Verified Document

Kosovo: Seen Through The Eyes Essay

The international community, while supporting greater autonomy, opposed the Kosovar Albanians' demand for independence" (History file: Yugoslavia and the Balkans, 2003, BBC News). Yet Milosevic reacted with disproportionate levels of aggression. Structural realism makes no allowance for the level of violence with which Serbia carried out its expansionist program, engaging in efforts of ethnic cleansing. Serbia's efforts make even less rationalistic sense, given the international community's previous hostile reaction to Serbia's brutal, genocidal actions in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Serb attacks increased after NATO began its bombing campaign, and summary and arbitrary killing spread throughout Kosovo.... Among the worst incidents...were reports of the deliberate killing of children, and of elderly and disabled people being shot or burned alive....children decapitated in front of their parents" (Horrors of Kosovo revealed, 1999, BBC).

The conflict in Kosovo was only stemmed when the United Nations intervened, NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia in March 1999, the first attack on a sovereign European country in the alliance's history, were the only way to make Serb (and Albanian retaliatory) atrocities cease. Since then, conflicts between Serbs and ethnic Albanians have only been eased when other nations intervened. When hostilities threatened to erupt in late 2000, mediated dialogue between Albanian guerrillas and the new democratic authorities in Belgrade caused tensions to evaporate. An outbreak of ethnic conflict in Macedonia in 2001 involving the Albanian minority was contained by NATO peacekeepers and ultimately resolved through negotiation (History file: Yugoslavia and the Balkans, BBC News, 2003).

The important role of non-state organizations such as the United Nations and NATO in stemming the irrational levels of violence in the Balkans is testimony to the fact that the power dynamic of the world community does not need to be based upon pure power politics, nor only viewed in terms of state actors. While according to structural realists, states exist in a state of anarchy, governed by power needs, "constructivist theory rejects the basic assumption of neo-realist theory that the state of anarchy (lack of a higher authority or government) is a structural condition inherent in the system of states" and instead suggests that this must be rigorously questioned, along...

"The condition of the system of states today as self-helpers in the midst of anarchy is a result of the process by which states and the system of states was constructed. It is not an inherent fact of state-to-state relations. Thus, constructivist theory holds that it is possible to change the anarchic nature of the system of states (Constructivism, 2009, IR Theory).
For constructivists, a theorist cannot define power in absolute, ahistorical terms -- how power is defined is inherently subjective, and dependant upon the international context of the moment and region, and how power is defined with a community. For the post-Cold War Balkans, power and national identity was in a particular state of flux, and seeking self-definition, nations resorted to old, tribal identities and actions. Only by creating a new community where nationhood and power was re-defined through the efforts of the UN was peace possible. Constructivism encourages such as view, rather than regards violence as inevitable, as structural realist theory suggests. Such a suggestion can be a self-fulfilling prophesy but by thinking outside of the 'black box' of realism, constructivist approaches by the UN and NATO have made the Balkans, if not peaceable, then less of the 'tinderbox' of Europe that they were in the past.

Works Cited

Constructivism. (2009). IR Theory. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://www.irtheory.com/know.htm

History, bloody history. (1999, 24 March). BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/kosovo2/110492.stm

History file: Yugoslavia and the Balkans. (2003). BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/map/yugoslavia/

Horrors of Kosovo revealed. (1999, December 6).BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/551875.stm

Mearsheimer, John J. (2006). Chapter 4: Structural Realism. In Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith, eds., International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 71-88. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199298334/dunne_chap04.pdf

NATO's role in relation to the conflict in Kosovo (1999, 15 July). NATO. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://www.nato.int/kosovo/history.htm

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Constructivism. (2009). IR Theory. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://www.irtheory.com/know.htm

History, bloody history. (1999, 24 March). BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/kosovo2/110492.stm

History file: Yugoslavia and the Balkans. (2003). BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/map/yugoslavia/

Horrors of Kosovo revealed. (1999, December 6).BBC News. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/551875.stm
Mearsheimer, John J. (2006). Chapter 4: Structural Realism. In Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith, eds., International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 71-88. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199298334/dunne_chap04.pdf
NATO's role in relation to the conflict in Kosovo (1999, 15 July). NATO. Retrieved March 7, 2009 at http://www.nato.int/kosovo/history.htm
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Eye in The Sky Film
Words: 2142 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Political Issues Based on the Film "Eye in The Sky" In Which Government Attitude, Which Decides Who Lives and Who Dies for The Cause of The Nation Is Examined The film "Eye in the Sky" is somewhat a literal depiction of war fare between the drones. This is a flagrantly contrived film that examines the ethics of using remote control to kill. The subject was dramatized a year ago in Andrew

Can NATO Still Keep the Peace
Words: 2759 Length: 9 Document Type: Essay

Introduction The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949 as part of the post-war effort among the nations of the West to work together to establish the peace. Throughout the Cold War, NATO was more of a symbol than an actual military alliance. It was not until the Cold War ended that the first joint military NATO operations were conducted. The first was in 1990 and the second in

NATO Right to Intervene in
Words: 3440 Length: 11 Document Type: Term Paper

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc, the states of Eastern Europe sought to reassert themselves as independent political entities. Milosevic presented many of his activities in a nationalist context. The moves toward "ethnic cleansing" were part of a larger campaign to solidify the new Yugoslavia as an ethnically homogenous Serb Christian state. The artificial order of Communism was going to be replaced by something

Changing Paradigm in International Policing:
Words: 8998 Length: 33 Document Type: Essay

The lack of action over Rwanda should be the defining scandal of the presidency Bill Clinton. Yet in the slew of articles on the Clinton years that followed Clinton's departure from power, there was barely a mention of the genocide." The UN, pressured by the British and the U.S., and others, refused to use the word "genocide" during the event, or afterward when it issued its official statement of condemnation

Justice in the Twentieth Century,
Words: 1694 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

What was particularly ironic was that soccer had always been a game for whites only: blacks were specifically not included. Of course, the movie had a happy ending when South Africa won the World Cup. But the World Cup didn't completely change South Africa. There is still high violence, prompted by economic conditions and a newly released set of citizens. A high percentage of residents also have Aids, another very

Buchanan Op-Ed an Analysis of
Words: 3082 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Zionism is even being identified with Christianity, with evangelicals uniting themselves to Israeli interests. Need we remind ourselves that Zionism is a politico-religious belief that is diametrically opposed to Christian values? The post-war propaganda that followed WWII even helped obliterate the notion of Jesus Christ as Holocaust and replace it with the Shoah, the Jewish holocaust. At the heart of Zionism is the eradication of Christian culture and the

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now