International norms, power and the politics of international administration: The Kosovo case

Geopolitics

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 121-146

  Gheciu, Alexandra ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GEOPOLITICS; POWER RELATIONS;

EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; EUROPE; KOSOVO; SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO; SOUTHERN EUROPE; WORLD;

EID: 17144430886     PISSN: 14650045     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14650040590907695     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. For an analysis of the Habermasian argument to international relations see Thomas Risse, 'Let's Argue!', International Organization, 54/1 (2000) pp.1-39.
2. See, for instance, Chris Reus-Smit, 'Human Rights and the Social Construction of Sovereignty', Review of International Studies, 27/ 4 (2001) pp.519-38.
3. Philippe Schmitter and Imco Brouwer, Conceptualising, Researching and Evaluating Democracy Promotion and Protection, EUI Working Paper SPS No.99/9 (Florence: European University Institute 1999) pp.5-6.
4. On the democratic peace thesis, see, for instance, Michael Doyle, Ways of War and Peace (New York: Norton, 1997),
5. and Bruce Russett, Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for a Post-Cold War World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993).
6. See, for instance Tarak Barkawi and Mark Laffey, 'The Imperial Peace: Democracy, Force and Globalization', European Journal of International Relations, 5/4 (1999) pp.403-34.
7. Michael C. Williams, 'The Discipline of the Democratic Peace: Kant, Liberalism and the Social Construction of Security Communities', European Journal of International Relations, 7/4 (2001) pp.525-53.
8. See ibid., p.537.
9. The text of the agreement can be found in Independent International Commission on Kosovo, Kosovo Report (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000),Annex 4,p.324.
10. See also Richard Caplan, A New Trusteeship? The International Administration of War-torn Territories,Adelphi Paper 341 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2000).
11. United Nations Resolution 1244 (1999), S/RES/1244, 10 June 1999, paragraph 10.
12. In Michael Ignatieff's words, Kosovo constitutes an instantiation of 'empire lite': a global hegemony whose grace notes are free markets, human rights and democracy, enforced by an awesome military power. See Michael Ignatieff, Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghtanistan (London: Vintage, 2003). There are interesting historical parallels between the ideas embodied in the mandate of the international administration in Kosovo and different forms of trusteeship that were, at particular moments in time, specific features of international politics. For an analysis of the assumptions, claims and justification of international trusteeship across space and time.
13. see William Bain, Between Anarchy and Society(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
14. As noted above, these principles were emphasized in Security Council Resolution 1244 (Paragraph 10).
15. This is not to argue that there were no disagreements or problems of coordination among those various agencies. However, it is noteworthy that so many international institutions were mandated to work on the basis of a single, comprehensive blueprint for rebuilding Kosovo.
16. Resolution 1244, para.6.
17. See UN Doc. UNMIK/REG/1999/1 Section 1, 25 July 1999.
18. Report of the Secretary General on the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo, UN Doc.S/1999/779, 12 July 1999, para.44.
19. See Kouchner's own account on this, in his Les guerriers de la paix (Paris: Grasset et Fasquelle 2004) pp.326-7.
20. Regulation No.1999/24 (passed in December 1999)-on the Law Applicable in Kosovo-excludes Yugoslav laws adopted after 22 March 1989.
21. See also UNMIK Regulation No.1999/5, 4 September 1999; UNMIK Regulation No.1999/3, 31 August 1999, On the Establishment of the Customs and Other Related Services in Kosovo;and UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/24, 12 December 1999, On the Law Applicable in Kosovo. 20 See also UNMIK Regulation No.1999/5, 4 September 1999; UNMIK Regulation No.1999/3, 31 August 1999, On the Establishment of the Customs and Other Related Services in Kosovo;and UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/24, 12 December 1999, On the Law Applicable in Kosovo.
22. On international hopes to turn Kosovo into a liberal democracy, see also Veton Surroi, 'The Future of Kosovo', Internationale Politik (Transatlantic Edition), 2/2 (2001) pp.43-6.
23. For a similar analysis, stressing the link between the assumption of perfectibility and the idea and practice of trusteeship, see Bain (note 11).
24. Interviews with NATO officials, Political Affairs Division and the Office of the Secretary General, November 1999 and March 2000, Brussels.
25. See, for instance, 'Kosovo Talks', Deutsche Presse-Agentur Press release, in Central European Online, 25 January 2002 ().
26. The solution formulated in Kosovo seems to continue a pattern of international administrations whose character is their pre-defined non-permanence, coupled with the goal of creating not just a polity, but a good polity, which would, presumably, not only promote domestic stability and freedom, but also enhance regional and international security. See Robert Jackson, 'International Engagement in War-Torn Countries,' Global Governance, 10/1 (2004) pp.21-36.
27. Michael Steiner, 'Kosovo mission at its most difficult and delicate phase,' Intervention by the SRSG to the OSCE Permanent Council, 8 May 2003. UNMIK Press Release 961, available on the web (http:// www.unmikonline.org/press/2003/pressr/pr961.htm).
28. See, e.g., Mitchell Dean, Governmentality (London: Sage, 1999).
