visual aspects of contemporary security; criminality and emotionality; which together illustrate the dynamics within the armed resistance movements in Kosovo and the North Caucasus and the road to war in 1999. The book is a major addition to a small field of genuinely readable studies of IR theory. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, students, area studies experts and policy-makers seeking to understand the formation of the armed resistance movements in Kosovo and Chechnya. Amongst other things, the book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, Political Studies, Area Studies, as well as those within Cultural and Historical and Sociological Studies.
This book represents a detailed and comprehensive examination of the developments of NATO's engagement in Kosovo, and the related policies of western countries. In addition to offering an in-depth ...analysis of historical developments in the relationships between Albanians and Serbs, the book also provides a constructive discussion of the events of the Kosovo conflict, which constituted one of the main concerns in the international agenda towards the end of the twentieth century. The basic theme set forth in this book is the reasoning behind NATO's intervention in Kosovo during the spring of 1999, namely to end the conflict between Albanians and Serbs and to aid the Kosovo Albanians in achieving their freedom from the jurisdiction of the Serbian state. Based on extensive evidence, the author analyzes the contradicting stances conveyed at the Security Council regarding the conflict, NATO's military intervention and the issue of Kosovo's future. The book provides useful information for any scholars, students and readers interested in gaining a more detailed understanding of Kosovo's historical developments on an international level. It offers the reader detailed insights into, and descriptions of, the events that took place in the military conflict in Kosovo; it provides various facts and figures, evidences and counterarguments in response to what happened in this politically volatile region.
An incisive analysis of the use of the press for propaganda purposes during conflicts, using the first Gulf War and the intervention in Kosovo as case studies.
As the contemporary analysis of ...propaganda during conflict has tended to focus considerably upon visual and instant media coverage, this book redresses the imbalance and contributes to the growing discourse on the role of the press in modern warfare.
Through an innovative comparative analysis of press treatment of the two conflicts it reveals the existence of five consistent propaganda themes: portrayal of the leader figure, portrayal of the enemy, military threat, threat to international stability and technological warfare. As these themes construct a fluid model for the analysis and understanding of propaganda content in the press during conflicts involving British forces, they also provide the background against which the author can discuss general issues regarding propaganda. Amongst the issues which have become increasingly relevant to both recent academic debate and popular culture, the author tackles the role of the journalist in war coverage, the place of the press in a news market dominated by ‘instant’ visual media and the effectiveness of propaganda in specific cultural and political context.
This book will appeal to advanced students and researchers in war studies, media studies/propaganda and psychology.
This book looks at the legacy of the 1998-99 Kosovo crisis for European security affairs. It examines the debates about the nature and justification of intervention in the affairs of sovereign ...states. It also considers the impact of the crisis on NATO and on relations between western states and Russia both during and since Kosovo. Well-known 'facts' are critically assessed and challenged. The authors argue, for example, that the NATO attacks on Serbia were not a 'war', nor did the crisis directly lead to moves to endow the European Union with its own military dimension. The authors also look at key issues and debates that have, so far, often been neglected. They consider the difficulties of entrenching 'western' norms and values in areas where ethnic conceptions of national identity are dominant. They also place the Kosovo crisis in the context of the long-term evolution of a transatlantic 'community of values' between Europe and North America.
This book offers interpretations of the Kosovo crisis from numerous perspectives: the conflict-parties, NATO allies, the immediate region surrounding the conflict, and further afield.
Violence Taking Place Herscher, Andrew
2010, 2010-03-25, 20100101, Volume:
440
eBook
While the construction of architecture has a place in architectural discourse, its destruction, generally seen as incompatible with the very idea of "culture," has been neglected in theoretical and ...historical discussion. Responding to this neglect, Herscher examines the case of the former Yugoslavia and in particular, Kosovo, where targeting architecture has been a prominent dimension of political violence. Rather than interpreting violence against architecture as a mere representation of "deeper" social, political, or ideological dynamics, Herscher reveals it to be a form of cultural production, irreducible to its contexts and formative of the identities and agencies that seemingly bear on it as causes. Focusing on the particular sites where violence is inflicted and where its subjects and objects are articulated, the book traces the intersection of violence and architecture from socialist modernization, through ethnic and nationalist conflict, to postwar reconstruction.
Her 20 år efter interventionen i Kosovo er problemerne stadig ikke løst. Den økonomiske udvikling halter, det politiske system er svagt og de bagvedliggende etniske konflikter simrer stadig. Store ...eksterne aktører står klar til at udnytte situationen.
The international community's practice of administering territories in post-conflict environments has raised important legal questions. Using Kosovo as a case study, Bernhard Knoll analyses the ...identity of the administrating UN organ, the ways in which the territories under consideration have acquired partial subjectivity in international law and the nature of legal obligations in the fiduciary exercise of transitional administration developed within the League of Nations' Mandate and the UN Trusteeship systems. Knoll discusses Kosovo's internal political and constitutional order and notes the absence of some of the characteristics normally found in liberal democracies, before proposing that the UN consolidates accountability guidelines related to the protection of human rights and the development of democratic standards should it engage in the transitional administration of territory.
This book offers a thorough appraisal of Operation Allied Force, NATO's 78-day air war to compel the president of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, to end his campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. ...The author sheds light both on the operation's strengths and on its most salient weaknesses. He outlines the key highlights of the air war and examines the various factors that interacted to induce Milosevic to capitulate when he did. He then explores air power's most critical accomplishments in Operation Allied Force as well as the problems that hindered the operation both in its planning and in its execution. Finally, he assesses Operation Allied Force from a political and strategic perspective, calling attention to those issues that are likely to have the greatest bearing on future military policymaking. The book concludes that the air war, although by no means the only factor responsible for the allies' victory, certainly set the stage for Milosevic's surrender by making it clear that he had little to gain by holding out. It concludes that in the end, Operation Allied Force's most noteworthy distinction may lie in the fact that the allies prevailed despite the myriad impediments they faced.
Recent bombing campaigns and peacekeeping efforts have achieved a fragile and uncertain peace in Kosovo. However, NATO will need help from both the European Union and the United Nations to create and ...maintain a lasting peace in the region. An expert in the affairs of the troubled region, Rezun traveled to the crisis zone to interview Kosovar refugees and foreign statesmen. He offers a sharp critique of the conflict, taking NATO and the entire Western Alliance to task and emphasizing the villainous behavior of the Milosevic regime. One cannot consider what happened in Kosovo to be an isolated affair, Rezun contends.Based on the widest possible range of sources, including documentation in nearly every European language, this study will appeal to experts and laymen alike. Rezun refuses to take sides. In addition to his criticisms of foreign intervention, exaggerated statistics, and reverse ethnic cleansing, he is merciless in his condemnation of the Serbs, in particular the corrupt influence of Milosevic and the late Arkan. In writing laced with irony, wit, and satire, he reveals the foibles of limited war and the errors committed by all parties. Yet his primary focus remains on the sufferings of the men, women, and children who filled the refugee camps and the devastated villages to which they have returned.
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