The liberal and neo-liberal theories applied to the Kosovo crisis in 1998-1999

Résumé du document

Kosovo is mostly known as a region in the former Yugoslavia where, in 1998 and 1999, there was growing violence between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which sought independence from Serbia, and the Serbian army and police, which were randomly attacking the province of the indigenous Albanian population as a reprisal for KLA activities. In an effort to prevent further violence, in 1998, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issued several ultimatums to Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslavian President, demanding that the Serbs stop violence towards the Kosovar Albanian population and withdrew military forces from the province. As the Serbs refused to give in, NATO intervened in Kosovo without asking the permission of the United Nation Security Council and launched an air campaign against Yugoslavia in March 1999: Operation Allied Force (OAF).

Extraits

[...] How do the liberal and neoliberal theories enlighten the Kosovo war and to what extent does the crisis illustrate those theoretical approaches? To what extent do they explain the sources, the conduct, the outcome and the consequences of the Kosovo War? Does the crisis underline limits of the theories? First, neoliberalism enlightens the US motives as well as the conduct of the Kosovo war. Second, the Kosovo crisis can be considered as being a precedent for multilateral action, a key concept of the liberal theory. [...]

[...] Thus, NATO was built as a tool for consolidating Western principles in Europe. The Kosovo crisis was elevated as an important security problem not because there was a threat from the internal conflict. As explained above, NATO's members had no vital interests at stake in Kosovo. Rather, the credibility of the NATO institution, that the United States and its allies cared about, was threatened. Indeed, humanitarian crisis and instability in Kosovo directly undermined NATO's Strategic Concept” approved in April 1999 during the Washington summit. [...]

[...] We can therefore argue that neoliberal theory provides an important explanation for why NATO launched the war when it did. Second, the Kosovo crisis can be considered as being a strong precedent for multilateral action, a key concept of the liberal theory Multilateralism is at the core of the liberal approach of international relations. The Kosovo war therefore sustains liberalism as it can be considered as being a case in point of a multilateral action. The intervention in Kosovo was not a UN operation so it is impossible to claim that the entire international community supported it. [...]

[...] Second, multilateralism is visible in the peacekeeping operation. Indeed, this operation involves the Kosovo Force (KFOR), an efficient multinational force led by NATO and mandated by the United Nations in June 1999. At its height, KFOR numbered 50,000 military personnel coming from 39 different sovereign states. The official KFOR website indicates that in April 2007 a total of 16,000 soldiers coming from 34 countries still participated in the operation. It is worth noting that the nations which participate in KFOR are NATO states (United States, France, Italy, Great Britain ) as well as non-NATO states such as Austria, India, Switzerland or Georgia. [...]

[...] The situation in the Balkans therefore appears as a catch-22 situation. What Kosovo will become? Time will tell. Bibliographie Jennifer STERLING-FOLKER, Making sense of international relations theory John BAYLIS and Steve SMITH, The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations (and the companion website: http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199271184/) Kenneth WALTZ, Theory of International Politics Hans MOURITZEN, Theory and reality of international politics Mary Ellen O'CONNELL, The UN, NATO, and international law after Kosovo, in Human Rights Quarterly (vol.22, p. [...]