CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Dupakova, Martina |
|---|---|
| Title | IRREDENTIST FOREIGN POLICY: CASE OF THE PARALLEL STRUCTURES IN NORTHERN KOSOVO |
| Summary | The so-called Serbian parallel structures in Northern Kosovo, which include the network of administrative structures, educational and healthcare facilities, judicial bodies and more, created and supported by Belgrade since 1999, has effectively hindered consolidation of Kosovo statehood and gave Serbia a de facto control over this territory. Despite the harmful and expensive character of support for the parallel structures, the policy changed only recently. This thesis explores the given question: Why, given the costs of doing so, Serbia´s leaders supported the parallel structures in Northern Kosovo for so long, and why the support apparently changed when it did? Based on the literature of ethic foreign policy and irredentism, this thesis argues that such foreign policy can be explained with a combination of two variables, political competition and international influence. This thesis utilizes a qualitative research design, which aims to assess the power of my independent variables to explain my dependent variable, the change of support for the parallel structures in Northern Kosovo. The main findings are that support for the parallel structures in Kosovo from 1999-2008 can be best explained by the domestic competition, which radicalized the political rhetoric to the extent the irredentist policy was possible. The change of support for the parallel structures, which is apparent in the period from 2008-2013, was possible because of the political competition with marginalized nationalist forces and the direct influence of the international community, the EU in particular. |
| Supervisor | Jenne, Erin Kristin |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/dupakova_martina.pdf |
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