CIVIC NATION BUILDING AS A TOOL FOR CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE AHTISAARI PLAN AND THE INDEPENDENCE PROCESS IN KOSOVO by Natalia Andrea Peral Submitted to Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Resolution Sabancı University June 2009 CIVIC NATION BUILDING AS A TOOL FOR CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE AHTISAARI PLAN AND THE INDEPENDENCE PROCESS IN KOSOVO APPROVED BY: Prof. Fikret Adanır ……………………………….. (Thesis Supervisor) Assoc. Prof. Nimet Beriker …………………………. Assist.Prof. Riva Kantowitz …………………………. DATE OF APPROVAL: …………………………. ii © Natalia Andrea Peral All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT CIVIC NATION BUILDING AS TOOL FOR CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE AHTISAARI PLAN AND THE INDEPENDENCE PROCESS IN KOSOVO by Natalia Andrea Peral M.A. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution Supervisor: Prof. Fikret Adanır Keywords: Kosovo, Ahtisaari Plan, Civic Nation, Nation Building, Third Party Intervention, Conflict Transformation. This study investigates the civic nation building (CNB) process initiated by Ahtisaari Plan in Kosovo from a Conflict Resolution perspective. I treat nation building efforts of external actors as a form of structural third party intervention in post conflict and multi-ethnic divided societies, and I observe whether this process contributes to the transformation of the conflict. Special focus is placed on the Decentralization Laws and Special Protective Zones Law of Ahtisaari‘s Package and their impact on the relationships between Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs. Concretely, I examine whether the mechanisms provided by these laws contributed to transform the interethnic iv relations based on competing nationalistic projects. For this purpose I study conflict transformations at structure, issue, actor and personal level. For the analysis of structure and issue level a conflict mapping technique has been used in time-series. In-depth structured interviews have been implemented for the analysis of actor level and a survey among individual adults in Kosovo (Prishtina, Prizren, Mitrovica, Gracanica, and Peja) was conducted for measuring personal level transformations. This research argues that civic nation building has chances to impact on the transformation of the conflict as long as, the third party intervening in the conflict considers and addresses different limitations found in the empirical case analyzed here. These limitations are: a risk of institutionalizing ethnicity, ‗a left-out dyad problem‘ of the intervention, lack of involvement of actors in the macro-micro transfers, lack of bottom-up approach. Despite the positive relationships found between conflict transformations and civic nation building (CNB), whether this kind intervention have been the promoter of these changes or not, is a question which remains open and demands further research and exploration. v ÖZET UYUġMAZLIK DÖNÜġÜMÜ ARACI OLARAK VATANDAġLIK TEMELINDE ULUS ĠNġASI: AHTISAARI PLANI'NIN VE KOSOVA BAĞIMSIZLIK SÜRECININ ANALIZI Natalia Andrea Peral Uyusmazlık Analizi ve Çözümü Programı, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, 2009 Tez DanıĢmanı: Prof. Dr. Fikret Adanır Anahtar kelimeler: Kosova, Ahtisaari Planı, VatandaĢlık Temelinde Ulus, Ulus ĠnĢası, Üçüncü Parti Müdahalesi, UyuĢmazlık DönüĢümü. Bu çalıĢma UyuĢmazlık Çözümü bakıĢ açısından, Kosova‘da Ahtisaari Planı tarafından baĢlatılmıĢ vatandaĢlık temelinde ulus inĢası sürecini araĢtırmaktadır. UyuĢmazlık sonrasında ve çok etnisiteli bölünmüĢ toplumlarda dıĢ aktörlerin ulus inĢa çabalarını yapısal bir üçüncü parti müdahalesi olarak ele almakta ve bu sürecin uyuĢmazlığın dönüĢümüne katkı yapıp yapmadığını incelemekteyim. Ademi Merkeziyet Kanunları‘na ve Ahtisaari Paket‘inin Özel Koruyucu Bölge Kanunları‘na ve bunların Kosova Arnavutları ve Sırpları arasındaki iliĢkiler üzerindeki etkilerine belirgin bir vurgu yapılmaktadır. Daha somut olarak anlatmak gerekirse, bu kanunlar tarafından sağlanan mekanizmaların rekabet eden milliyetçi projelere dayanan etnisiteler arası iliĢkileri dönüĢtürmeye katkı yapıp yapmadığını araĢtırmaktayım. Bu amaçla yapı, sorun, aktör ve kiĢiĢel düzeyde dönüĢümleri incelemekteyim. Yapı ve sorun düzeyindeki analiz için zaman serisi bazlı bir uyuĢmazlık haritalandırması tekniği kullanılmıĢtır. Aktör düzeyinde analiz için derinlemesine yapılandırılmıĢ mülakatlar gerçekleĢtirilmiĢ ve kiĢisel düzeydeki dönüĢümleri ölçmek vi için ise Kosova‘daki (PriĢtina, Prizren, Mitrovica, Gracanica, ve Peja‘da) yetiĢkinlerle ferdi anket yapılmıĢtır. AraĢtırma, çatıĢmaya müdahale eden üçüncü parti bu ampirik çalıĢmada bulunan çeĢitli kısıtlamaları dikkate aldığı sürece, vatandaĢlık temelinde ulus inĢasının uyuĢmazlığın dönüĢümüne etki etme Ģansının olduğunu iddia etmektedir. Bu kısıtlamalar etnisitenin kurumsallaĢması, müdahaledeki ―unutulmuĢ ikili problemi‖, aktörlerin makro-mikro transferlere müdahil olmaması ve aĢağıdan yukarıya yaklaĢımın eksikliğidir. UyuĢmazlık dönüĢümü ve vatandaĢlık temelinde ulus inĢası arasında pozitif iliĢkiler bulunmasına rağmen, böyle bir müdahalenin bu değiĢimleri teĢvik edip etmediği tartıĢmaya açık olarak kalıyordur ve ileri düzeyde araĢtırma ve inceleme gerektiriyor. vii To my both mothers, the tireless fighters for love, peace and freedom viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The acknowledgment of the people, who accompany me during my journey at Sabanci, and particularly during my process of writing this thesis, should be longer than the Thesis in itself. So many people have contributed emotionally and materially to my journey, that I fear not being fair enough. Among all those people, I would like to start with my thesis adviser and academic inspiration Dr. Fikret Adanir. This thesis could not have come into being without his strong support, and his doors always open to me. A great human being and professor, who trust on me since the first day I came to his office asking for a place in his class on Nationalistic Projects in Southern East Europe. Since then on, I have found on him a source of inspiration and energies on my desire of becoming an expert on these issues. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Nimet Beriker and Dr. Riva Kantowicz for their valuable suggestions for the improvement of different chapters. Thanks also goes to Dr. Betul Çelik who will always remain in my memory as an inspiration of serious commitment and hard work, and Prof. Benjamin Broome, whose company and advises in times of stress are priceless to me. My wholehearted thanks also go to : the team at SU writing center, especially Nancy and Dilek for their marvelous way of accompanying my steps in Sabanci; and to the entire staff at SU, including administrative, kitchen FASS 2nd Floor, and Medline, with especial thanks to Dr.Zehra, Ozcan, Ahment, Mement. There are three persons who deserve the most wholehearted recognition: to Prof. Edita Tahiri and Mr.Joerg Dehnert to whom I will be always indebt for their steady and unconditional support throughout this journey. Without their love, care, encouragement, amazing support, and unbreakable understanding of all my moods, this MA thesis would not be possible. To both of them goes my beloved dedication of this thesis; to my dearest friend, Imad Nehme, who has been a source of strength and motivation during these years and to whom I am in debt for his disinterested support. I am thankful to my parents, Stella and Oscar, for accepting my tireless free -will soul and for nourishing the freedom and courage that a life far away home requires. My heartfelt thanks to my brother Ale, for his lovely and amazing support of different sorts and to my sister Sonia whose craziness and laughter kept my humor in the most difficult moments. Special mention goes to my aunts Graciela and Silvia, my cousins Cinti and ix Memi, and my godson Andres, for keeping me connected with my loved ones in my hometown Lincoln and for recharging my energies with their cybernetic love, trust and encouragement. To Patricio Tierno, my inspiration, an amazing academician and a pure heart human being to whom I feel honored of counting as my soul brother, each word I can offer him would not make enough justice to appreciate his steady support, encouragement, company, and love. To my beloved friends Mela, Maissa, Majo, Fio, Lara, Celes, Caro, Clau, Lore, Romi, Omar, and Andres, among many others who have nourished my soul with their love, courage, patience, unconditional understanding and respect for each crazy decision I have taken. Without all of you, I could have never found the strength to keep following my dreams. To my Kosova family: Edita, Edi, Erle, Mefi, Elo, Gazi, Ari, Dreni, Burim, Ymer, Vezire who have accompanied each steps of my process in Kosova and beyond. Each word of gratitude to them risk of being not enough representative of each minute of love, care, support, understanding and company they all have offered me. I would like to stress the unforgettable contribution of Blerta and Sure. I would like to thanks to the of Institute of History of Prishtina, Frasher Demaj, Aram Arifi; to the Prishtina University and my beloved Prof.Edi Shukriu who was the first one to inspire my passion and questions about Nation Building in Kosova as well as to her students, Isuf, Mina and Arsim for their priceless help. To Fama University and particularly to Prof.Agim Paca and Mr .Burim Geci, to the help of Advje Morina at the Parliament of Kosova, to the Gender Training and Research Center for its amazing help and particularly to Arjeta Rexhaj. I would also