International Diplomacy and the Crisis in Kosovo

Bibliographic Data

ID3706161
AuthorsRobyn Caplan (0000-0002-6407-3116, University of Oxford, corresponding author), Richard Caplan (0000-0002-4117-597X)
Year1998
Volume74
Issue4
Pages745-761
Publication date1998-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1468-2346.00043
OpenAlexW1984893470
LanguageEN
Citations received18

This article examines key elements of international diplomacy and the Kosovo crisis. From very early on, it is shown, the Kosovar Albanians were accorded differential treatment by the international community in relation to the other national minorities of the former Yugoslavia. Whether warranted or not, this approach helped ensure that Kosovo would fail to become a major international concern, thus allowing the conflict to smoulder for years. The explosion of pent-up frustration we are witnessing today in Kosovo is only one consequence of these actions. Another is that the scope for moderate solutions has narrowed. Genuine democratization of Serbia may enlarge the political space required to restore credibility to compromise solutions but the prospects for such a development in the short term are weak. The international community favours a solution to the conflict which would preserve Serbia's territorial integrity, just as it did earlier with respect to Yugoslavia. But if the Albanians' desire for independence cannot be sublimated or if the granting of autonomy to Kosovo is used as a cover for the Serbian leadership to pursue its campaign of violence, then persistent opposition to any adjustments to Yugoslavia's boundaries may be a prescription for further tragedy in the region

Compromise · Credibility · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Diplomacy · Economics · Independence (probability theory) · International community · Opposition (politics) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Serbian · Sociology · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub