Kosovo, Intervention and Statebuilding

Book excerpt: This book examines international engagement with Kosovo since NATO’s intervention in 1999, and looks at the three distinct phases of Kosovo’s development; intervention, statebuilding and independence. Kosovo remains a case study of central importance in international relations, illustrative of key political trends in the post-Cold War era. During each phase, international policy towards Kosovo has challenged prevailing international norms and pushed the boundaries of conventional wisdom. In each of the three phases 'Kosovo' has been cited as constituting a precedent, and this book explores the impact and the often troubling consequences and implications of these precedents. This book explicitly engages with this debate, which transcends Kosovo itself, and provides a critical analysis of the catalysts and consequences of contemporary international engagement with this seminal case study. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of the international engagement with Kosovo and situates events there in an international context, highlighting the extent to which international policy towards Kosovo has challenged existing norms and practices. Kosovo has been cited in certain texts as a positive template to be emulated, but the contributors to this book also identify the often controversial and contentious nature of these new norms. This book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention and statebuilding, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general. Aidan Hehir is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Westminster.