Those who pretend that Kosovo is a normal functioning state or who valorise “war heroes” such as Haradinaj are not only refusing to face the grim truth, but are helping to reinforce a fundamentally unjust power structure which threatens minorities, denies justice to victims and intimidates moderate Albanians who aspire [...]

The case of the mobilization of Kosovo Serbs in the 1980s reveals that an exclusive focus on elites and their politics in the literature on conflicts surrounding the disintegration of Yugoslavia is misleading.

Following the Belgrade-Pristina April accords, the parties agreed to an implementation plan which remains just an outline with important details still to be determined. It seems that the Quint expect Belgrade to impose more of a political agenda upon the northerners, but what if it can’t and the northern Kosovo Serbs [...]

As it becomes clear that the arrangement between Belgrade and Pristina is no more decisive than was Dayton or so many other internationally supervised agreements, local actors will discount it and refocus on whatever issues shape the next rounds of their various, unending internal, inter-communal, and international disputes.

While sending US combat troops to Kosovo may be just a benefit of drawdowns elsewhere, the Germans, Americans and Austrians – the three largest national elements of KFOR – have, in the past, dependably carried out their orders to confront unarmed civilians. Would they try again? One hopes not.

The consolidation of support for the social movement among Kosovo Serbs and the efforts of Milošević to break the resistance of Kosovo’s officials to the constitutional reform gradually affected political alliances in the provincial leadership, which had rarely followed ethnonational cleavage.

The cultural heritage of Prizren has long been one of peaceful coexistence, yet various political agendas – both international and domestic – have chosen to pursue their own interpretations and interests. In this case, therefore, politics is a threat to multiculturalism, despite claiming to respect it.

The conflict over the north has been – and remains – zero sum. No matter what the Kosovo Albanians say to their internationals, the local Serbs do not believe that they will be allowed to remain in possession of the land, water and border with Serbia in the north should [...]

The status quo in the north is neither stable nor productive. Whatever responsibility Albanians have, Serbs must accept their own responsibility for the lack of perspective in the north. The duty of interested outsiders is to help the population see that its interests lie in embracing the change, not fleeing [...]

The agreement is an important step in the direction of establishing good-neighbourly relations between the two countries, although it does not determine the ultimate success of the Kosovo-Serbian dialogue. The question of how to implement the agreement, however, remains open.