Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations Graduate Program in International Studies Spring 2018 The Kosovo Moment: The United States and the Post-Cold War Balkans Visar Xhambazi Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds Part of the International Relations Commons Recommended Citation Xhambazi, Visar. "The Kosovo Moment: The United States and the Post-Cold War Balkans" (2018). Master of Arts (MA), Thesis, International Studies, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/48x7-nf95 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gpis_etds/27 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Program in International Studies at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE KOSOVO MOMENT THE UNITED STATES AND THE POST-COLD WAR BALKANS by Visar Xhambazi BSc., May 2015, Rochester Institute of Technology A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY May 2018 Approved by: Simon Serfaty (Director) Regina Karp (Member) Austin Jersild (Member) ABSTRACT THE KOSOVO MOMENT THE UNITED STATES AND THE POST-COLD WAR BALKANS Visar Xhambazi Old Dominion University, 2018 Director: Dr. Simon Serfaty This study attempts to assess the importance of the humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, the last phase of Yugoslavian agony. It provides a historical background of the region in order to better understand the mosaic of ethnic divisions and hatred as well as the cultural differences and the rise of nationalism through time. Furthermore, it analyzes the events and evaluates the performance of the United States, Europe and intergovernmental organizations in preventing genocide, pushing for regime change and state-building. The last stage considers the United States role in the Balkans and beyond, aiming to provide essential lessons and recommendations on future interventions and state-building processes by considering the accomplishments and failures in Kosovo, for the purpose of maintaining a stable and peaceful world order. iii © Copyright, 2018, by Visar Xhambazi, All Rights Reserved. iv To my Dad v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported me throughout my academic year at Old Dominion University. I would like to extend special thanks to my thesis advisor and most inspiring professor, Dr. Simon Serfaty for helping me with his infinite expertise and guidance which transformed my ideas into a tangible well-argued study. I would like to extend thanks to my academic advisor, Dr. Regina Karp for selecting me to be part of this great program and following the progress of my academic journey. Dr. Karp’s lectures, helped me view the world from different perspectives with a greater nuance. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Austin Jersild for his enthusiastic support for this venture. His historical proficiency helped me focus on reliable sources and minimized significantly the flaws of this study. I thank the students, faculty and staff of the Graduate Program in International Studies who have worked alongside and encouraged me throughout my academic years. Also, I would like to thank student organizations and the community of Norfolk, Virginia (too numerous by name, for fear of omitting someone) who never stopped helping and supporting me. Finally, I thank my family, my mother and two younger brothers. Without their support and love the completion of this study would have never been possible. My dad is no longer physically with us, but his inspiration lives. Thus, I dedicate this manuscript to his memory. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AAK Alliance for the Future of Kosovo EU European Union EULEX European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo ICJ International Court of Justice ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia KFOR Kosovo Force KLA Kosovo Liberation Army KPC Kosovo Protection Corps KSF Kosovo Security Force KVM Kosovo Verification Mission LDK Democratic League of Kosovo MENA Middle East and North Africa NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NDH Independent State of Croatia OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe PDK Democratic Party of Kosovo R2P Responsibility to Protect UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNMIK United Nations Mission in Kosovo UNSC United Nations Security Council US United States USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union VV Self-determination Movement vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii Chapter INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................1 BALKANS BETWEEN CROSSROADS EUROPE’S ACHILLES HEEL .........................................................................................7 THE INDISPENSABLE NATION .................................................................................17 BALKANIZATION OF THE BALKANS .....................................................................24 THE BATTLE FOR KOSOVO COERCIVE DIPLOMACY AND LIMITED WAR ......................................................35 WESTERN NARRATIVE ...............................................................................................51 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ...............................................................................................61 KOSOVO’S POST-YUGOSLAV REALITY POLITICAL METAMORPHOSIS .................................................................................68 THE STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITION AND INTEGRATION ..............................78 LESSONS FROM KOSOVO ...........................................................................................93 BEYOND KOSOVO STILL THE INDISPENSABLE NATION? .................................................................102 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................109 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................113 APPENDIX CHRONOLOGY ............................................................................................................127 VITA ............................................................................................................................................129 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. MAP OF THE TREATY OF BERLIN, 1878 ..........................................................................12 2. MAP OF THE SOCIALIST FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA ..........................16 3. EUROPEAN PUBLIC OPINION OF NATO INTERVENTION IN YUGOSLAVIA, BY COUNTRY, JUNE 2, 1999 ....................................................................................................54 4. MAP OF THE FRAGILE STATES INDEX, 2017 ..............................................................103 1 INTRODUCTION “One day the great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” —Otto von Bismarck, 18881 The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb nationalist on the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo in 1914 incited the first Word War, ending a century of peace and order. The unresolved legacies of World War I further deepened the crisis resulting in another catastrophe, World War II—one of the most destructive and inhumane periods in modern history. Five decades after the horrors of World War II, Europe was shaken again. The wars in Yugoslavia put the Balkans back on the map of Europe and awakened history’s dark memories, an earlier historical logic of territorial wars, ethnic homogenization and nationalism. The collapse of communism in the fall of 1989 produced the Wind of Change in Europe. The collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) absorbed most of the world’s attention. The West identified Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary as the first states in Eastern Europe that could be integrated into its institutions, the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On the whole, the Balkan region was not regarded as important from a political and economic standpoint. During the 1980s, Yugoslavia was a crisis in the making, but when it exploded it became a priority. The end of communism in the former USSR drew many parallels to Yugoslavia in that it revealed long-hidden ethnic tensions. Oppressed ethnic minorities demanded independence for their subjects. In the late 20th century, violence erupted again. Slobodan Milosevic came to power, aiming to strengthen the Serbs at the expense of other ethnicities. Kosovo was the key focus of international politics in 1989, but when problems started resurfacing in other parts of Yugoslavia, the focus shifted elsewhere. In 1991 and 1992, four republics out of six declared their independence, with only Serbia and 1 Matthew C. Price, The Wilsonian Persuasion in American Foreign Policy (New York: Cambria Press, 2007), p. 5. 2 Montenegro remaining in the Yugoslav