Education, underdevelopment, unnecessary war and human security in Kosovo/Kosova

Abstract

This paper examines educational linkages to persistent conflicts and contemporary security challenges in Kosovo. It reviews some historic foundations, debates and socioeconomic contexts concerning education as a security issue. It argues that poverty and underdevelopment coupled with failed diplomacy (particularly surrounding a 1996 “Education Accord”)—with inappropriate militarized responses to disputes amidst broader and chronic lack of attention to education concerns—contributed to human rights abuses, violent civil conflict and a major war in 1999. Without justifying violence on either side, the paper shows how both Albanian and Serbs were both responsible for abuses in different periods while education was a contributing factor. The paper further discusses how education has (problematically) been part of the human security building and “reconstruction” process after NATO 1999 while many issues that led to international military intervention remain unresolved some 5 years later. It closes with some reflections on post-war or “post-conflict” education dilemmas, cooperation imperatives and new research challenges for Kosovo.