Confronting multiple crises : local and international perspectives on policy-making in Kosovo

Abstract

Russia's aggression against Ukraine brought war back to the European continent for the first time since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. It has also become the first war involving major countries in Europe since the end of the Second World War. The Russian invasion is reshaping the geopolitical, security and public policy landscape in Europe, and in an unprecendented manner. Countries associated with international neutrality for many decades are in the process of joining NATO. The transatlantic relationship is again strengthening, after the negative experience of the Trump presidency. The EU has for the first time formally extended the accession perspective to Eastern Neighbourhood Policy countries, accepting as official candidates the embattled Ukraine and Moldova. Europe is facing major economic and inflation pressures and an energy crisis unseen at least since the 1970s. Domestic policy pressures in the EU countries are multiplying. In the context of such earth-shattering developments, policy making in the Western Balkans has become much more complicated, especially for Kosovo, a new country challenged domestically in its state-building process and internationally in its efforts to consolidate its statehood status. The enormous pressures brought about by the war in Ukraine came to sit on top of previous crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic, to energy trasition, the permanent crisis mode in bilateral relations with Belgrade, the difficulties in integrating the Serb community of Kosovo and many others. This ‘multiple crises’ landscape of policymaking seems to be becoming a permanent state of affairs for Kosovo and deserves its place in the title of our book.