Kosovo's Final Status and the Viability of Ongoing International Administration

Abstract

Since June 1999 Kosovo has been under UN administration pending the determination of its final status. Following the province-wide riots in March 2004 the international administration acknowledged that the ‘standards before status’ policy then being pursued was undermining stability and inter-communal dialogue. Thereafter various ostensibly new initiatives have been implemented to accelerate the process towards final status and the removal of the international administration. This article, however, will demonstrate the continuities between the old and new policies. It will additionally argue that the policies advanced by the Eide Report, the International Commission on the Balkans and the recent Ahtisaari Proposals, regarding the extension of the international administration and the (inconclusive) status of Kosovo threaten stability in the region and do little to resolve the underlying problem.