From diplomacy backed by force to force backed by diplomacy: A comparative look at the Bosnia And Kosovo peace talks

Kocic, Aleksandar

Abstract

This paper takes a closer look at the Bosnia and Kosovo peace talks and attempts to analyze why the former was a success and the letter a failure in terms of ending war. This is done through the prism of the three main theoretical approaches in IR - realism, liberalism, and constructivism - as well as the negotiation theory. The paper argues that in essence the Yugoslav crisis was very realist - an ethnic security dilemma caused by an emerging internal anarchy in Yugoslavia. The resulting conflicts presented liberal Western states with a difficult riddle of finding the right balance between support for self-determination and sovereignty. The paper shows that in trying to solve this riddle they chose the middle way of alternating between realist and liberal policies, leaving behind imperfect solutions.

Citation

Kocic, A. (2018). From diplomacy backed by force to force backed by diplomacy: A comparative look at the Bosnia And Kosovo peace talks. Balkania : revista de estudios balcánicos, 1(8), 179-199

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 5, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 1, 2018
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 4, 2019
• Journal: Balkania
• Print ISSN: 2172-5535
• Electronic ISSN: 2530-9676
• Publisher: Madrid : Embajada de España en Belgrado [y] Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 179-199
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1702340
• Publisher URL: https://www.balkania.es/index.php?journal=Balkania&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=164