The youngest semi-independent state in Europe

Abstract

Kosovo as international problem separate from that of Albania was initially created in 1913 on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire when the Kingdom of Serbia conquered and occupied the land with an Albanian majority. Between 1918 and 1999, Kosovo had been part and a nagging security problem of three multinational Yugoslavias. The kernel of the problem was in the political conflict between the Kosovar Albanians’ striving for national emancipation and self-determination and the Serbian elites’ strenuous endeavours for rule in Kosovo. Kosovo’s forceful separation from Serbia was effected in 1999 by NATO’s military intervention. By 2008 it was followed by Kosovo’s proclamation of independence. The new semi-independent state has remained however a less than universally recognized member of the international community. Refs 24.