Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 51, no. 1, February–March 2009, pp. 13–20
Order a copy of the issue here
<First 500 words>
Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence of 17 February 2008 has made visible the deep divisions between the United States and its European allies on the one hand, and Russia on the other; divisions that shaped the political dynamics of the Kosovo crisis nine years ago as they do today. The failure to settle the status question through diplomacy has thrown the UN into crisis, leaving the Security Council deadlocked and the international community in Kosovo without direction and momentum. It has led to the de facto partition of Kosovo and control by Belgrade of the Serb-inhabited northern municipalities, and left the international community struggling to define the nature of its engagement. The political divisions that have heightened the problem in Kosovo over the last nine years are unlikely to be resolved soon and, if anything, recent developments have accentuated them. New and creative approaches to stabilising Kosovo and promoting its economic and institutional development are necessary. Current European Union projects in support of the peace process in Northern Ireland might offer a model for such engagement.
International context
The divisions between Kosovo Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo are increasingly mirrored by a divide within the international community, reflected especially in the diplomatic response to the unilateral declaration of independence. Immediately after the announcement Kosovo was recognised by the United States and most members of the EU, and by December 2008 53 countries, including four of the six former republics of Yugoslavia, had extended recognition. However, a majority of states have yet to respond positively and many are actively opposed to the move. Moscow has lobbied states extensively to refuse recognition, arguing that the move to independence is a breach of international law that endangers international stability. Pristina has been particularly disappointed that only a small number of states from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have recognised Muslim-majority Kosovo, a pattern than can in part be explained by Moscow’s lobbying efforts and political pressure. Several EU countries have also objected to Kosovo’s independence and refused to recognise the new state. Spain has led the opposition within the EU, not least due to concerns about the precedent it might set for its own territorial integrity, and has lobbied Latin American states in particular to withhold recognition.
Russia’s expressed concerns that Kosovo’s independence could lead to further changes in the international order became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy after its conflict with Georgia in August 2008. Citing the recognition of Kosovo as a precedent when extending its own recognition to Georgia’s two pro-Russian breakaway entities, Russia argued that the circumstances in South Ossetia and Abkhazia represented a ‘special situation’ similar to the one Western countries had used to justify the legality of Kosovo’s independence. This move, however, undermined Russia’s argument in relation to Kosovo that territorial integrity was sacrosanct, and led to concerns in Belgrade that it might weaken the case against Kosovo’s independence.
A settlement of the Kosovo question has been further complicated by Serbia’s diplomatic efforts to limit international...
Get full article here
Oisín Tansey is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading. He is the author of Regime-Building: Democratization and International Administration (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2009).
Dominik Zaum is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading. His recent publications include The Sovereignty Paradox: The Norms and Politics of International Statebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2007); The United Nations Security Council and War: The Evolution of Thought and Practice since 1945 (Oxford University Press, 2008), co-edited with Vaughan Lowe, Jennifer Welsh and Adam Roberts; and (with Adam Roberts) the Adelphi Paper Selective Security: War and the United Nations Security Council since 1945 (Routledge, 2008).
Related Articles
Kosovo’s Road to War by Tim Judah (Summer 1999)
International law and the War in Kosovo by Catherine Guicherd (Summer 1999)
NATO’s ‘Humanitarian War’ over Kosovo by Adam Roberts (Autumn 1999)
Russia, NATO and European Security after Kosovo by Oksana Antonenko (Winter 1999–2000)
Inside Moscow’s Kosovo Muddleby Oleg Levitin (Spring 2000)
Kosovo under International Administrationby Alexandros Yannis (Summer 2001)
Kosovo’s Moment of Truth by Tim Judah (Winter 2005–06)
Russia and the Deadlock over Kosovo by Oksana Antonenko (Autumn 2007)
Kosovo's Moment, Serbia’s Chance by David Gowan (April–May 2008)