29. See, again, the International Crisis Group Report, 2003. On practices of inclusion of graduates of training programmes organized by the international administrators, see also the reports issued by the OSCE ().
30. See EU and NATO officials quoted in International Crisis Group, Collapse in Kosovo, Report No.155 (Brussels: ICG 2004) p.28.
31. NATO Secretary General A de Hoop Scheffer, quoted in ibid.
32. A broader analysis of the causes and dynamics of the March 2004 crisis can be found in the ICG Report (note 28).
33. See, for example, Klaus Reinhardt, 'KFOR Peacekeeping in Kosovo,' Internationale Politik (Transatlantic Edition), 2/2 (2001) p.48.
34. 'UN pulls out of Kosovo flashpoint', BBC News, 18 March 2004.
35. See Pierre Bourdieu, particularly Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1977).
36. Stefano Guzzini, 'A Reconstruction of Constructivism in International Relations', European Journal of International Relations, 6/2 (2000) p.166.
37. See also Richard Jenkins, Pierre Bourdieu (London and New York: Routledge 1992).
38. See the OSCE's 'Mission in Kosovo', available at .
39. I b i d.
40. See also 'New Training Seminar for Kosovo Civil Servants Underway,' OSCE Press Release, 8 June 2001 ().
41. I b i d.
42. I b i d.
43. OSCE Report, 'Human Rights Monitoring,' November 2001, available at .
44. See 'Kosovo Civil Society Actors and Politicians Meet Ahead of the 17 November Election', 7 November 2001 (emphasis added), available at .
45. OSCE Report on 'Human Rights Promotion,' March 2002, available at .
46. See the OSCE Report, 'OSCE initiates first Kosovo Youth Assembly', 28 October 2003, available at .
47. OSCE, 'Supporting Democracy in Kosovo', available at .
48. See also OSCE Press Release, 'OSCE Reminds Kosovo Political Entities of Registration Requirements', 8 March 2002.
49. Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, ed. J. Thompson, trans. G. Raymond and M. Adamson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1991).
50. I b i d.
51. On the Kosovars' pressure on the international community, see also Surroi (note 20) p.44.
52. See Viktor Meier, 'The EU Coddles the Serbs', in Internationale, Politiks Vol. 2, Summer Issue, 2001, pp.28-36;
53. Surroi (note 20) pp.43-6;
54. and Marie-Janine Calic, 'Cautious Optimism in Yugoslavia', Internationale Politik, 2/2 (2001) pp.52-6.
55. 'Top UN Official in Kosovo Announces Elections for 17 November,' UN Press Release, 14 May 2001.
56. See Chapter 8 of UNMIK/REG/2001/9, On a Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo, available at .
57. See 'OSCE Starts Support Initiative for Kosovo Assembly', 15 February 2002, available at www.osce.org/news/generate.pf.php3?news_id=2292.
58. International Crisis Group, Two to Tango: An Agenda for the New Kosovo SRSG, Report No.148 (Brussels: ICG 2003) p.16.
59. Ibid.,esp. pp.3-17. The international administrators have tended to interpret any areas that were not specifically transferred to the PISG as areas that should remain within UNMIK's purview.
60. Ibid., e.g. p.6.
61. Michael Steiner, quoted in 'UN envoy says Kosovo's Assembly's resolution divisive,' UN News Service, 15 May 2003.
62. In Kosovo a series of public officials and political actors were dismissed from office and/or banned from taking part in elections, and laws deemed as divisive were suspended or amended. On the international reaction to perceived Kosovar departure from the norms and rules issued by the international administrators, see also Richard Caplan, A New International Trusteeship? (note 9)
63. and Dominik Zaum, 'The Paradox of Sovereignty': International Involvement in Civil Service Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina,' in International Peacekeeping, vol. 10, 2003.
64. UNMIK Press Release No.967, 'Declaration of the SRSG Michael Steiner on the Assembly Resolution on War Values,' 15 May 2003.
65. Ibid. e.g. p.4.
66. See Bekim Greicevci, 'An Uncertain Future', 26 Feb. 2004, available at .
67. See Mark Baskin, 'Building Local Democracy under Conditions of Uncertainty in Kosovo', East European Studies Meeting Report no. 291, January 21, 2004, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C. p.2
68. and ICG, Two to Tango (note 54) p.4.
69. Harri Holkeri resigned in May 2004 and was replaced by Danish diplomat Soren Jessen-Petersen.
70. ICG, Two to Tango (note 54) pp.6-8.
71. See Baskin (note 62) p.2.
72. See Risse (note 1) on Habermasian dialogues in international politics.
73. See Baskin (note 62) p.2.
74. See also Alexandros Yannis, 'The UN as Government in Kosovo', Global Governance, 10/1 (2004) pp.67-91,
75. and ICG, Two to Tango (note 54).
76. See, for example, 'UN pulls out of Kosovo at Flashpoint', 18 March 2004;
77. 'Kosovo Residents Still on Edge', 23 March 2004;
78. and 'NATO Condemns Kosovo Extremists', 22 March 2004, all on the BBC's website ().
79. See also 'Kosovo: Field of Sorrows', The Economist, 27 March-2 April 2004, p.45.
80. For an empirical analysis of the breakdown of trust in Kosovo, affecting both UNMIK and all the main ethnic groups in Kosovo, see ICG, Collapse in Kosovo (note 28) esp. pp.19-30.
81. ICG, Collapse in Kosovo (note 28) p.24.
82. Ibid., p.22.
83. Ibid., pp.24-28.
84. For a very interesting analysis, see Richard Caplan, 'International Authority and State Building: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina', Global Governance, 10/1 (2004) pp.53-66..
85. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the legal status of Yugoslavia has changed, as Serbia and Montenegro have set up a new, far looser federal arrangement between them; moreover, even that arrangement might be dissolved in the next couple of years, leading to the emergence of Serbia and Montenegro as two separate states. This means that, should reintegration occur, Kosovo would end up being (re)integrated into Serbia proper - a highly unacceptable solution from the point of view of most Kosovars, particularly in light of the recent electoral success of ultra-nationalists in Serbia.
86. on this, see also Yannis (note 68).