Recognition as a Second-Order Problem in the Resolution of Self-Determination Conflicts

Abstract

On 10 September 2012, after nine years of United Nations (UN) administration and four years of international supervision following the self-proclamation of independence in February 2008, Kosovo celebrated in Pristina the beginning of its full and unconditional sovereign career as a state.¹ Yet, and in contradiction to public assertions of sovereignty, more than half of the 193 UN member states refused, as of October 2012, to grant recognition to Kosovo. At the same time, the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo, the biggest and most expensive European Union (EU) support mission to date, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Kosovo Force (KFOR), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) peacekeeping mission were still on the ground. The fragile Kosovar institutions together with the separatist insurgency in the Serbian-dominated North, made security and stability in the region, the original objectives behind promoting Kosovo’s independence, appear to be wishful thinking.

What a beautiful belt you‘ve got on!’ Alice suddenly remarked. ‘At least,’ she corrected herself on second thoughts, ‘a beautiful cravat, I should have said — no, a belt, I mean—I beg your pardon!’ she added in dismay, for Humpty Dumpty looked thoroughly offended, and she began to wish she hadn’t chosen that subject. ‘If only I knew,’ she thought to herself, ‘which was neck and which was waist!’

— Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1072)