Review: Peace at Any Price

Abstract

PEACE AT ANY PRICE How the World Failed Kosovo Iain King and Whit Mason Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006. 328pp. US$27.95, cloth (978-0-8014-4539-2).The United Nations interim administration mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) recently entered its ninth and possibly final year as the primary governing authority in Kosovo. Since June 1999, the UN administration has overseen economic, social and political development in the disputed territory, and sought to promote a transformation of the former zone of conflict into a peaceful and multi-ethnic society. Iain King's and Whit Mason's book assesses the performance of the international community in achieving this aim, and presents a comprehensive, illuminating, and often scathing account of the UN's efforts to date.Both authors have close connections to Kosovo, each having held senior political roles within UNMIK, and their insider experience informs the text throughout and adds credibility to their account. From the title of the book onwards, it is clear that this is not a defence of UNMIK, but rather a critique. The authors charge the UN administration, and the international community behind it, with many failings-failing to understand the nature of the conflict between Kosovo Serbs and Albanians, failing to identify the correct solutions, and ultimately failing to fulfil its aim of transforming Kosovo into a multi-ethnic, law-abiding democracy. In particular, the authors allege that UNMIK lost an opportunity to change Kosovo's political culture by neglecting the available levers of soft power, especially in the spheres of education and the media. UNMIK, the authors allege, not only failed to transform and it never even properly tried.Most of this compact but thorough book is taken up with a review of the administration of Kosovo, structured both chronologically and thematically. The four central chapters deal with four separate phases in the administration from 1999 to 2006. Each examines progress in a range of areas, including law and order, security, political developments, hearts and minds, and the economy. The authors locate the roots of many of the ongoing problems in contemporary Kosovo in the first phase of administration, between June 1999 and October 2000. During this period, international authorities displayed a reluctance to clamp down on hardliners, and in particular on the Kosovo Albanian nationalists that reacted to the withdrawal of Serb troops from the territory by initiating a prolonged campaign of revenge violence on the minority Serb community within Kosovo. Much of this revenge violence went unpunished due to international preferences for stability rather than justice, and the low conviction rates contributed to a sense of impunity that the authors suggest was never eradicated in subsequent years. Furthermore, the departure of large sections of the Serb community at the time served to set back the project of a multi-ethnic Kosovo. The second consolidation phase entailed a shift from humanitarian concerns to political development, and included Kosovo's first elections under UNMIK, as well as the establishment of new institutions of self-government. But it was also a period in which many of the physical challenges had been overcome, and the political challenges that remained required changes in local behaviour that UNMIK was unable to achieve. This gave way to a third phase of confrontation and stagnation, where the gap between expectations and the reality on the ground led to local frustration with the international mission. Despite a range of UNMIK initiatives, there was little progress towards resolving Kosovo's political status due to continued divisions within the international community. The dire state of the economy further fuelled local dissatisfaction. This stage culminated in the infamous March riots of 2004, when Albanians turned on Serbs and the international authorities were unable to assert control during two days of violence and looting that left 19 dead, hundreds of Serb homes burnt, and thousands of Serbs displaced. …