Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-17T20:17:56.965Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The quest for legitimacy in independent Kosovo: the unfulfilled promise of diversity and minority rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Dana M. Landau Open the ORCID record for Dana M. Landau [Opens in a new window]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

When Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, it did so not as a nation-state, but as a “state of communities,” self-defining as multiethnic, diverse, and committed to extensive rights for minorities. In this paper, this choice is understood as a response to a dual legitimation problem. Kosovo experienced both an external legitimation challenge, regarding its contested statehood internationally, and an internal one, vis-à-vis its Serb minority. The focus on diversity and minority rights was expected to confer legitimacy on the state both externally and internally. International state-builders and the domestic political elite in post-conflict Kosovo both pursued this strategy. However, it inadvertently created an additional internal legitimation challenge, this time from within Kosovo's majority Albanian population. This dynamic is illustrated by the opposition movement “Lëvizja Vetëvendosje” (Self-Determination Movement), which rejects the framing of Kosovo as first and foremost a multiethnic state. The movement's counter-narrative represents an additional internal legitimation challenge to the new state. This paper thus finds that internationally endorsed “diversity management” through minority rights did not deliver as a panacea for the legitimacy dilemmas of the post-conflict polity. On the contrary, the “state of communities” continues to be contested by both majority and minority groups in Kosovo.

Keywords

minority rightsKosovostate-buildinglegitimacydiversity
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , May 2017 , pp. 442 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

