Long-time Effects from Kosovo, Little Ado About Bosnia- Herzegovina
Michael Daxner, Sarah Riese – 2011
This article inquires into the geopolitical implications of current and recent developments in the Balkans. Our main hypotheses are that the Balkans are a “laboratory” for blueprints of societies and statebuilding after interventions, and that Kosovo is something like the independent non-sovereign state resulting from such interventions. We find Kosovo’s declaration of independence to be of geopolitical significance, as it has weakened the position of the UN Security Council as well as the principle of sovereignty against supremacy of independence under the support of powerful actors. Recent developments in Bosnia by contrast have little geopolitical repercussions, other than providing a “testing ground” for international and particularly EU peacebuilding strategies.