Challenges: EU Civilian Crisis Management and the Objective of Impact Assessment—Kosovo as an Example of Complexity

Abstract

Tamminen studies the evaluation of the EU’s civilian crisis management activities in Kosovo. Emphasising that the EU has come a long way in planning and preparing crisis management operations, she points out that evaluating impact is a more complicated matter than merely reporting on mission activities. Tamminen highlights some difficulties for evaluation that arise from the Complexity of the international presence in a conflict-affected environment. The EULEX Kosovo mission has been a pioneer in creating reporting and benchmarking structures, but the EU still lacks practical impact assessment tools. For evolving reconciliation processes, rigid objectives may even be counterproductive, thus evaluations of the overall impact should take place in a more goal-free environment.