In this revealing work, Dag Henriksen discloses the origins and content of NATO's strategic and conceptual thinking on how the use of force was to succeed politically in altering the behavior of the ...Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The air campaign, known as Operation Allied Force, was the first war against any sovereign nation in the history of NATO and the first major combat operation conducted for humanitarian purposes against a state committing atrocities within its own borders. This book examines the key political, diplomatic, and military processes that shaped NATO and U.S. management of the Kosovo crisis and shows how air power became the main instrument in their strategy to coerce the FRY to accede to NATO's demands. The book further shows that the military leaders set to execute the campaign had no clear strategic guidance on what the operation was to achieve and that the level of uncertainty was so high that the officers selecting the bombing targets watched NATO's military spokesman on CNN for guidance in choosing their targets. Henriksen argues that structures preceding the Kosovo crisis shaped the management to a much greater degree than events taking place in Kosovo and that the air power community's largely institutionalized focus on high-intensity conflicts, like the 1991 Gulf War, hampered them from developing strategies to fit the political complexities of crises. Because fighting and wars in the lower end of the intensity spectrum are likely to surface again, study of the Kosovo crisis offers lessons for future international conflicts in which the combination of force and diplomacy will play a very significant role.
Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 has had a profound and polarising impact on international relations. While over a third of the world's countries have recognised Kosovo, ...others have been concerned that it sets a precedent for secessionist minorities. Indeed, Kosovo appears to have been used as a precedent in the Russia-Georgia conflict over South Ossetia. The book brings together contributions from leading academics on the legal aspects of Kosovo and, in particular, the International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion of 2010. The result is an extensive examination from a variety of experts on Kosovo and its impact on international law.
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.
The ICJ´s Opinion on Kosovo of 22 July 2010 has touched upon many pivotal questions of international law. This book contains a comprehensive stock-taking on this subject written by several ...international law experts from different European countries.
The war in Kosovo has been a defining moment in post-Cold War Europe. Kosovo has great importance beyond the Balkans as the most ambitious attempt of the international community to prevent internal ...conflicts and rebuild a society destroyed by war and ethnic cleansing. As the danger of ethnic conflict prevails in the region and elsewhere around the world, the experience of Kosovo offers important lessons. This is a comprehensive survey of developments in Kosovo leading up to, during and after the war in 1999, providing additionally the international and regional framework to the conflict. It examines the underlying causes of the war, the attempts by the international community to intervene, and the war itself in spring 1999. It critically examines the international administration in Kosovo since June 1999 and contextualizes it within the relations of Kosovo to its neighbours and as part of the larger European strategy in Southeastern Europe with the stability pact. It does not seek to promote one interpretation of the conflict and its aftermath, but brings together a range of intellectual arguments from some sixteen researchers from the Balkans, the rest of Europe and North America.
'With its unique focus, this book constitutes an important milestone in a large academic debate. With its 350 pages this rich collection provides many valuable perspectives, yet, it also raises some questions.'
- Nationalities Papers, Vol 32, No. 2
'With its multi-disciplinary character this book is a valuable source for scholars, policy-makers, and journalists who want to make feasible arguments and informed policy choices related to the region.'
- Maria Koinova, Harvard University
1. Claims to Kosovo 2. Kosovo or Kosova 3. Ethnic Prejudices and Discrimination 4. The Limits of Non Military International Intervention 5. Rambouillet 6. When Doves Support War and Hawks Oppose It 7. The Theory of Humanitarian Intervention 8. War on Kosovo 9. Religion in Kosovo and the Balkans 10. The UN in Kosovo 11. Ethnic Borders to a Democratic Society 12. The EU Intervention 13. Questioning Reconstruction v Regional Perspectives for an Independent Kosovo 14. Kosovo Independence and Macedonian Stability 15. Serbia after the Kosovo War
Florian Bieber, is Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at the European Center for Minority Issues, in Belgrade and has edited many publications in the field of ethnic conflict. Zidas Daskalovski is currently posted at the Central European University in Budapest and is Chief Researcher for Minority Information Service, Macedonian NGO dealing with minority issues
This project advances the existing theoretical work on the CNN effect, a claim that innovations in the speed and quality of technology create conditions in which the media acts as an independent ...factor with significant influence. It provides a novel interpretation of the factors that drove Western policy towards military intervention in this area.
'Using a wide variety of sources, expecially interviews and discussions with policy makers, Clark pieces together an intricate picture ... An invaluable text.' Peace News.
