Language policy, ethnic conflict, and conflict resolution: Albanian in the former Yugoslavia

Abstract

The 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia was marked by vicious ethnic conflict in several parts of the region. In this paper, I consider the role of policy towards the Albanian language in promoting and perpetuating conflict. I take three case studies from the former Yugoslavia in which conflict between ethnic Albanians and the dominant group emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s—Serbia’s Presevo Valley, Kosovo, and Macedonia—and examine language policies in these regions toward ethnic Albanians from the time of the Ottoman Empire to the present. Framing discriminatory language policies as structural violence (Galtung in J Peace Res 6(3):167–191, 1969), I show that conflict remains intractable in Kosovo, where discriminatory language policies have been applied first to Albanians and then to Serbs. By contrast, policies that improve linguistic rights for Albanians in Macedonia and Serbia without discriminating against Macedonians or Serbs in turn have played a role in resolving the conflicts there. Furthermore, integration of Albanians in Serbia has resulted in fewer incidents in recent years than in Macedonia. I argue that while assimilationist language policies serve as both indicator/cause of conflict, policies that promote positive language rights (Wright in Lang Policy 6:203–224, 2007) and emphasize balanced bilingualism may be seen as a potential tool for conflict resolution.