This book provides new and stimulating perspectives on how Kosovo has shaped the new Europe. It breaks down traditional assumptions in the field of security studies by sidelining the theoretical ...worldview that underlies mainstream strategic thinking on recent events in Kosovo. The contributors challenge the epistemological definition of the Kosovo conflict, arguing that we should not only be concerned with the 'Kosovo out there', but also with the debate about what counts as security and how our definition of security is shaped by various power and knowledge interests in Kosovo. They have adopted an innovative critical approach, both re-essentialising and deconstructing orthodox assumptions about the nature of European and global security. This book is perfect for final year undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in the field of security studies and international politics.
This volume is driven by the conviction that the key to the establishment of stable liberal democracy anywhere in the world and, in this case, in Kosovo lies in the completion of three interrelated ...tasks: first, the creation of effective political institutions, based on the principle of the separation of powers (including the independence of the judiciary); second, the promotion of the rule of law; and, third, the promotion of civic values, including tolerance or ethnic/religious/sexual minorities, trust, and respect for the harm principle. In fact, there are problems across all three measures, including with judicial independence, with the rule of law, and with civic values. On the last of these, research findings show that the citizens of Kosovo rank extremely low on trust of other citizens, low on engagement in social organizations, and tolerance of gays, lesbians, and atheists, but high on trust in the political institutions of their country and in pride of their newly independent state.
Conflicts involve powerful experiences. The residue of these experiences is captured by the concept and language of emotion. Indiscriminate killing creates fear; targeted violence produces anger and ...a desire for vengeance; political status reversals spawn resentment; cultural prejudices sustain ethnic contempt. These emotions can become resources for political entrepreneurs. A broad range of Western interventions are based on a view of human nature as narrowly rational. Correspondingly, intervention policy generally aims to alter material incentives ('sticks and carrots') to influence behavior. In response, poorer and weaker actors who wish to block or change this Western implemented 'game' use emotions as resources. This book examines the strategic use of emotion in the conflicts and interventions occurring in the Western Balkans over a twenty-year period. The book concentrates on the conflicts among Albanian and Slavic populations (Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, South Serbia), along with some comparisons to Bosnia.
War does not stop when the armed conflict ends. This compelling eyewitness account of a key political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007 demonstrates how interventions from foreign powers to ...end armed conflict can create new forms of conflict that are not only as determined and resilient, but can lead groups to challenge the power of fragile states through political and legal means. Countering such challenges is an integral but often ignored part of peace processes. How do these nonviolent wars evolve? How can the power of fragile states be challenged through nonviolent means in the aftermath of armed conflict? And what is the role of diplomacy in countering such challenges? This book offers key insights for policy makers dealing with fragile states who seek answers to such questions.
Kosovo Jacobs, Davina F; Jacobs, Davina F; Herderschee, Han
2002., 04/11/2002, 2002, 2002-04-15, 20020101
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Kosovo was placed under temporary UN administration in 1999, and a final political settlement remains pending. Since that time, however, the province has developed the instruments and institutions ...necessary to formulate and implement an independent economic policy. This paper provides an overview of Kosovo's economy and its institutions to date, including those of self-government, and discusses the main economic policy challenges currently facing the province.
In shaping the institutions of a new country, what interventions from international actors lead to success and failure? Elton Skendaj's investigation into Kosovo, based on national survey data, ...interviews, and focus groups conducted over ten months of fieldwork, leads to some surprising answers.Creating Kosovohighlights efforts to build the police force, the central government, courts, and a customs service.
Skendaj finds that central administration and the courts, which had been developed under local authority, succumbed to cronyism and corruption, challenging the premise that local "ownership" leads to more effective state bureaucracies. The police force and customs service, directly managed by international actors, were held to a meritocratic standard, fulfilling their missions and winning public respect. On the other hand, local participation and contestation supported democratic institutions. When international actors supported the demobilization of popular movements,Creating Kosovoshows, they undermined the ability of the public to hold elected officials accountable.
This book tells the story of Kosovo's independence, from the periodic bloodshed of the twentieth century to the diplomacy that led to a determination of Kosovo's final status as a state in 2008. ...Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, over the objection of Serbia and Russia. This culminated in more than a hundred years of, sometimes violent, resistance to what the majority Albanian population considered to be 'occupation' by foreign forces - first those of the Ottoman Empire, then those of Serbia, and finally by the United Nations. Kosovo's independence was the product of careful diplomacy, orchestrated by the United States and leading members of the European Union, under a framework brokered by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who subsequently won the Nobel Prize for Peace.
This book examines international engagement with Kosovo since NATO's intervention in 1999, and looks at the three distinct phases of Kosovo's development; intervention, statebuilding and ...independence.
Kosovo remains a case study of central importance in international relations, illustrative of key political trends in the post-Cold War era. During each phase, international policy towards Kosovo has challenged prevailing international norms and pushed the boundaries of conventional wisdom. In each of the three phases 'Kosovo' has been cited as constituting a precedent, and this book explores the impact and the often troubling consequences and implications of these precedents. This book explicitly engages with this debate, which transcends Kosovo itself, and provides a critical analysis of the catalysts and consequences of contemporary international engagement with this seminal case study.
Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of the international engagement with Kosovo and situates events there in an international context, highlighting the extent to which international policy towards Kosovo has challenged existing norms and practices. Kosovo has been cited in certain texts as a positive template to be emulated, but the contributors to this book also identify the often controversial and contentious nature of these new norms.
This book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention and statebuilding, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general.
Aidan Hehir is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster.
The reconstruction of Kosovo after 1999 was one of the largest and most ambitious international interventions in a post-conflict country. The United Nations, other major multinational organisations ...and many large bilateral aid donors all played a role in restoring stability and establishing governance in the territory. This book looks beyond the apparently united and generally self-congratulatory statements of these international actors to examine what actually happened when they tried to work together in Kosovo to achieve this goal. It considers the interests and motivations, and the strengths and weaknesses of each of the major players and how they contributed to the creation of new institutions in public finance and public sector management. Although in general the international exercise in Kosovo can be seen as a success, in the sphere of public administration the results have been mixed. More than fifteen years later, some institutions of government perform well while others face ongoing challenges. The book argues that much of the current day performance of the Kosovo government can be traced to the steps taken, or not taken, by these international actors in the crucial first years.
