Bridging S E P a R a T E D Communities with the Use Of
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Bridging Separated Communities With the Use of Common Instrumental Goals The Case of Kosovo Community Reconciliation and Development Programme by Juri Grudina Bridging Separated Communities With the Use of Common Instrumental Goals: The Case of Kosovo Community Reconciliation and Development Programme March 2012 Author: Juri Grudina Student Number: 4081188 MSc. Human Geography (Specialization: Conflicts, Territories and Identities) Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management Nijmegen School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen Supervisor: Dr. Gearoid Millar Assistant Professor Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management Radboud University Nijmegen Bridging Separated Communities With the Use of Common Instrumental Goals Preface and Acknowledgements Being a master student of Human Geography (specialization: Conflicts, Territories and Identities) at the Radboud University Nijmegen has been for several reasons a great and unforgettable experience. The academic environment was very stimulating and the post- graduate courses offered by the Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management gave me a solid basis—particularly in the field of peace and conflict studies. Something I have learned in this period is that every violent conflict is a complex and multilayered phenomenon, which has to be thoroughly analysed in order to be properly understood. Moreover, during the study trip to Northern Ireland I had the opportunity to see for myself how easily people involved in a conflict start perceiving their neighbours not as persons but as dehumanized enemies. This experience and the knowledge gained over this year were very useful for the last and most important part of my studies: the field research in a conflict zone and the writing of the master thesis. I spent almost three months in Pristina as an intern at Partners Kosova – Centre for Conflict Management. I was especially interested in cooperating with this organization because of a specific programme it has been implementing (in cooperation with the Serbian NGO Fractal), where development is used as a ‘tool’ for the promotion of cooperation between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. In the whole period I managed to interview several project participants of both ethnicities in various locations in Kosovo. I would like to express my gratitude to all the respondents for being patient, hospitable and for making me understand the dynamics of the conflict and how such projects can be useful for reconciliation. Particularly, I would like to thank Florent, Shukrije and Dafina, from Partners Kosova, and Žarko, from Fractal, for all their good advices and help to support my research project, as well as Amanda, the Serbian student and intern who assisted me during the interviews. Thanks must be given also to my fellow geographers Rodrigo and Marco for commenting the thesis. Finally, I wish to thank my supervisor, dr. Gearoid Millar, for motivating and leading me as well as for his many constructive comments. I would like to extend this gratitude to my second reader, dr. Willemijn M. Verkoren, for devoting her valuable time to reading my thesis. The help of all those whom I may forget to mention but whose contributions were important for the realization of my study deserve to be credited as well. i Juri Grudina Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Elda and Celestina who helped me pursue my dream of studying abroad and to my family for being supportive. The biggest thanks goes to Maša, for giving me hope, making me strong and without whom I would never be the person I am. ii Bridging Separated Communities With the Use of Common Instrumental Goals Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgements _________________________________________________ i List of Figures_________________________________________________________________ v List of Tables _________________________________________________________________ v List of Acronyms _____________________________________________________________ vi 1 Introduction_______________________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Research Goal and Research Questions ____________________________________ 3 1.2 Scientific and Social Relevance ___________________________________________ 3 1.3 Structure of the Thesis __________________________________________________ 4 2 The Kosovo Conflict ________________________________________________________ 7 2.1 History and Myths on the Conflict ________________________________________ 7 2.1.1 The Serbian Narrative on Kosovo ______________________________________ 7 2.1.2 The Albanian Narrative on Kosovo_____________________________________ 9 2.2 The Kosovo Conflict in the Last Century ___________________________________11 2.2.1 Perpetuating Interethnic Violence During the Two World Wars ___________11 2.2.2 From the establishment of Yugoslavia to Milošević______________________ 12 2.2.3 The 1998/99 Kosovo War____________________________________________ 16 2.3 Post-War Kosovo ______________________________________________________ 17 2.3.1 Kosovo’s Legal Status and International Presence _______________________ 18 2.3.2 Two Real Problems: Legal Status and Unemployment ___________________ 20 2.3.3 Kosovo’s Post-Conflict Interethnic Relations ___________________________ 22 3 Theoretical Framework ____________________________________________________ 25 3.1 Emotions and Dehumanization in Intractable Conflicts _____________________ 26 3.2 Towards Peace with Cooperation, Trust and Relationships ___________________ 28 3.2.1 Reconciliation, Conflict Resolution and Instrumental Reconciliation_______ 28 3.2.2 Contact as a Precondition for Decategorization or Recategorization _______ 30 3.2.3 Cooperation Through Instrumental Reconciliation______________________ 32 3.3 Development in Post-Conflict Situations __________________________________ 34 3.3.1 No Peace Without employment ______________________________________ 35 3.3.2 Aid as a Supply-Driven Support ______________________________________ 37 3.3.3 Involving the Local Community ______________________________________ 38 3.4 NGOs in post-conflict environments______________________________________40 4 Kosovo Community Reconciliation and Development Programme ________________ 43 4.1 Programme Goals______________________________________________________ 43 4.2 Programme Structure __________________________________________________ 43 4.2.1 Partners Kosova ___________________________________________________ 47 4.3 Individual and Joint Projects ____________________________________________48 4.3.1 Banje/Bajë Project__________________________________________________49 4.3.2 Runik/Rudnik Project ______________________________________________ 50 4.3.3 Vushtrri/Vucitrn & Gojbulja/Gojbulë Project ___________________________ 51 5 Methodology _____________________________________________________________ 53 iii Juri Grudina 5.1 The KCRDP as a Case Study _____________________________________________ 53 5.2 Sampling _____________________________________________________________ 55 5.3 Research Methods _____________________________________________________ 57 5.3.1 Interviews ________________________________________________________ 58 5.3.2 Participant Observation_____________________________________________ 59 5.3.3 Content Analysis___________________________________________________60 5.3.4 Achieving Credibility _______________________________________________ 61 5.4 Difficulties and Limitations _____________________________________________ 62 5.5 Biases in the Research Project ___________________________________________64 6 Analysis of the Results _____________________________________________________66 6.1 Characteristics of Respondents __________________________________________66 6.2 Pre-War, War and Current Interethnic Relationships _______________________ 67 6.3 Present and Future Interethnic Cooperation _______________________________69 6.4 Interethnic Development Projects and their Influence on Reconciliation _______ 71 6.5 Obstacles to Interethnic Cooperation _____________________________________ 74 6.6 Incentives and Conditions for Interethnic Collaboration_____________________ 78 6.6.1 Possible Changes and Collaboration with the NGOs _____________________ 81 7 Discussion _______________________________________________________________ 82 7.1 Cooperating for Peace __________________________________________________ 82 7.1.1 Understanding What Keeps People Divided____________________________ 82 7.1.2 Contact as an Opportunity __________________________________________84 7.2 Interest Uniting People _________________________________________________88 7.3 Helping the Local Community? __________________________________________ 92 7.3.1 The KCRDP: A Locally Owned Process? _______________________________ 92 7.3.2 Grass-Root Cooperation is Not enough________________________________ 93 8 Conclusion _______________________________________________________________94 Bibliography _________________________________________________________________96 Appendix __________________________________________________________________ 107 Appendix 1: Zubin Potok/Zubin Potoku Project ______________________________ 107 Appendix 2: Çabër/Cabra Project __________________________________________ 107 iv Bridging Separated Communities With the Use of Common Instrumental Goals List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Kosovo and surrounding region __________________________________ 10 Figure 2: Map of Kosovo _______________________________________________________ 18 Figure 3: Ethnic