References

Baldwin, Clive. 2006. Minority Rights in Kosovo Under International Rule. London: Minority Rights Group International.Google Scholar
Barker, Rodney. 1990. Political Legitimacy and the State. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Bieber, Florian. 2004a. “Institutionalizing Ethnicity in the Western Balkans: Managing Change in Deeply Divided Societies.” ECMI Working Paper 19.Google Scholar
Bieber, Florian. 2004b. “The Legal Framework for Post-War Kosovo and the Myth of Multiethnicity.” In Managing Hatred and Distrust: The Prognosis for Post-Conflict Settlement in Multiethnic Communities in the Former Yugoslavia, edited by Dimitrijeviç, Nenad and Kovacs, Petra, 117–135. Budapest: Open Society Institute.Google Scholar
Björkdahl, Annika, and Gusic, Ivan. 2015. “‘Global’ Norms and ‘Local’ Agency: Frictional Peacebuilding in Kosovo.” Journal of International Relations and Development 18 (3): 265–287. doi:10.1057/jird.2015.18.Google Scholar
Bolton, Grace. 2013. “International Responses to the Secession Attempts of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia 1989–2009.” In Statehood and Self-Determination: Reconciling Tradition and Modernity in International Law, edited by French, Duncan, 109–138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen E. 2004. Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations of International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Caplan, Richard. 2005a. Europe and the Recognition of New States in Yugoslavia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Caplan, Richard. 2005b. International Governance of War-Torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Caplan, Richard. 2010. “The ICJ's Advisory Opinion on Kosovo.” PeaceBrief 55: 1–4. http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PB55%20The%20ICJs%20Advisory%20Opinion%20on%20Kosovo.pdf.Google Scholar
Caplan, Richard. 2014. “European Organizations and the Governance of Ethnocultural Diversity After the Cold War: The Yugoslav ‘Laboratory'.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 20 (3): 269–286.Google Scholar
Capussela, Andrea Lorenzo. 2014. “A Critique of Kosovo's Internationalized Constitutional Court.” European Diversity and Autonomy Papers (EDAP 02/2014).Google Scholar
Capussela, Andrea Lorenzo. 2015. State-Building in Kosovo: Democracy, Corruption and the EU in the Balkans. London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Deda, Ilir. 2009. Decentralization in Kosovo I: Municipal Elections and the Serb Participation. Pristina: Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED).Google Scholar
Di Lellio, Anna, and Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie. 2006. “The Legendary Commander: The Construction of an Albanian Master Narrative in Post-War Kosovo.” Nations and Nationalism 12 (3): 513–529.Google Scholar
Easton, David. 1965. A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
ECMI (European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo) 2010. Protecting and Promoting Education for Minority Communities: A Manual for Municipal Officials. Pristina: European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo.Google Scholar
ECMI (European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo) 2011. Special Report: Community Political Parties and Government Formation. Pristina: ECMI Kosovo.Google Scholar
Edelman, Murray. 1964. The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland, and Jenkins, Richard. 2007. Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
First Agreement 2013. “First Agreement of Principles Governing the Normalization of Relations.” Accessed May 5, 2016. http://bit.ly/1TGszL8.Google Scholar
Fridman, Orli. 2015. “Unstructured Daily Encounters: Serbs in Kosovo After the 2008 Declaration of Independence.” Contemporary Southeastern Europe 2 (1): 173–190.Google Scholar
Gashi, Krenar. 2007. “Kosovo Confused Amid Efforts to Choose a New Flag.” Balkan Insight, June 2007. Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.Google Scholar
Gow, James. 1994. “Serbian Nationalism and the Hissssing Ssssnake in the International Order: Whose Sovereignty? Which Nation?” The Slavonic and East European Review 72 (3): 456–476.Google Scholar
Hayden, Robert M. 1992. “Constitutional Nationalism in the Formerly Yugoslav Republics.” Slavic Review 51 (4): 654–673.Google Scholar
Hopkins, Valerie. 2015. “Set the Trojan Horse on Fire.” Foreign Policy, February 4. Accessed September 8, 2015. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/04/set-the-trojan-horse-on-fire-kosovo-serbia-protests-mining/.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1990. “Making Moderation Pay: The Comparative Politics of Ethnic Conflict Management.” In Conflict and Peacemaking in Multiethnic Societies, edited by Montville, Joseph V., 451–475. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Howard, Lize Morjé. 2012. “The Ethnocracy Trap.” Journal of Democracy 23 (4): 155–169.Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group) 2008. “Kosovo's First Month.” Europe Briefing No. 47, Pristina/Belgrade/Brussels, March 18, 2008.Google Scholar
ICG (International Crisis Group). 2011. North Kosovo – Dual Sovereignty. https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/balkans/kosovo/north-kosovo-dual-sovereignty-practice.Google Scholar
ICO (International Civilian Office). 2010. After the Conflict – Real life. Speech by Peter Feith Delivered in October 2010. ICO website (no longer online). Accessed April 14, 2011.Google Scholar
Ivanisevic, Bogdan. 2004. “Legacy of War: Minority Returns in the Balkans.” In Human Rights Watch World Report, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 351–375. https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k4/download.htm.Google Scholar
