New solution for old problem : reviewing the international peace-building experiment in Kosovo

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the prospects for solution of the protracted Kosovo problem, through the international peace-building mission launched in 1999. It confronts the basic premises upon which is constructed the peace-building concept, the latter viewed in the context of peace operation techniques, with the nature of the ethnic conflict of Kosovo. The thesis argues that implementation of socioeconomic and political transformations along the model of capitalist liberal democracy, which is the underlying strategy of peace-building missions, is not sufficient condition for the solution of the Kosovo problem. This assumption is based on two arguments. First, the international peace-building operation in Kosovo does not tackle the very root of the Kosovo problem, namely the question of political/legal status of the territory, nor it offers any clear prospect for solving this issue. Second, this operation leaves intact the direct cause of the violent expression of the Kosovo problem, namely the aggressive Serbian nationalism and the particular sociopolitical context which gave rise to it. The thesis argues that there can be no viable solution for the final status of Kosovo, which would contradict the will of the majority of its population. Finally, the thesis suggests that the stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans, including the democratic transformation of Serbia, which is of crucial importance in this regard, are indivisibly dependent from the incorporation of this region under the umbrella of Euro-Atlantic political, economic and security structures.