Monteux, Camille
(2009)
Institution building in Kosovo: the role of international actors and the question of legitimacy.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis argues that establishing legitimacy, both in relation to the international
community and in relation to local populations, is a critical precondition for the success of
international missions in post-conflict situations. The argument is developed through a study
of post-conflict institution-building in Kosovo. In 1999, when the Security Council
established the United Nations Administrative Mission in Kosovo, the international
community had a unique opportunity to develop conflict management mechanisms capable of
responding to the contemporary challenges posed by ethnic conflicts. By acting under the
United Nations umbrella, the international community could have sent a strong message to the
deeply divided population of Kosovo: this mission had the ability to protect them and provide
them with institutional structures capable of sustaining long-term economic, political and
social peace and stability. Yet the international actors failed to do so. They failed to grant the
Kosovo population the security they so dearly needed, and they failed to construct institutions
appropriate to the challenges faced by the territory. This thesis argues that this occurred
because of the international community’s inability to provide legitimacy for their actions and
policies. As the different actors focused their attention on attempting to secure legitimacy vis
à vis the international community, they failed to nurture the roots of the new political system
they wished to establish by obtaining the support of Kosovo’s population as a whole. After
developing a working concept of legitimacy, I analyse the degree and nature of legitimacy of
the different international actors, and their policies at each stage that led to the establishment
of a new political system in Kosovo. Through this analysis, I provide an explanation for the
failure of the international community to offer a satisfactory and sustainable solution to the
Kosovo issue.
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