Steps toward the establishment of dialogue in Kosovo: Experiences of the Center for non-violent resistance

Abstract

The beginning of the initiative of acquainting and rapprochement of the two sides - the Serbs and the Albanians - began by the end of 2001 in Vienna, at the initiative of the United States Peace Institute (USPI). The distinctive feature of the meeting was a high degree of mistrust and distance among the participants. The participants were the representatives of political parties from Serbia and Kosovo. There were no representatives of the local Serbs. The cooperation continued through a series of meetings that were organized on the level of the civil society, because it was assumed that the civil society is more dynamic, unrestricted by the limitations of daily politics and that it is capable of bringing about a major breakthrough in the Serbian - Albanian relations.