Nationbuilding as peacebuilding: racing to define the kosovar

Abstract

Nationbuilding – (re)building a sense of community within a polity – can contribute towards peacebuilding. This article examines how the ambition to reduce the salience of ethnic identities and stimulate new integrative ones in Kosovo has figured in the international post-war reconstruction efforts. A number of arenas are surveyed – where contacts could emerge to break the present pattern of segregation and mistrust. In assessing the success thus far of international efforts to promote multi-ethnicity in Kosovo, the article contends that a mixed record of achievement is evident.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Pavel Baev, Irene Bernabe´u Esteban, Tor Bukkvoll, Pål Kolstø, and Dan Smith, as well as the journal's referees, for useful comments on earlier versions of this article. He is grateful to the Norwegian Ministry of Defense for funding the post-doctoral project of which this article is part, and to the Nordic Research Programme on Security's Working Group on Peace Support Operations for funding research in Kosovo in March 2003. Excerpts from an earlier version of this article were published in Analysis of Current Events.

Notes

Reconstruction obviously has many dimensions besides the ethnic one, and it may be argued that multi-ethnicity has been given relatively too much attention by UNMIK and the international community. However, it is also a fact that inter-ethnic relations connect with several other dimensions as well – from political culture to crime, economic policy and regional policies.

Several writers have identified problems with the catch-all understanding of ‘nationbuilding’; John J. Hamre and Gordon R. Sullivan argued in favour of replacing the phrase with ‘postconflict reconstruction’, in ‘Toward Postconflict Reconstruction’, The Washington Quarterly, Vol.25, No.4, Autumn 2002, p.85.

A distinction between ‘civic’ and ‘ethnic’ nationbuilding might have been an alternative to this distinction but could cause more confusion, as the ‘nation’ is by some understood in civic terms and by others in ethnic terms. My impulse would be to understand the nation more in the latter sense, but my preference is to avoid using the term descriptively altogether. I nevertheless find it meaningful to speak of such a phenomenon as nationbuilding (in lieu of a better word), even if one is reluctant to declare at what point a fully-fledged nation has appeared.

Indeed, it could be argued that the relationship between ethnic and civic identities is only one of degree: that historically, a successful civic nation-building project, which initially covered a number of lesser ethnic identities and did not explicitly aim to replace these, nevertheless over the years to a large extent has done just that.

See e.g. Marie-Janine Calic, ‘Kosovo in the Twentieth Century: A Historical Account’, in Ramesh Thakur and Albrecht Schnabel (eds), Kosovo and the Challenge of Humanitarian Intervention: Selective Indignation, Collective Action, and International Citizenship, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2000, pp.24–5.

For details on these developments, see Alex J. Bellamy, ‘Human Wrongs in Kosovo: 1974–99’, in Ken Booth (ed.), The Kosovo Tragedy: The Human Rights Dimensions. London: Frank Cass, 2001, pp.105–26.

Kosovo 2001–2003: from Reconstruction to Growth: A preliminary Assessment by the Department of Reconstruction. United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) EU Pillar, December 2000, pp.34, 28, accessed at www.seerecon.org/Kosovo/UNMIK/Kosovo Reconstruction2001–2003.pdf.

Human Rights Watch, ‘Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Abuses Against Serbs and Roma in the New Kosovo’, HRW Report, Vol.11, No.10 (D) Aug. 1999, accessed at: www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kosov2.

Human Rights Watch ‘Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo,’ HRW Report, 2001, accessed at: www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kosovo.

ICTY doc. Report A/55/273 S/2000/777, p.28, accessed at www.un.org/icty/ rappannu-e/2000/AR00e.pdf.

International Committee of the Red Cross News 03/89, 31 July 2003.

UN High Commission for Refugees, ‘Kosovo Crisis Update’, UNHCR Emergency Updates, 2 Aug. 1999.

HRW, ‘Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’ (see n.8 above).

US Committee for Refugees, World Refugee Survey 2002, Washington DC: US Committee for Refugees, 2002, p.257.

Figures from ‘The Delicate Balkan Balance’, The Economist, 17 Aug. 2000.

UNHCR/OSCE Ninth Assessment of the Situation of Ethnic Minorities in Kosovo (period covering September 2001 to April 2002), p.1.

UNHCR/OSCE Ninth Assessment of the Situation of Ethnic Minorities in Kosovo, Tenth Assessment.. (period covering May--Dec. 2002), March 2003, p.5.

According to the OSCE, 12,000 Serbs (including some 5,000 internally displaced persons – IDPs), 3,000 Albanians, 2,000 Bosniaks, 600 Turks and 500 Roma reside here. South of the Ibar river, there are fewer than 20 Serbs remaining, compared to the 300 families that lived there before the war. OSCE profile, cited in International Crisis Group, UNMIK's Kosovo Albatross: Tackling Division in Mitrovica, ICG Balkans Report No.131, Pristina/Belgrade/Brussels, 3 June 2002, p.3.

This is particularly the case in northern urban Mitrovica, and the northern municipalities of Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok – all areas with a Serb majority, where the situation for the Albanian minority was described as being ‘extremely precarious’. Among these locations, UNMIK has been relatively more successful in establishing provisional institutions of self-government in the latter three than in Mitrovica. See UNHCR/OSCE (n.16 above), p.63. In 1991, Serbs constituted more than two thirds of the population in the districts of: Zvecan (76%); Zubin Potok (74%); Leposavic (87%); and Strpce (64%). Arjan Gjonca, Demography of Kosovo before the War, prepared for the World Bank, Washington DC, 1999, accessed at: www.seerecon.org/otherdocuments/KosovoDemography.pdf.

Anna Matveeva and Wolf-Christian Paes, ‘Trapped in its Own Maze’, The World Today, July 2002, pp.19–21.

UNMIK News Coverage, 18 Oct. 2002 and 24 Oct. 2002, accessed at: www.unmikonline.org/news.htm.

OSCE Permanent Council Decision No.305, 1 July 1999.

The Serbian Orthodox Church produced a booklet documenting the destruction of some 100 churches and monasteries. For many of them, it states: ‘destroyed in the presence of KFOR troops’. Crucified Kosovo: Desecrated and destroyed Orthodox Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija (June 1999–May 2001), Prizren and Gracanica, 2001.

Ramesh Thakur and Albrecht Schnabel, ‘Unbridled Humanitarianism: Between Justice, Power and Authority’, in Thakur and Schnabel (n.5 above), p.503.

Dana H. Allin, NATO's Balkan Interventions, Adelphi Paper 347, Oxford: IISS/Oxford University Press, 2002, p.95.

UNMIK Press release, 12 July 2002, accessed at: www.unmikonline.org/press/2002/mon/july/lmm120702.htm#1.

Thakur and Schnabel (see n.24 above).

As estimated by international refugee workers interviewed by the author in Kosovo, March 2003.

This is an estimate disputed by Albanian scholars, who claim that the figure was as high as 90 per cent.

Albanian estimates from M. Limani, The Geographic Position, Natural Riches, Demographic Characteristics, and the Economic Development of Kosova, Pristina, cited in Gjonca (see n.19 above), p.2.

The third largest ethnic category were the Muslims, whose share of the population rose from 1% in 1953 to 3% in 1991. It rose from 8,026 to as much as 66,189 during this period. Gjonca (n.19 above).

Internally Displaced People: A Global Survey, London: Earthscan (2^nd edn) 2002, p.152; World Refugee Survey 2003, Washington DC: US Committee for Refugees, 2003, p.237.

UN doc. S/2002/1376, ‘Report of the Security Council Mission to Kosovo and Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’, 14–17 Dec. 2002.

UNHCR/OSCE (n.17 above), p.7.

That is reflected in the preamble to the constitutional framework. While the Albanian representatives in the preparations had called for the explicit reference to the ‘will of the people’ in the determination of Kosovo's future status, the final text states that it will be decided ‘through a process at an appropriate future stage which shall, in accordance with UNSCR 1244 (1999) take full account of relevant factors including the will of the people’. Simon Chesterman, Kosovo in Limbo: State-Building and “Substantial Autonomy”,International Peace Academy Project on Transitional Administrations report, New York, Aug. 2001, p.8.

This point has been made by Chesterman, ibid.

National Democratic Institute (NDI), Serbia Presidential Election Watch. Preliminary Results. Vol.4, 1 Oct. 2002, accessed at www.accessdemocracy. org/NDI/library/1451_yu_serbia_100102.pdf.

‘Serb Turnout in Kosovo Vote Seen as an Encouraging Step’, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2001.

Tensions rose so high in late 2002 that the entire group of Serb MPs from Coalition Povratak ceased to attend assembly meetings. Only in February 2003 did they return, on condition that the OSCE appointed a neutral observer to monitor all meetings of the Assembly. ‘Kosovo Serb deputies return to province assembly’, Agence France Presse, 25 Jan. 2003.

For a detailed discussion of the position of ethnicity in Bosnia's elections (in light of the early post-war situation in Kosovo), see Ian R. Mitchell, ‘The Ambiguities of Elections in Kosovo: Democratisation versus Human Rights?’, in Booth (n.6 above), pp.246–62.

Tim Judah, Kosovo: War and Revenge, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000, p.300. Judah also details the flawed process of disarming the KLA and how its frequent criminal actions brought Ibrahim Rugova back from political invisibility.

Most immediately, this is indicated by the fact that the SRSG's ‘standards before status’ list ‘appropriately reduced contingent’, ‘unqualified compliance with KPC mandate’ and ‘relations established with all communities and proportionate minority representation’ as standard benchmarks. For the complete map of goals, prerequisites, benchmarks, and action by local entities defined by the SRSG, see www.unmikonline.org/pub/focuskos/apr02/benchmarks_eng.pdf.

For an analysis of the KPC, see Institute of War and Peace Reporting, ‘Policing the Protectors’. IWPR Balkan Crisis Report, No.440, 30 June 2003.

William G. O'Neill, Kosovo: An Unfinished Peace, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner for IPA, 2002, pp.110–11.

A first group of 20 Serb KPS officers started regular policing in North Mitrovica in December 2002. See ‘Mitrovica: Back to the Future’, Focus Kosovo, Dec. 2002, p.7.

OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Background Report: The Treatment of Minorities by the Judicial System, Pristina (based on monitoring up until 27 August 2000). That same year, an international legal observer said there was ‘overwhelming evidence that Kosovo Albanian judges are biased, or at least will be perceived as biased’. Steven Powles, ‘UN denies Serbs Justice’, The Times, Law Section, 7 Mar. 2000.

International Crisis Group, Finding the Balance: The Scales of Justice in Kosovo, ICG Balkans Report No.134, Pristina/Brussels, 12 Sept. 2002.

Agence France Presse, 24 Feb. 2003.

Michael Steiner, ‘Standards for Kosovo’, Fokus Kosovo, Dec. 2002, p.5.

One of very few examples of large-scale industry employing minority members is the Yumco manufacturer in Kosovo Polje. In earlier years, it had some 1000 workers. Today, struggling to get raw materials in and products out, it is down to 200, but remains important in a community with few employment opportunities.

Interview with a senior political analyst, Pristina, March 2003. The UNMIK Regulation ‘On the Establishment of the Kosovo Trust Agency’ aims to ‘preserve or enhance the value, viability, and corporate governance of socially owned and public enterprises in Kosovo’, UNMIK Regulation No.2002/12.

As an example, three large campaigns in 2002 to hire a total of 25–30 people for the government administration yielded only 5–7 minority applications. Subsequently, in early 2003, officials went out to minority areas to inform about the job openings, guaranteeing transport and so on. Consequently, the number of minority applications increased tenfold, to some 50, compared to around 400 from Albanians. A similar rule for representation is expected for municipality administrations, but that will be a more complex system, as municipalities themselves are so different with regard to ethnic composition. Interview with senior UNMIK official working at the Kosovo Prime Minister's office, Mar. 2003.

Janusz Bugajski, ‘Democracy, Multi-Ethnicity, and Kosovar Identity’, OSCE Conference, Pristina, 28 May 2002, accessed at www.csis.org/ee/Presentations/020528.htm.

Interview with Alush Gashi, Assembly member and Rugova adviser, Pristina, March 2003.

Another expression of this duality is the Kosovo Albanian discourse over ‘ghegishte’; replacing the Tosk-based standard for written Albanian for one based on the Gheg dialect, which is used in Kosovo (and northern Albania).

See International Crisis Group, Kosovo's Ethnic Dilemma: The Need for a Civic Contract, ICG Balkan Report no.143, Pristina, 28 May 2003, p.20.

Interview with Anna di Lellio, Pristina, Mar. 2003. Di Lellio left the position as Commissioner by the end of March 2003.

Interview with CIMIC officer, Pristina, March 2003.

International Crisis Group, UNMIK's Kosovo Albatross (n.18 above).

Interview with senior UNMIK official in the Prime Minister's office, March 2003.

Interview, Pristina, March 2003.

Interview with Mahmut Mavraj, editor of Epoka i Re, Pristina, March 2003. Mavraj said: ‘Fatmir Limaj [one of the extradited] is my friend. I know if he was a criminal or not.’ Mavraj nevertheless said he supported cooperation with the ICTY.

Interview, with acting spokesman, Georgy Kakuk, Pristina, March 2003.

Interview, Gnjilane, March 2003.

Andrea Kathryn Talentino, ‘Intervention as Nation-Building: Illusion or Possibility?’, Security Dialogue, Vol.33, No.1, 2002, p.40.

If successful, Yannis reasoned, this competition could transform the Kosovo dispute into a competition where one sought to outperform the other in such areas as democratization and economic development, winning international support and moving ahead in regional integration. Alexandros Yannis, Kosovo Under International Administration: An Unfinished Conflict, Athens: ELIAMEP/PSIS 2001, p.55.

Ken Booth, ‘Introduction: Still Waiting for the Reckoning’, in Booth (see n.6 above), pp.20–21.

Lowell W. Barrington, ‘The Making of Citizenship Policy in the Baltic States’, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, Vol.13, No.2, 1999, p.199.