From Kosovo Rush to Mass Atrocities’ Hush. German Debates since Unification

Bibliographic Data

ID18968692
AuthorsRobin Hering (0000-0003-4019-5407, University of Passau, corresponding author), Bernhard Stahl (0000-0002-2523-0000, University of Passau)
Year2022
Volume70
Issue2
Pages246-266
Publication date2022-06-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComparative Southeast European Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2701-8199 • E-ISSN: 2701-8202
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/soeu-2022-0016
OpenAlexW4285047512
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited25

Germany’s involvement in the Kosovo War marked its first active participation in combat operations since the Second World War. For many observers at the time, the intervention represented a fundamental policy shift in the West, and in Germany in particular. Mass atrocities, no longer to be observed from the sidelines, were now to be actively prevented. Twenty years later, this stance seems rather puzzling. Mass atrocities continued to be committed; Germany has neither championed efforts to prevent such acts, nor has it been proactive in this regard. In this article, the authors develop three proxies that serve to indicate whether mass atrocities were highly politicised: the existence of parliamentary debates, media coverage, and church statements. They show that Kosovo is an outlier within an otherwise clear continuity of German political silencing in the face of mass atrocities. To prove this claim, they turn to German domestic debates on twelve mass atrocity cases abroad since the country’s unification in 1990

German · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Unification · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access