UNMIK

This article problematizes the concept of ‘mission’ in international interventions, who is entitled to missionize and how the missionized subject is conceptualized. By looking at the international missions in Kosovo (those of the UN and particularly the EU), we problematize how the EU mission in Kosovo is entrenched in a trajectory of ‘missionizing’ that makes it bear the stigma of a structure non-responsive and non-sensitive to the local. Employing Derrida’s deconstruction, we explain that the criticism (academic, dogmatic, ideological and empirical) of international missions relates not so much to how they operate in their host countries, or to the policy choices they make. Rather, looking at the path dependency of missions in the Western historical and civilizational trajectory, we maintain that the problem derives from the idea and very concept of ‘mission’ as intervention in itself.

...The purpose of this study is not to provide a detailed and complete picture of the life of Kosovo Serbs in the first post-war decade, but to point out the main political trends which allowed for systematic discrimination, forced expulsions and violation of their basic human rights. All of this is an unacceptable political practice, apparently in sharp contrast with the basic European values and universal human rights. Furthermore, there is a particular empha-sis on the unprecedented destruction of Serb patrimonial sites by the Kosovo Albanian extremists ― churches and monasteries which have been and still are an important component of European and world culture, as verified by UNESCO, which enlisted four Serbian medieval monasteries in the UN-administered Kosovo on the list of World Heritage Sites.
Serbian monasteries in Kosovo, which have been guarded from the hostile Albanian environment for more than a decade by KFOR-troops, are the only European cultural monuments which are still being protected from immediate destruction by strong international military forces.

La opinión consultiva de la Corte Internacional de Justicia sobre el caso Kosovo (2010) determinó que las declaraciones de independencia unilaterales no son contrarias al derecho internacional. El fallo resultó  restrictivo y no indagó en los límites de la libre determinación de los pueblos, abriendo el debate a cuándo y cómo puede independizarse un territorio.

The competing theories of state recognition and their failings actively demonstrate that recognition of a state does not have any normative content per se, but rather, that the rules of state recognition, although legal rules, are legal vehicles for political choices. We have the dilemma of concurrently wanting the right cases to result in independent states while prohibiting the wrong ones from becoming so, and so we sail between political choices, using the language of law. The state is neither truly free to recognize another entity nor entirely bound. Differing cases require different legal criteria and different legal results. This flexibility in state recognition theory though, while depriving the act of any inherent legal meaning, has value in its utility for establishing lawful relationships.

This paper will argue that the reason we find it difficult to resolve the controversy over state recognition theory is because the international legal system translates political controversies into legal questions that can then be addressed through legal means. Legal actors, by announcing preference for one side of the question, often reveal certain legal and moral choices they are making about the nature of the state and the legitimacy of the international legal system - law and politics. In the area of state recognition, no theory of recognition has extinguished competition because no political choice has gained universal acceptance. The predominant political choice is most frequently deliberate indeterminacy, a co-existence of mutually opposing arguments. This indeterminacy is most likely deliberate because it permits the underlying rationale for the legal actor’s policies to change and evolve to suit the situation.

This article examines the implications of two distinct phases of international engagement in Kosovo. We argue that a number of flaws developed during UNMIK’s administration (1999 – 2008), which continue to undermine Kosovo’s stability. We then disentangle the complex inter-institutional relations between ICO, EULEX, UNMIK and the OSCE. Indeed, their incompatible positions towards Kosovo’s status results in a lack of clarity, coordination and coherence that weaken Kosovo within four policy areas: Kosovo’s international recognition and participation, the rule of law, inter- ethnic relations and the fate of North Kosovo. While these shortcomings could be viewed as ‘unintended consequences’, we argue more broadly that the Kosovo case illustrates the limits of liberal peacebuilding and the tensions and implications of strategic peacebuilding.

Celem ninejszej pracy jest analiza sytuacji politycznej w Republice Kosowa po 17 lutego 2008 roku, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem problemów wewnętrznych i zewnętrznych tego państwa. Zastanawiam się również nad stopniem suwerenności i niepodległości Republiki Kosowa oraz nad najważniejszymi wyzwaniami jakie przed nią stoją.

Jednym z najważniejszych problemów, z jakimi boryka się aktualnie Kosowo jest niemożność określenia jego ostatecznego statusu międzynarodowego. Problem ten nadal istnieje, nawet jeżeli Republika Kosowa ogłosiła niepodległość i konstytucyjnie określiła swój status jako suwerenne państwo, a MTS nie uznał tego za nielegalne. Budzi on w dalszym ciągu kontrowersje i dzieli społeczność międzynarodową. Trudno dociekać jego legalności na podstawie prawa do samostanowieniu narodów, gdy w opozycji staje prawo do poszanowania integralności terytorium państwa. Niemożliwym jest też stwierdzenie państwowości Republiki Kosowa na podstawie obiektywnych przesłanek prawa międzynarodowego, gdyż ich ocena należy do indywidualnych podmiotów prawa międzynarodowego. Dodatkowo, sam status prawny przyznany Kosowu przez Konstytucję Republiki Kosowa jest negowany przez część jego obywateli, a terytorium podzielone jest pod względem administracyjno-prawnym na dwie części. Zaistniała sytuacja nie tylko przyczynia się do osłabienia efektywności władz Republiki Kosowa na arenie wewnętrznej i międzynarodowej, ale implikuje również negatywne konsekwencje społeczno-ekonomiczne. To zaś niekorzystnie wpływa na zakres działania Republiki Kosowa jako państwa będącego podmiotem prawa międzynarodowego, w ten sposób Kosowo tylko w ograniczonym zakresie może spełniać wynikające z tego tytułu zobowiązania.

Nie ulega jednak wątpliwości, że ustanowienie protektoratu międzynarodowego i budowa autonomicznych instytucji zarządzających de facto przyczyniły się do separacji i niezależności politycznej Kosowa od Republiki Serbii uniemożliwiając ponowne połączenie się tych dwóch organizmów, czego punktem kulminacyjnym było proklamowanie przez kosowskie władze niepodległości oraz przyjęcie Kostytucji Republiki Kosowa. W związku z powyższym, trzeba zastanowić się nie nad tym, czy Kosowo to państwo, ale nad tym w jaki sposób należy stymulować jego dalszy rozwój, by rozwiązać jego największe problemy.

Od 17 lutego 2008 roku do września 2012 roku Republika Kosowa jako twór państwowy intensywnie ewoluowała tak, by z nowopowstałego podmiotu prawa międzynarodowego walczącego o swoje istnienie, stać się państwem, które pewne swojego bytu stara się zapewnić sobie jak najlepsze warunki rozwoju. Zauważymy to zarówno na arenie wewnętrznej, jak i międzynarodowej.

Jako punkt wyjścia dla analizy ww. problemów posłużyła mi charakterystyka sytuacji demograficznej i gospodarczej Kosowa oraz historyczny zarys dziejów tego obszaru. Problem Republiki Kosowa jest wart uwagi, ponieważ w sposób pośredni lub bezpośredni rzutuje na sytuację międzynarodową, wpływając nie tylko na kwestie regionalne obszaru bałkańskiego (perspektywa akcesji do Unii Europejskiej Bałkanów Zachodnich czy stosunki na linii Prisztina - Belgrad), ale również ponadregionalne (m.in. separatyzm abchaski i południoosetyński, sam w sobie stanowiąc przykład dla innych ruchów separatystycznych). Różne stanowiska głównych aktorów międzynarodowych (Stany Zjednoczone, Unia Europejska, Federacja Rosyjska, Chińska Republika Ludowa, Republika Serbii) na kwestię niepodległości Republiki Kosowa odzwierciedlają ich własne interesy oraz prowadzą do sytuacji, gdzie problem międzynarodowego uznania nowopowstałego państwa jest nierozstrzygnięty. Przypadek kosowski jest też interesujący jako model badań nad tworzeniem się, funkcjonowaniem i ograniczeniami systemu instytucjonalnego nowego państwa oraz w związku z zastosowaniem tu mechanizmów nadzoru międzynarodowego.



"The primary objective of this thesis is the analysis of political situation in the Republic of Kosovo after 17 february 2008, taking into consideration the internal and external problems of this country. I also focused on the level of sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Kosovo and all the challenges that it must overcome.

One of the main problems that Kosovo is struggling with at the moment is the inability to determine it's international status. The problem still exists, even after Kosovo gained independence, and it's constitution describes it as sovergain country (which wasn't considered illegal by MTS). The status of Kosovo is controversial and divides the international community. It is hard to determinate the legitimacy of Kosovo on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination, because in oposition exists the principle to respect the country's territorial integrity. It is also impossible to determine the statehood of the Republic of Kosovo by basing it on the prerequisites of international law, because the evaluation lies in the hands of individual subjects of international law. Additionally, part of the citizens denies the legal status of the country granted by the Constitution of Republic of Kosovo. It devides the country in two administrative parts. The difficult situation that arised weakens the efficiency of the authorities of the Republic of Kosovo on both international and internal areas, and implies negative social and economic consequences. All the factors impair the range of actions that the Republic of Kosovo, as the subject of the international law, can take.

There's no doubt that the international protectorate and the autonomous administrative institutions contributed to separation and independence of the Republic of Kosovo from the Republic of Serbia, making it impossible for the two body politics to rejoin. The culminative point was the proclamation of the independence and the acceptance of the Constitution of Republic of Kosovo. Taking all the facts into consideration, it is not necessary to argue if Kosovo is a country or not. It is necessary to stimulate the country's development and find the solutions to it's most difficult problems.

From 17 february 2008 to september 2012 the Republic of Kosovo was evolving intensely, with objective to become a strong, self-sufficient country that can assure for itself ideal conditions for further development. It can be seen in both international and internal areas.

The starting point for the analysis of the mentioned problems was the characteristics of the demographic and economic situation in Kosovo and the history of this area. The situation in Kosovo is worth analysing, because it affects the whole international situation, not only the questions of the Balkan region (the perspective of Western Balkans to join the European Union or relations Pristina- Belgrad), but also the over-regional problems such as Abkhaz separatism – an example for other separatist movements.

The different aproaches of main international political actors (USA, European Union, Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, Republic of Serbia) to the fact of Kosovo's independence show their own political matters leading to inability to decide on the status of the newborn country. The case of Kosovo is also interesting because it shows the model of analyzing the formation, functioning and limitations of the institutional system of the new country when the mechanism of the international protectorate is being used."

This book discusses political legitimacy in the context of international transitional administration in post-conflict Kosovo. Its aim is to understand the legitimizing principles of international governing and monitoring missions in Kosovo and their legitimacy claims. In other words, it examines the settings in which international administration claims its right to governance and statebuilding, as well as the acceptance or rejection of its authority in Kosovo political society. As a contextual analysis, the legitimacy of international transitional governance is analyzed by looking into the creation and mandates of international administrative missions in Kosovo, the international state-building project and its outcome, the international constitution-making, as well as its relationship with the local political agents, namely local political leaders and local population.
The study contributes to understanding the difficulties of and the challenges to the internal or local legitimacy of international administrative missions, as well as the limitations of the international state-building project in legitimizing political order and state institutions that they help to create. Furthermore, by focusing on the legitimacy component, often overlooked in the international state-building literature, this study is a theoretical contribution to that body of literature. As international transitional administrations are special cases of creation and exercising of authority, this book argues that in analysing its legitimacy, the special norms of its justification and legitimation should be taken into account. Nevertheless, the underlying ideas on which the international transitional administrations practices and international state-building agenda are based, pose limitations and challenges to their legitimacy, which are analyzed in this book.

The thousand-year long history of Serbia's troublesome province of Kosovo (Kosovo and Metohija) is a case study of conflicting narratives and opposing versions of history.The case of Kosovo became famous worldwide after the Kosovo Albanian minority in Serbia, within the wider federal, communist Yugoslavia, organized separatist movements, fully backed by communist Albania, openly demanding, since 1981, secession from Serbia, and claiming the status of a constituent nation. It was an announcement of the coming collapse of Titoist Yugoslavia in 1991 .The violent dismemberment of communist Yugoslavia, followed by the series of wars for Yugoslav succession (1992-1995), had its last chapter with the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia and FR of Yugoslavia in 1999,followed by the UN protectorate over Kosovo, administered by UNMIK under UN SC Resolution 1244 of June 1999, and militarily protected by the NATO-led KFOR.
The following study, covering the period from the medieval times to unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo by the Kosovo Albanians in 2008, illustrated by a series of lesser known Kosovo-related documents, provides relevant historic insight into important elements of the Kosovo drama, in particular from Serbian, rarely quoted or deliberately neglected sources.

In accordance with Principal-agent (PA) theory states may, acting as a principal, delegate a conditional grant of authority to an International Organisation (IO), the agent, empowering it to act on their behalf.  PA theory can in turn be applied to different IR theories to explain why states may do this and the effect that it has. Both realism and liberal institutionalism adopt a state centric approach, arguing that states use IOs in order to achieve their own interests, and thus continue to exercise power over IOs after delegating to them. They differ in that realists argue that because states are ultimately concerned with relative gains they are unlikely to cooperate, with IOs merely an instrument for powerful states to achieve their interests; while liberals disagree, arguing that states do in fact value absolute gains and therefore IOs are important mechanisms to coordinate cooperation. Constructivists on the other hand view IOs as more autonomous, arguing that once power has been delegated to IOs, they have the potential to exercise this power independently in order to achieve their purpose, even if this is counter to the interests of states.  This essay explores each of these theoretical analyses of IOs using PA theory, providing examples of IOs for each: the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for realism, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) for liberal institutionalism, and the UN Internal Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for constructivism.

International law, and international lawyers generally, tend to take a somewhat conservative approach to the formation of rules, so when confronted with the growing availability of leaked information naturally we might be cautious in considering how the leaks are affecting international law. This paper will assess the growing influence of leaked information on the rules of international law and argue in favor of their use. This paper is not especially focused on WikiLeaks, though it is representative of the phenomenon and is the source used primarily for this paper. Due to the presence of it and similar actors, the availability of leaked information is growing and leaked information is now becoming significant in international affairs.

This paper will walk through the various sources of law, generally following the structure of article 38(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, although with some additions as may be relevant, and examine each source to see whether and how leaked information might contribute. As threshold matters, ex turpi causa non oritur actio, “the fruit of the poisonous tree”, and similar principles are examined, however, those principles can be dismissed for a number of reasons.

The first source of law to be discussed is treaties for two purposes. Firstly, the paper assesses the definition of a treaty and considers whether leaked information might amount to a secret treaty, and secondly, it assesses the evidentiary function of leaked information in interpreting treaties.

After treaties, the paper considers the ways in which leaked information might contribute to the formation of customary international law, primarily the ways in which leaked information might evidence practice and opinio juris.

Lastly, the author also considers the potential for leaked information to contain binding unilateral statements and the role that leaked information might play in the law-making function of international organizations.

Following the examination of the sources of law, the paper takes a brief detour to examine the ways in which leaked information might impact the international legal personality some entities enjoy. Leaked information might have a bearing on both the law to be applied and the facts to be established. In particular, the Holy See and Kosovo will be discussed.

We appear to be moving into an era of increased access and transparency of information, and inability to prevent the viral spread of leaks. Law, and international law in particular, must take cognizance of this change and absorb it. It is possible, although the growth in leaked information might have a greater effect in the future. It might even inspire changes in some of the more fundamental notions that underpin the law.

The suffering of Serbs since June 10, 1999 was documented by numerous local and international actors during the first 18 months of the UN Mission in Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK). As a rule of thumb, the first recorded information about the crimes was provided either by the families of the killed, abducted and missing persons or by the media due to the fact that families left their homes or places of residence shortly after the committed crime and thus were unavailable for depositions. Subsequent reports and publications predominantly rely upon families’ testimonies and, to certain and very limited extent, on media reports. Given this fact, it is quite noticeable that periodical publications i.e. newspapers, as a source of information, are not sufficiently utilized when it comes to researching the suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija during 1999 and 2000. The paper aims to point out the advantages and disadvantages of such a historical source for the mentioned period by analyzing newspapers “Novo Jedinstvo” from Zvečan.

This thesis investigates the results of the unprecedented orchestra of well-funded, wide-mandated and long-lasting peacebuilding efforts (UNMIK, KFOR, OSCE, ICO and EULEX) in Kosovo through the lens of local perceptions. Some quantitative research was conducted in this area, establishing i.a. that the Kosovar population had little confidence in UNMIK (19%) as compared to KFOR (91%). But qualitative research on Kosovar perceptions of peace operations has been lacking, and so it remained unclear why UNMIK had become so unpopular. This thesis proposes that qualitative evaluations with local participation can help to identify context-specific weaknesses of a peace operation as well as inform incremental steps for improvement. This dissertation was submitted for the MLitt in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of St Andrews.

Te UDB-së jeni, dhe tek ajo do të ktheheni! Nga: Isa Mulaj Unë kam qenë në favor të jo vetëm një, por të 347 gjykatave speciale në Kosovë për luftimin e krimit dhe rindërtimin e një identiteti dinjitoz të shqiptarëve. Më dukej pak një gjykatë speciale dhe mendoja se do të jetë e pamjaftueshme. Megjithatë, burimet nga ICITAP dhe ish-policia e UNMIK-ut kishin filluar në heshtje të paralajmërojnë dhe të shqetësohen rreth spekulimeve të ndryshme, siç ishin ato të Milaim Zekës se kush mund të jetë i akuzuar dhe arrestuar nga Gjykata Speciale, mandej parullat e pabaza si " EULEX, made in Serbia " (EULEX, i prodhuar në Serbi) kur në fakt EULEX-i ishte krijuar në Kosovë, " EULEXperiment " (Eksperimenti i EULEX-it), një Gjykatë Speciale jo vetëm që do të jetë e tepërt, por edhe mund t'a " përzhitë " shumëkë përmes dosjeve të fabrikuara me kohë.

Kosova, Balkan coğrafyasında Soğuk Savaş sonrası ortaya çıkan devlet içi çatışmaların ar-dından bağımsızlığını kazanmıştır. Bu devletin etnik ve dini çoğulculuğa dayanan yapısı, sadece ken-disini değil bölgenin istikrarını etkileyen bir durumdur. Eski Yugoslavya Sosyalist Federasyonu'nun dağıldığı 1991 yılından sonra 1998-1999 yılları arasında yaşanan Arnavut-Sırp uyuşmazlığında ve bu uyuşmazlık sonunda ortaya çıkan çatışmada, siyasi ve ekonomik olarak büyük darbe alan, et-nik milliyetçiliğin üst noktalarda yaşandığı ülke, savaşın sonundan itibaren uluslararası toplumun ve özellikle NATO'nun müdahalesi ile yeni bir sürece girmiştir. Ülke, 24 Mart 1999'da başlayan NATO müdahalesi sonrası Haziran 1999'da BM (Birleşmiş Milletler) Güvenlik Konseyi'nin 1244 sayılı kararı ile kurulan UNMIK (BM Kosova Misyonu) ile uluslararası toplum tarafından yönetilmeye başlanmıştır. Ayrıca yine BM Güvenlik Konseyi'nin aldığı karar doğrultusunda NATO komutasında oluşturulan ve askeri olarak da varlığı bugüne kadar devam eden bir Barış Gücü ülkeye konuşlan-dırılmıştır. 1244 sayılı karar doğrultusunda ülke resmi olarak olmasa bile fiilen Sırbistan-Karadağ Federasyonu'ndan ayrı bir varlık olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Uluslararası toplum tarafından şekillendiri-len ve devam ettirilen Kosova devletindeki Yeniden Yapılandırma modelinin kuramsal çerçevesi, bu ülke özelinde hayata geçirilmesi ve uygulanması, modelin on iki yıl sonundaki durumu, bu modelin temeli olan barış ve istikrarı sağlama ile uluslararası topluma entegrasyon sürecinde bugün gelinen nokta ve bu sürecin geleceği bu makalenin ana konusudur. Ancak bu yapılırken, 21. yüzyılda uluslararası toplum tarafından belirlenen bu yönetim modelinin Kosova'daki temel açmazları ve oluşturulmaya çalışılan inşa sürecinin sorgulanması ve geldiği nokta da ele alınacaktır. Bu analiz yapılırken, Yeni-den Yapılandırma modelinin kapsamına giren barış ve istikrarı sağlama ve devam ettirme amacının, Kosova özelinde yürütülmesinin ülkede var olan etnik milliyetçilik nedeni ile başarıya ulaşmasının zor olduğu savı üzerinden hareket edilecektir. Abstract Kosovo won her independence subsequent to internal state conflicts came to an end in the Bal-kan geography after the Cold War. Based on a structure of ethnic and religious majority, it is a situation that not only affects Kosovo itself but also the stability of the region as a whole. After the disintegration of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Albanian and Serbian intransigence between 1998 and 1999, and as a result of the clashes that subsequently took place due to this intran-sigence dealt a political and economic blow to this country, which at the pinnacle of ethnic nationalism, entered a new phase after the end of the conflict with the intervention of the international community and

Why has the internationally-promoted Weberian-style bureaucracy failed to replace patronage as the dominant principle of state organization in post-war Kosovo? This article explores how international actors’ rule-promotion activities and local actors’ strategies of resistance play out and interact to explain the failure. The empirical analysis focuses on rules of recruitment in the civil service system in the period 2000-2016. The analysis juxtaposes two consecutive stages of the state-building process, which are marked by different degrees and forms of international involvement: the pre-independence period, 1999-2008; and post-independence period, 2008-2016. Evidence from the case suggests that during the pre-independence period, legal inconsistencies embedded in the internationally promulgated legislation enabled local actors’ formal and informal strategies to recruit political cronies in the newly created civil service system. The transfer of authority from international administrators to elected local authorities, especially after Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, did not solve the problem of legal inconsistencies, and instead, served to consolidate governing parties’ strategies of control over recruitment in the state bureaucracy. More often than not, patron-client relationships that thrive at the borderline between formality and informality of political behaviour, continued to undermine external rule transfers.

The debate over which actors contribute to customary international law generally centers on international organizations and other non-State actors, and easily accepts States as relevant actors. However, on rare occasions States can be governed by an international organization. When an international organization becomes entangled with a State government, the normal participation in the formation of customary international law becomes confused. A survey of practice citing to the acts of international territorial administrations shows that it is possible for these governance arrangements to contribute to customary international law, even though those acts are formally undertaking by an international organization.

Die Republik Kosovo ist Europas jüngster Staat. Für wirtschaftliches Wachstum und internationale Konkurrenzfähigkeit, ist ein ausgeprägtes Schiedsverfahrensrecht unentbehrlich. Dieser Beitrag kontextualisiert, vergleicht und analysiert Kosovos gesetzliche Konzeptualisierung und bisherige Praxis der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit.

After 1999, democratization, normalization and Europeanization were the key processes through which Kosovo's final political status was expected to take shape. All three processes, however, were guided by the stability paradigm. Though Kosovo cannot be categorized as a typical authoritarian state, its political leaders have openly displayed illiberal tendencies, governing in an unaccountable manner and utilizing public assets for their private gain. In the period from 1999 to 2008, while UNMIK's approach was based on maintaining stability instead of democratization, a soft competitive authoritarianism began to emerge incrementally. In its first decade of independence, Kosovo's statehood remained internationally disputed, whereas its governance culture was characterized by a lack of internal accountability, which is a key component of the soft competitive authoritarianism in the country. Thus, the negative trajectory of political developments did not change even after the deployment of EULEX and the 2008 declaration of independence. This article analyses the development of authoritarian and illiberal tendencies in Kosovo and suggests that the democratization and Europeanization discourses served to conceal soft competitive authoritarian practices in Kosovo. ARTICLE HISTORY

Post-war Kosovo has been the subject of a highly intrusive international state-building project, including an unprecedented influx of international administrators, assistance and funds. However, it increasingly bears the hallmark of a weak and captured state. This special issue contributes theoretical and empirical insights that shed light on possible explanations, difficulties and prospects of the state-building project in Kosovo. Theoretically, we investigate how international and local explanations play out, interact and gain dominance over each other; highlight the local factors that shape the experience of state-building; and focus on the hybridity of institution- and state-building on the ground. Empirically, we take stock of two decades of international state-building activities and one decade of independent statehood by providing long-term and in-depth analysis of specific areas of reform – municipal governance, state bureaucracy, normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, education, creation of armed forces, security sector reforms and reception of Salafi ideologies. Such time-sensitive, case-nuanced and empirically heavy analysis enables the authors to go back and forth between the role of international activities, domestic strategies of resistance and evidence of hybrid reforms in order to test the role of competing explanations.

The article compares the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Hercegovina and Human Rights Advisory Panel in Kosovo with regard to families of disappeared persons. Both bodies have recognized the suffering of those families, relying primarily on the European Human Rights Convention and the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence. In the article, their approaches with regard to temporal jurisdiction, violating the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment and the right to respect of private and family life have been compared and evaluated. The article scrutinizes how the European Courts jurisprudence has been applied by the two bodies, and whether they had any influence on the European Court of Human Rights.

Until summer 1999 the river Ibar/Ibër was uniting the two river banks in Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo. Turned by the NATO forces into a militarized barrier, the river is still (2012) a boundary between the Northern part - Serbian majority - and the Southern part - Albanian majority. By ethnographically focusing on the uses of the liminal space close to the river, the article discusses the urban security (NATO) and urban development (UN) apparatuses (i.e. discourses, strategies, actions, etc), both of which aim to bring the two communities close to each other. It shows that those apparatuses contribute to shape an unequal dual model of citizenship, dividing a minority of citizens, belonging to both communities, who are more privileged because employed in international offices, from the less privileged majority of the population. [Article in Italian]

The author turns to the question of “procedural obligations” stemming from the human rights standards, which bind the authorities to investigate crimes, as well as their applicability to the investigations conducted in the context of armed conflicts. Relying upon the experience of the Human Rights Advisory Panel in Kosovo and some international law enforcement structures, the article discusses certain legal and practical problems faced by international investigative teams and analyses the impact of those problems on the effectiveness of their work.

В статье автор обращается к вопросу о «процедурных обязательствах» властей по расследованию преступлений,
вытекающих из требований норм прав человека, а также их применимости в ситуациях, связанных с
вооружёнными конфликтами. Опираясь, в частности, на практику Правозащитной консультативной коллегии
при Миссии ООН в Косове и опыт деятельности отдельных международных правоохранительных структур, он
анализирует отдельные правовые и практические проблемы деятельности международных следственных
групп и их влияние на эффективность следственной работы.

Water resource management (WRM) has increasingly come to be considered within the realm of peacebuilding. Through investigating the case of water resource management in Kosovo after 1999, this study argues that the international community has treated post-conflict water resource management as a primarily technical issue, to the neglect of its complex political nature. This has impeded the peacebuilding process in three ways. First, it consolidated the physical separation of actors through allowing separate water governance structures. Second, it avoided conflictive issues instead of actively engaging in conflict resolution. Third, it incapacitated locals by placing ownership in the hands of external actors. To redress this tripartite dilemma, this study stresses the need for research that provides deeper theoretical and empirical understanding of the political mechanisms that connect WRM to post-conflict reconstruction efforts.

In the aftermath of the conflict wave of violence spread through Kosovo and lead to the forced displacement of minority communities and to the large-scale destruction of their residential property. No mechanism that would enable compensation of the lost property was ever established. Throughout 2004 and 2005 the owners of the destroyed/damaged property approached the courts seeking judicial protection of their property rights, which resulted in the submission of a massive number of compensation claims. The paper investigates what has happened with these compensation claims by looking into the group of cases assisted through an EU-funded legal aid project. The main objective of the research was to identify main trends in the way the first, second and third instance courts have dealt with the compensation cases. The results of the analysis show that the trial started in less than 1/3 of the analysed cases and that in an even lower number of cases the trials were finalized by the time of the research. So far only a small portion of the analysed proceedings was completed by the final decision and all of them were concluded negatively for the plaintiff. The paper shows that despite the fact that post-conflict property restitution is an individual right set in a number of international documents and a conditio sine qua non for the return of displaced population, in post-1999 Kosovo the realisation of this right is not yet made possible.