Johns, Michael. 2003. “‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do': The European Union, Eastern Europe and Minority Rights.” East European Politics and Societies 17 (4): 682–699.Google Scholar
Judah, Tim. 2002. Kosovo: War and Revenge. 2nd ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Judah, Tim. 2008. Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ker-Lindsay, James. 2009. Kosovo: the Path to Contested Statehood in the Balkans. London: LB. Tauris.Google Scholar
King, Ian, and Mason, Whit. 2006. Peace at any Price: How the World Failed Kosovo. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Kostovicova, Denisa. 2008. “Legitimacy and International Administration: The Ahtisaari Settlement for Kosovo From a Human Security Perspective.” International Peacekeeping 15 (5): 631–647.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 2007. Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lantscher, Emma. 2008. “Protection of Minority Communities in Kosovo: Legally Ahead of European Standards – Practically Still a Long Way to Go.” Review of Central and East European Law 33 (4): 451–490.Google Scholar
Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (Self-determination Movement). Short Political Programme; Deconstruction of the Declaration of Independence. Accessed September 4, 2015. http://www.vetevendosje.org/en/documents/.Google Scholar
Liebich, André. 2008. “Minority as Inferiority: Minority Rights in Historical Perspective.” Review of International Studies 34 (2): 243–263.Google Scholar
MacGinty, Roger. 2011. Peacebuilding and Local Resistance: Hybrid Forms of Peace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
MacGinty, Roger, and Richmond, Oliver P. 2013. “The Local Turn in Peace Building: A Critical Agenda for Peace.” Third World Quarterly 34 (5): 763–783.Google Scholar
Malik, Kenan. 2015. “The Failure of Multi-Culturalism: Community versus Society in Europe.” Foreign Affairs, March/April. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/western-europe/failure-multiculturalism.Google Scholar
Marzouk, Lawrence. 2010. “Kosovo: Court Bans Prizren Emblem.” Balkan Insight, March 2010. Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovocourt-bans-prizren-emblem.Google Scholar
McGarry, John, and O'Leary, Brendan. 1993. The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation: Case Studies of Protracted Ethnic Conflicts. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
McEvoy, Joanne, and O'Leary, Brendan. 2013. Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Mulaj, Klejda. 2011. “The Problematic Legitimacy of International-Led Statebuilding: Challenges of Uniting International and Local Interests in Post-Conflict Kosovo.” Contemporary Politics 17 (3): 241–256.Google Scholar
Musliu, Vjosa, and Orbie, Jan. 2016. “MetaKosovo: Local and International Narratives.” The British Journal of Politics & International Relations 18 (1): 179–195.Google Scholar
Newman, Edward, Paris, Ronald, and Richmond, Oliver P. 2009. New Perspectives on Liberal Peacebuilding. New York: United Nations University Press.Google Scholar
Newman, Edward, and Visoka, Gëzim. 2016. “The Foreign Policy of State Recognition: Kosovo's Diplomatic Strategy to Join International Society.” Foreign Policy Analysis 1–21, doi:10.1093/fpa/orw042.Google Scholar
OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) 2004. Human Rights Challenges Following the March Riots. Pristina: OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Department of Human Rights and Rule of Law.Google Scholar
Pattison, James. 2010. Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene? Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pavlaković, Vjeran. 2000. “Refugee Returns in Kosovo: Learning From the Mistakes in Bosnia and Croatia.” Human Rights Review 1 (2): 108–112.Google Scholar
Schneckener, Ulrich, and Wolff, Stefan, eds. 2004. Managing and Settling Ethnic Conflicts: Perspectives on Successes and Failures in Europe, Africa and Asia. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie. 2013. “Democratization Through Defiance? The Albanian Civil Organization ‘Self-Determination’ and International Supervision in Kosovo.” In Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans, edited by Bojicic-Dzelilovic, Vesna, Ker-Lindsay, James, and Kostovicova, Denisa, 95–116. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ströhle, Isabel. 2012. “Re-Inventing Kosovo: Newborn and the Young Europeans.” In Retracing Images. Visual Culture After Yugoslavia, edited by Šuber, Daniel and Karamanić, Slobodan, 223–250. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
UN (United Nations). 1999. United Nations Press Release GA/SM/109 October 14, 1999. Accessed December 29, 2015. http://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19991014.gasm.109.doc.html.Google Scholar
Vickers, Miranda. 1998. Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Visoka, Gëzim. 2011. “International Governance and Local Resistance in Kosovo: The Thin Line Between Ethical, Emancipatory and Exclusionary Politics.” Irish Studies in International Affairs 22 (1): 99–125.Google Scholar
Visoka, Gëzim, and Gjevori, Elvin. 2013. “Census Politics and Ethnicity in the Western Balkans.” East European Politics 29 (4): 479–498.Google Scholar
Weller, Marc. 2008. “The Vienna Negotiations on the Final Status for Kosovo.” International Affairs 84 (4): 659–681.Google Scholar
Weller, Marc. 2009. Contested Statehood: Kosovo's Struggle for Independence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Welsh, Jennifer M. 2004. Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar