Kosovo: Secession as a Nation-building Project

Abstract

The article focuses on stateаnd nation-building in the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo. The main research question is whether it is possible to build effective state institutions within non-consolidated borders after a “remedial secession” relying on the support of international actors. The article identifies the factors that determine this possibility. They are tradition of independent political being and power organization; peculiarities of sociocultural and ethnic composition; goals and strategies of the external actors and their compliance with needs of the internal actors and the population; level of new institutions’ applicability. The authors conclude that the tradition of power organization, non-consolidated borders (including socio-cultural borders), contradictions between different international organizations and between them and internal actors hamper the process of state-building in Kosovo to a great extent. The evidence is the lack of visible improvements reflected by indicators of the economic and institutional development. Furthermore, weak integration of Serbian minority, especially in the North Kosovo, remains a major challenge to nation-building within existing borders.