Chapter 10 The Kosovo Question and Uti Possidetis: The Potential for a Negotiated Settlement

Abstract

This chapter addresses the issue of whether there are principles of international law that are not currently being considered that could assist with the resolution of the ongoing dispute between Kosovo and Serbia over Kosovo's claim to statehood. It examines the Kosovo Question through the lens of the ongoing ethnic tensions between the Kosovo Albanians and the Kosovo Serbs in those areas of Northern Kosovo where the latter group predominates. The chapter considers whether the principle of uti possidetis could offer a legal criterion to inform a process of negotiation to break the current deadlock, which might contribute to the resolution of the Kosovo Question. To determine the viability of using alternative principles of international law to resolve the ongoing dispute between Kosovo and Serbia regarding Kosovo's claim to statehood, it is first necessary to identify where there may be scope for a form of negotiated settlement. Keywords:international law; Kosovo Question; Serbian; Uti Possidetis