MetaKosovo: local and international narratives

This article examines local narratives on Kosovo and their role in crafting and articulating interpretations of Kosovo and international missions. Using the concept of ‘home’, as used and conceptualised by Jacques Derrida, the article reverses the order of who is ‘guest’ and ‘host’ in Kosovo and how that defines the local narratives on the subject. In the first part, attention is paid solely to letting local narratives deconstruct themselves, while in the second part we let them deconstruct the international narrative on Kosovo. The aim of the article is to present Kosovo as a battleground of division and commonality among the narratives and at the same time as an ‘impossible’ ‘home’ of all its narratives. In conclusion, some thoughts pave the way for the idea of ‘renegotiating’ the concept of ‘home’ with particular focus on ‘home’ in interventions and missions and its ultimate influence on the ethics of intervention

Deconstructing and defining EULEX

Hailed as the greatest European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) mission to date, the European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) has been oscillating between fulfilling its mission statement crafted in Brussels, while managing the controversial ethnic expectations of the local population in Kosovo. Because of its imposed “status neutral,” in its three years of deployment in Kosovo, EULEX is considered to have been preoccupied with keeping a low profile, remaining invisible and not taking stances in an otherwise politically unsettled territorial entity amid acute ethnic cleavages. While it is considered as an important example to test the EU’s vertical and horizontal consistencies, EULEX’s ambiguous legal status has had its own implications; how EULEX seeks to maintain its coherence within Kosovo with its headquarters in Brussels. With most of its work dedicated to its Press and Information Office, in articulating and setting forward communication in three different languages and aiming three different (to say the least) audiences, its journey is still that of seeking legitimacy and popular support. This work examines EULEX from a critical perspective

The international missions in Kosovo: what is in a name?

This article problematizes the concept of ‘mission’ in international interventions, who is entitled to missionize and how the missionized subject is conceptualized. By looking at the international missions in Kosovo (those of the UN and particularly the EU), we problematize how the EU mission in Kosovo is entrenched in a trajectory of ‘missionizing’ that makes it bear the stigma of a structure non-responsive and non-sensitive to the local. Employing Derrida’s deconstruction, we explain that the criticism (academic, dogmatic, ideological and empirical) of international missions relates not so much to how they operate in their host countries, or to the policy choices they make. Rather, looking at the path dependency of missions in the Western historical and civilizational trajectory, we maintain that the problem derives from the idea and very concept of ‘mission’ as intervention in itself

Peace agreements and human rights issues: Macedonia case

There is an unimpaired link between ideas of Peace Agreements and Human Rights concept. Given the breadth of human rights and its complexity this paper will introduce the reader to the scope of the Human Rights Concept and the Peace Agreement aspects in the Republic of Macedonia since 1991. A greater emphasis is given on the Ohrid Framework Agreement in the range of conflict resolution and derivation of constitutional human rights changes in 2001 and its present challenges and perspectives. The paper is to proceed at three levels (i) analyze of processes that led to success/failure of implementation of agreement in Macedonia and (ii) empirical comparison of the processes at national level since 2001, and (iii) interdependence of peace agreement process and human rights in Macedonia. At the end the paper gives a special attention on the attempts for transformation of the Human Rights System in Macedonia from a rhetorical concept of ideals to a more concrete tool in the national level. Human Rights issues and reconciliation are becoming the main challenge factor for the integration of Macedonia into the European Union

Parliament\u27s role in prospering European integration and the relations between The Republic of Kosov and The Republic of Serbia : [presentation given on September 6, 2011]

There are several difficulties enforcing Kosovo in European Integration. One of these is most notably the relation with Serbia. The EU does not accept members into its family that have regional disagreements. One solution that was offered by the European Union and the United States of America was for a technical dialogue to solve the problems between these two states ... Based the results from the research study the technical dialogue between Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia will continue

A post-structuralist account of international missions : the case of Kosovo

This thesis offers a Derridean perspective to the notion of international interventions and missions by focusing on the case of Kosovo. It argues on a reconceptualization of ethics as foreign policy, interrogating questions of how to rethink ethics as justice and how to rethink the notion of (non)intervention. The structure is built around four primary questions that are dealt with in four consecutive articles utilizing four of Derrida’s concept: deconstruction, hospitality, autoimmunity and home respectively. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to the introduction of the thesis, a theoretical and methodological discussion, data generation and interpretation and an overview of thesis’ structure. The second part is reserved for the four articles, each employing a particular concept of Derrida, to shed light on the dynamics of Western/EU missions in Kosovo. Part three provides a summary of main issues covered in the thesis, concluding remarks and a debate for further research. In its final part, the thesis calls for de-missionizing of the spread of democracy, be that as an aim to civilize, modernize or, Europeanize, others. De-missionizing is essentially related to de-pathologizing the other as something intrinsically corrupt and de-objectifying the other as a structure in need for intervention. This would in turn lead to a more democratic way to construct relations with others

The EU and the Balkans: Shifting Meanings after the Crisis

This article discusses to what extent meanings and discourses on ‘EU membership’ on the one hand and on the ‘Balkans’ on the other, have shifted within Western Balkan countries in the past few years as a result of financial crisis in the European Union. Focusing on Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the article uses Derrida’s deconstruction to problematize the return of terms such as ‘Balkan’ and ‘Balkanized’, as a way to explain failures of the economic system. The article concludes that in the case of BH and to a lesser extent in Kosovo, there has been a de-mythicization of the EU

Pandemic Restrictions in Kosova as Indicator to Reduction of Air Pollution

The chaotic situation of industrial and transportation grow around the globe is a situation that left substantial traces, both in the environment and in everyday life. With the introduction of the Pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) of Covid19 in March 2020, many countries in the world imposed numerous instructions including the restriction of movement, both national and international, which also affected the use of motor vehicles thus, having direct impact on reduction of air pollution caused by motor vehicle’s emission. On 15th of March 2020 Kosova’s government also introduced numerous instructions including restriction of movement. The aim of this paper is to conduct a periodic comparison of air pollution in the cities of Kosovo as a result of restrictions that led to reduced use of motor vehicles for a certain period, namely March-May 2019/2020. Based on the data provided, air pollution in the cities of Kosovo has decreased by almost 50% compared to the same period in 2019. Thus e.g., average concentration of NO2 in Kosovo during March 2020 was about 15 µg/m3, compared to around 30 µg/m3 as it was in March 2019; PM2.5 during March 2020 was 14.9 µg/m3, compared to about 21.7 µg/m3 in March 2019

Legal regulation of succession in European Union law, case study: Regulation no. 650/12 of the European Union

Abstract: This paper aims to inform readers in general with the EU Regulation on Succession, on its content, by analysing briefly the most important issues of this Regulation, and by providing answers to various dilemmas that EU citizens and others may have on important issues such as what this Regulation generally regulates; if an EU resident who lives or resides in a country other than that of origin dies, which law shall apply to his succession and which authority shall govern that succession; if the decisions and documents issued by the authorities governing the succession in a state are recognized in the other state or not; some brief issues about European Certificate of Succession, and other important issues pertaining to the governing of succession of EU citizens. While analysing and elaborating the content of the regulation, we will give certain examples in order to understand it easier. This paper will serve all those who want to know more about the Regulation, either for personal or academic reasons.&nbsp