The birth of a new nation is not a thing that us in the U.S. can truly understand or appreciate—myself included. This lived experience, by no fault of our own, is simply out of our wheelhouse. As Americans, we lionize our forefathers and the American Revolution. We even have a political movement today predicated on a supposedly “pure” interpretation of our nearly 250-year-old founding documents. To many, the American identity and history is a very certain thing, and due to that certainty, we struggle to understand what it is for a nation to start from scratch.
Until the 5th grade, I assumed all nations, like the U.S., took care of their revolutions in the late 18th century, throwing off the yoke of British tyranny, and then dealt with their civil war-and slavery-about 100 years later. In all interceding years, it was nothing but industrial and social progress with the occasional European war for good measure. In fact, 5th grade me struggled to understand why the world map in the music classroom in 1995 was wrong. This map labeled a large landmass between Europe and Asia the "U.S.S.R." Maps can’t be wrong, I thought.
Besides the earthquakes I experienced growing up in Alaska, I was positive that the earth was a certain place. The notion that nations could cease to exist, or, like a musician, go through an existential crisis and change its name and trappings was a truly ground breaking moment in my perception. Perhaps Freud would reason that this was the moment where I became infatuated with the politics, creation, and identity of nations. At the time, I could not get over the fact that the map was wrong.
My introduction to Kosovo was through college debate. Due to my interests in foreign policy, I was the team's foreign topics researcher. On a research binge in the spring of 2006, a small, southern province of Serbia reared its head into my periphery for the first time: Kosovo was getting restless, again, and looking to make a unilateral move for independence. At first, this assignment was like any other. But unlike the countless, other briefs I wrote, I became inthralled in Kosovo's independence with an intensity usually reserved for those with a Ritalin prescription. That single brief started a love affair that is now deep into its sixth year. It is arguably my longest relationship to date.
From the beginning, I was enthusiastic, yet hesitant, about an independent Kosovo. After decades of mismanaged rule by Yugoslavia and almost decade and a half of brutal treatment by Slobodan Milosevic, Kosovo needed to be free. But as a part of Serbia, independence meant, as was thought at the time, border clashes if not a reinstatement of hostilities of the decade old Kosovo War. Independence suggested that any financial, institutional, or professional support from Serbia, which arguably was a mixed bag, would end. This could have been a devastating consequence for an underdeveloped corner of the old Yugoslavia. Finally, independence ran the risk of creating a power vacuum both politically and socially: could a new government flourish while keeping organized crime and ethnic violence under control in an independent Kosovo? No one could be certain, and the international community was not optimistic.
On February 18th, 2008, I sat in a youth hostel in the former Yugoslavia, and Kosovo’s Parliament voted to secede from Serbia. On the computer that night, I watched a centuries old ethnic conflict play out in a 21st century way. Opening the Wikipedia entry on Kosovo, it stated that Kosovo was an independent nation. I hit refresh on the browser, and Kosovo was again an autonomous region of Serbia. Hitting refresh again reverted Kosovo’s status back to "independent." I assume this went on for days, if not weeks.
In Ljubljana, where I was staying, the Slovenes were happy to see the continuation of the dissolution of Serbia, a trend they started in 1991. In Belgrade, the news showed Serbs burning the U.S. Embassy and McDonalds. Some Serb and Bosnian Serb soldiers gathered with their personal weapons at the Kosovo border waiting for one of their generals-in-hiding to appear and lead them into what would have been a poorly planned and needless clash. In Pristina, Kosovars celebrated their “Newborn” status with free beer and commemorative t-shirts.
Luckily, the unrest of the 90s did not repeat itself that night. Instead, both sides hurled vitriol and rocks. Through 2005, violent clashes persisted between the majority Albanians (89% of the population and Muslim) and the Serb minority (8% of the population and Orthodox Christian), especially in the north of the country which is predominately Serb. While church defiling is on the decline, tension and rock throwing remains.
With the ongoing tension, NATO is still prominent in Kosovo thirteen years after the war. Recently, Kosovo’s attempts to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee and other international groups like the UN and NATO have failed. In fact, only 91 countries (this number is disputed) and FIFA have recognized Kosovo’s independence. However, the new nation continues to make strides in its four and a half year old independence.
Since independence in 2008, the International Steering Group, a committee of 23 European nations, Turkey, and the U.S., has been overseeing Kosovo's development. In September, they will relinquish this role. That means full sovereignty for Kosovo—a huge step—as it heads towards full international recognition as an independent state. While the Serbs and Russians do not care for this trajectory, Kosovo's independence is all but certain. European diplomats are already discussing Kosovo’s possible path to the EU.
The thought of sovereignty for Kosovo six years ago, when I wrote that initial brief, was merely an intellectual exercise. On September 18th, I will arrive in Kosovo just as the International Steering Group is closing its doors and handing over sovereignty. While this is a new chapter for Kosovo and myself, most maps still have Kosovo as a part of Serbia. It seems some maps can still be wrong.
Until the 5th grade, I assumed all nations, like the U.S., took care of their revolutions in the late 18th century, throwing off the yoke of British tyranny, and then dealt with their civil war-and slavery-about 100 years later. In all interceding years, it was nothing but industrial and social progress with the occasional European war for good measure. In fact, 5th grade me struggled to understand why the world map in the music classroom in 1995 was wrong. This map labeled a large landmass between Europe and Asia the "U.S.S.R." Maps can’t be wrong, I thought.
Besides the earthquakes I experienced growing up in Alaska, I was positive that the earth was a certain place. The notion that nations could cease to exist, or, like a musician, go through an existential crisis and change its name and trappings was a truly ground breaking moment in my perception. Perhaps Freud would reason that this was the moment where I became infatuated with the politics, creation, and identity of nations. At the time, I could not get over the fact that the map was wrong.
My introduction to Kosovo was through college debate. Due to my interests in foreign policy, I was the team's foreign topics researcher. On a research binge in the spring of 2006, a small, southern province of Serbia reared its head into my periphery for the first time: Kosovo was getting restless, again, and looking to make a unilateral move for independence. At first, this assignment was like any other. But unlike the countless, other briefs I wrote, I became inthralled in Kosovo's independence with an intensity usually reserved for those with a Ritalin prescription. That single brief started a love affair that is now deep into its sixth year. It is arguably my longest relationship to date.
From the beginning, I was enthusiastic, yet hesitant, about an independent Kosovo. After decades of mismanaged rule by Yugoslavia and almost decade and a half of brutal treatment by Slobodan Milosevic, Kosovo needed to be free. But as a part of Serbia, independence meant, as was thought at the time, border clashes if not a reinstatement of hostilities of the decade old Kosovo War. Independence suggested that any financial, institutional, or professional support from Serbia, which arguably was a mixed bag, would end. This could have been a devastating consequence for an underdeveloped corner of the old Yugoslavia. Finally, independence ran the risk of creating a power vacuum both politically and socially: could a new government flourish while keeping organized crime and ethnic violence under control in an independent Kosovo? No one could be certain, and the international community was not optimistic.
On February 18th, 2008, I sat in a youth hostel in the former Yugoslavia, and Kosovo’s Parliament voted to secede from Serbia. On the computer that night, I watched a centuries old ethnic conflict play out in a 21st century way. Opening the Wikipedia entry on Kosovo, it stated that Kosovo was an independent nation. I hit refresh on the browser, and Kosovo was again an autonomous region of Serbia. Hitting refresh again reverted Kosovo’s status back to "independent." I assume this went on for days, if not weeks.
In Ljubljana, where I was staying, the Slovenes were happy to see the continuation of the dissolution of Serbia, a trend they started in 1991. In Belgrade, the news showed Serbs burning the U.S. Embassy and McDonalds. Some Serb and Bosnian Serb soldiers gathered with their personal weapons at the Kosovo border waiting for one of their generals-in-hiding to appear and lead them into what would have been a poorly planned and needless clash. In Pristina, Kosovars celebrated their “Newborn” status with free beer and commemorative t-shirts.
Luckily, the unrest of the 90s did not repeat itself that night. Instead, both sides hurled vitriol and rocks. Through 2005, violent clashes persisted between the majority Albanians (89% of the population and Muslim) and the Serb minority (8% of the population and Orthodox Christian), especially in the north of the country which is predominately Serb. While church defiling is on the decline, tension and rock throwing remains.
With the ongoing tension, NATO is still prominent in Kosovo thirteen years after the war. Recently, Kosovo’s attempts to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee and other international groups like the UN and NATO have failed. In fact, only 91 countries (this number is disputed) and FIFA have recognized Kosovo’s independence. However, the new nation continues to make strides in its four and a half year old independence.
Since independence in 2008, the International Steering Group, a committee of 23 European nations, Turkey, and the U.S., has been overseeing Kosovo's development. In September, they will relinquish this role. That means full sovereignty for Kosovo—a huge step—as it heads towards full international recognition as an independent state. While the Serbs and Russians do not care for this trajectory, Kosovo's independence is all but certain. European diplomats are already discussing Kosovo’s possible path to the EU.
The thought of sovereignty for Kosovo six years ago, when I wrote that initial brief, was merely an intellectual exercise. On September 18th, I will arrive in Kosovo just as the International Steering Group is closing its doors and handing over sovereignty. While this is a new chapter for Kosovo and myself, most maps still have Kosovo as a part of Serbia. It seems some maps can still be wrong.
