Kosovo has been
a wonderful experience. We have met local Albanians and Serbs who welcomed us
with open arms and hearts, never making us feel uncomfortable or uneasy. Yet,
when reflecting on the political context of the country, I wonder whether
Kosovo is experiencing “virtual peace”. Despite the relative success of peacebuilding
efforts since 1999, an argument can be made that such success only implemented
“virtual peace”. As argued by Richmond and Franks (2007), liberal peacebuilding
often implements a form of peace which embodies elements of liberal peace, but
is conclusively not liberal peace. In Kosovo, high unemployment, the perception
of government corruption, and failed reconciliation efforts suggest that
although Kosovo lives in a democratic republic, such a republic is volatile and weak.
Here and in other peacebuilding
missions, institutionalization has achieved a type of peace, but one which is
neither liberal nor sustainable. This is reflected in the continuous loss of
hope which many of us observed while interviewing locals. Although, Kosovo no
longer exists in war, but instead is a society where the streets are peaceful and full
of life, in reality, the population living in Kosovo does not see any progress
or development since the country’s independence in 2008. In my opinion, Kosovo
is in a stalemate with Serbia, with the EU, and with itself. As Petrit Selimi
of the Millenium Foundation voiced; “We cannot build an open society in a
locked cage”. He expressed this opinion in relation to the lack of visa
liberalisation in Kosovo however, such sentiment can be applied to a variety of
quarrels in Kosovo. For example, whilst Kosovo no longer looks or portrays itself as being in a conflict, the international community will not treat Kosovo
as being a peaceful and sovereign country until a Kosovar-Serbian agreement is
signed. On the other hand, the absence of this agreement is generating more
hopelessness for the Kosovar population, thus creating a continuous feedback
loop of negativity.
At the same time,
“virtual peace” is not purely negative. Whilst “virtual peace” should not be
the goal of local elites or peacebuilders, “virtual peace” should not be
perceived as objectively negative. Despite the shortcomings mentioned above, Kosovo
is progressing as a society. When reflecting back to 2008, today the Kosovo
government can function almost entirely independently and its people live in
relative peace. So, whilst “virtual peace” is not ideal, it is a stepping stone
towards a systematic and slow improvement of peace through the long-term
process of peacebuilding. However, this can only be achieved if hope is
sustained for the future of Kosovo, especially among the youth.
Perspectives
On a
more personal note, I deeply enjoyed our experience in Kosovo. It has been a
trip which will be hard to forget. The people of Kosovo, both Albanians and
Serbs, were absolutely wonderful to us and I hope I have the chance to return
rather sooner than later. However, with our experience in Kosovo comes a
necessity and obligation to understand the presence of biases in our
interpretations and understandings of Kosovo as a nation-state. Firstly, our
experience is biased because we are foreigners and thus, people will treat us and
express their opinions differently than when addressing a local about the same
issues. Secondly, everyone we had the chance to interview, whether local or
otherwise, also had their own personal experience of Kosovo and thus, their opinion
and understanding of the conflict is biased towards their individual experiences.
Lastly, our interactions with locals were limited to locals who can speak
English. So, although the level of English was far better than we expected, it
is important to understand that the Kosovars/Albanians/Serbians who do speak
English are most likely of a higher social-economic class hence, our experience
of Kosovo is biase towards the higher economic classes in Kosovo. This however,
does not tint or damage my personal experience of Kosovo as it is an experience
I will never forget. Nevertheless, it is beneficial to understand that there
are biases present in every individual’s story.
My
fondest experience in Kosovo
During
our trip, we were encouraged to meet locals. This made me quite uncomfortable
as the process of interviewing locals felt rather invasive. That is why meeting
local Kosovar judges in south Mitrovica was one of my fondest memories in
Kosovo. Instead of us approaching them, they approached us and answered all of
our questions with such kindness. Here is an uncomfortable picture of myself
and Nada with those judges:
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