Abstract
Drawing on the case of post-war Kosovo, this chapter explores how nation branding intersects with a neoliberal development agenda. The author argues that Kosovo’s “Young Europeans” campaign was an effort to legitimize the adoption of economic policies and ideologies that served the interests of global capital rather than of the local population. Furthermore, the campaign articulated a post-ethnic, cosmopolitan, entrepreneurial national subject, while disregarding real social divisions. By juxtaposing the campaign’s messages with material indicators of life in Kosovo, the analysis raises questions about the winners and losers of neoliberal development. The chapter ends with lessons for a broader understanding of the changing nature of the nation-state under a neoliberal regime and suggests directions for future research at the intersection of public diplomacy and development communication.
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Acknowledgements
I owe special thanks to Bujar Aruqaj for his invaluable research assistance in the early stages of this project.
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Kaneva, N. (2018). Nation Branding, Neoliberal Development, and the Remaking of the Nation-State: Lessons from Post-war Kosovo. In: Pamment, J., Wilkins, K.G. (eds) Communicating National Image through Development and Diplomacy. Palgrave Studies in Communication for Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76759-8_4
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