The violence which spread through Kosovo in the first months after the arrival of the UN and NATO troops left many Serbs, Roma, and members of other minority communities without homes. Their houses were set on fire, demolished, and looted. In the following years, almost nothing was done to enable their return. The reconstruction projects were scarce, while the extra-judicial property restitution mechanisms had no mandate to deal with the destroyed property. Left with no other remedy, between 2004 and 2005, the owners of demolished property lodged a great number of compensation claims before the courts in Kosovo. The plaintiffs sought damages from UNMIK, KFOR and the local institutions established after June 1999. Despite the fact that the compensation claims had become well known for the controversial decision of UNMIK to order a stay of proceedings in these cases, as well for the complex legal issues they posed, so far there have been no official accounts of their basic characteristics. The author aims to fill that lacuna by presenting the results of the research conducted on the copies of the compensation claims lawsuits archived in the Court Liaison Office in Gračanica/Graçanicë.

L'ouvrage porte sur l’action internationale de régulation de la violence engagée au Kosovo depuis la fin des années 1990 dans le cadre de la mission des Nations-Unies (Minuk). Dépassant les approches internationalistes classiques se référant aux objectifs de paix libérale, ainsi que les analyses évaluant la situation sur la base du mandat du CSNU et postulant que les politiques internationales se décident et se légitiment d’en haut, ce travail montre que la politique de désarmement, démobilisation, réintégration des combattants y a été co-produite suite aux résistances de l’UÇK et aux marchandages qui ont pris place entre leaders combattants et administrateurs internationaux, qui ont débouché sur la création d’une institution hybride, le Corps de Protection du Kosovo, dans le prolongement de l’UÇK.
Plutôt que spoilers, les leaders combattants se sont comportés en intermédiaires de la paix, facilitant la démobilisation et exerçant un contrôle disciplinaire sur les combattants du rang, dès lors qu’un horizon de souveraineté semblait assuré via le CPK. Prenant le contre-pied des travaux qui postulent que les conflits intraétatiques sont synonymes d’effondrement de l’Etat, nous montrons que la lutte armée au Kosovo relevait plutôt d’une dynamique d’accaparement du pouvoir d’Etat contribuant à la circulation des élites et que les combattants ont eu un rôle majeur dans la construction de l’Etat.
Débordant par ailleurs les approches traditionnelles de la réintégration, qui envisagent ce processus sous un angle étroitement économique et sur le court terme, cette recherche s’intéresse au rôle des associations de vétérans et aux revendications dont elles sont porteuses ainsi qu’aux politiques sociales (pensions, aides sociales) adoptées à l’endroit des ex-combattants. Elle montre que les transactions qui se sont nouées après-guerre entre acteurs étatiques et vétérans ainsi que les interventions publiques à destination des ex-combattants sont constitutives de la formation de l’Etat post-conflit et de l’écriture d’un nouveau récit national indissociable d’une politique mémorielle posant la guerre comme acte fondateur de la nation.

This publication presents a selection of lessons on "building stable governance" – with examples from Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, and other areas.  Lessons discuss local understanding, local ownership, security, conflict resolution, decentralization, public servants, state-citizen relations, and 'steady state' sustainment.  This compendium offers an extensive bibliography and several annexes on governance-related topics.

This chapter examines how the prospects for building a sustainable peace, establishing a democratic polity and consolidating sovereignty in Kosovo are constrained by a number of endogenous and exogenous factors. The chapter highlights how the fragmentation of sovereignty is affected by Serb parallel structures and an overlapping and divided international presence, and how social emancipation is obstructed by weak governance, ethnic power-sharing and social injustice. The chapter further argues that building sustainable peace is more likely when there is sufficient local autonomy and ownership of processes, an effective functioning of democracy and state institutions, as well as social emancipation and a locally-owned transformation of ethnic hostilities and differences.