CHOOSING STRATEGY IN KOSOVO CONFLICT: INSTRUMENTAL OR VALUE RATIONALITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2025-1-10-19Keywords:
Kosovo, Serbia, ethnopolitical conflict, ethnicity, value rationality, instrumental rationality, strategy, European Union, ethnic entrepreneursAbstract
The ethnopolitical conflict in Kosovo is one of the crucial challenges of regional security in contemporary Europe. The article presents a qualitative analysis of the dynamics of this conflict in the period 1990-2020, focusing on its parties' strategies. Based on the theory of rational choice, the authors underline the strong linkage between the dynamics of the ethnopolitical conflict (in terms of escalation/de-escalation) and the configuration of the strategies chosen by the parties of the conflict. It is noted that the parties involved in the conflict, acting as "ethnic entrepreneurs", choose between two key strategies: the value rationality strategy (the articulation of the collective goals of an ethnic group to achieve using arguments of ethnic solidarity, history, and tradition) and the instrumental rationality strategy (the pragmatic consolidation of the existing institutional status quo using arguments of forced cooperation, resources, economic and social security of the group). The authors find that the conflict dynamics are determined by the configuration of such strategies. If both parties use the instrumental rationality strategy in a coordinated manner, the possibilities of conflict de-escalation increase; if the parties use conflicting strategies (value rationality strategy versus instrumental rationality strategy) or if the value rationality strategies clash, the opposite effects are observed.References
Гуськова, Е. Ю. (2002) ‘Албанское сецессионистское движение в Косове’ в: Гуськова, Е. Ю. (ред.) Албанский фактор кризиса на Балканах: сборник научных статей. Серия "Проблемы глобальной и региональной безопасности". Москва: ИНИОН РАН, сс. 7–47. [Gus'kova, E. Yu. (2002) ‘Albanian Secession Movement in Kosovo’ [Albanskoe secessionistskoe dvizhenie v Kosove] in: Gus'kova, E. Yu. (eds.) Albanian Fac-tor of Balkan Crisis: collection of scientific articles. Series "Problems of Global and Regional Security" [Albanskij faktor krizisa na Balkanah: sbornik nauchnyh statej. Seriya "Problemy global'noj i regional'noj bezopasnosti"]. Moscow: INION RAN, (In Russ.)]. EDN: RBNGNT
Гэрр, Т. Р. (2000) ‘Почему меньшинства восстают? Объяснение этнополитического протеста и мятежа’ в: Праза-ускас, А. А. (ред.) Этнос и политика: Хрестоматия. Москва: Издательство УРАО, сс. 245–256. [Gurr, T. R. (2000) ‘Why Minorities Revolt: An Explainer of Ethnopolitical Protest and Rebellion’ [Pochemu men'shinstva vosstayut? Obyasnenie etnopoliticheskogo protesta i myatezha] in: Prazauskas, A. A. (eds.) Ethnos and Politics: Anthology [Etnos i politika: Hrestomatiya]. Moscow: Iz-datel'stvo URAO, pp. 245–256. (In Russ.)].
Новаковская-Кристман, А., Жаковска, М. (2015) ‘Конфликт в Косово, рассмотренный в концептуальных рамках заинтересованных сторон’, The Quar-terly Journal, 14 (4), сс. 77–90. [No-vakovskaya-Kristman, A., Zhakovska, M. (2015) ‘Conflict in Kosovo through the Conceptual Framework of Stakeholders’ [Konflikt v Kosovo, rassmo-trennyj v konceptual'nyh ramkah zainteresovannyh storon], The Quarter-ly Journal, 14 (4), pp. 77–90. (In Russ.)].
Пономарева, Е. Г. (2018) ‘Албанский фактор дестабилизации Западных Балкан: сценарный подход’, Вестник МГИМО-Университета, 2(59), с. 99–124. [Ponomareva, E. G. (2018) ‘The Albanian Factor of Destabilization of the Western Balkans: Scenario Approach’ [Albanskij faktor destabilizacii Zapadnyh Balkan: scenarnyj podhod], Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta, 2(59), pp. 99–124. (In Russ.)].
Пономарева, Е. Г. (2005) ‘Суверенитет периферийных обществ в условиях глобализации: Сербия и Черногория’, Политическая наука, 4, сс. 151–172. [Ponomareva, E. G. (2005) ‘Sovereignty of Peripheral Societies in the Context of Globalization: Serbia and Montene-gro’ [Suverenitet periferijnyh ob-shchestv v usloviyah globalizacii: Serbiya i Chernogoriya], Politicheskaya Nauka, 4, pp. 151–172. (In Russ.)].
Романенко, С. А. (2009) ‘Косово: история, характер и динамика конфликта’ в: Романенко, С. А., Шмелев, Б. А., Улунян А. А. (ред.) Конфликт в Косово и международная безопасность. Москва: Институт экономики РАН, сс. 13–58. [Romanenko, S. A. (2009) ‘Kosovo: History, Character and Dynamics of the Conflict’ [Kosovo: is-toriya, harakter i dinamika konflikta] in: Romanenko, S. A., Shmelev, B. A., Ulunyan A. A. (eds.) Conflict in Kosovo and International Security [Konflikt v Kosovo i mezhdunarodnaya bezopas-nost']. Moskva: Institut ekonomiki RAN, рp. 13–58. (In Russ.)]. EDN: VOOVOZ
Семененко, И. С., Лапкин, В. В., Пантин, В. И. (2016) ‘Типология этнополитической конфликтности: методологические вызовы «большой теории»’, По-лис. Политические исследования, 6, cс. 69–94. [Semenenko, I. S., Lapkin, V. V., Pantin, V. I. (2016) ‘Classifying Ethnic Conflicts: Challenges for Political Theory and Methodology’ [Ti-pologiya etnopoliticheskoj konfliktnos-ti: metodologicheskie vyzovy «bol'shoj teorii»], Polis. Politicheskie issledovaniya, 6, pp. 69–94. (In Russ.)].
Тишков, В. А., Шабаев, Ю. П. (ред.) (2019) Этнополитология: Политические функции этничности. Москва: Издательство Московского университета. [Tishkov, V. A., Shabaev, Yu. P. (eds.) (2019) Ethno-Political Science: Politi-cal Functions of Ethnicity [Etnopolitologiya: Politicheskie funkcii etnichnosti]. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta. (In Russ.)].
Шлее, Г. (2004) Управление конфликтами: теория и практика. Москва: Deutsch-Russischer Austausch. [Schlee, G. (2004) Conflict Management: Theory and Practice [Upravlenie konfliktami: teoriya i praktika]. Moscow: Deutsch-Russischer Austausch. (In Russ.)].
Carson, Ch. (2013) ‘The Dayton Accords and the Escalating Tensions in Kosovo’, Berkeley Undergraduate Journal, 26 (1), pp. 68–84.
Duncan, D. (2016) ‘Language policy, ethnic conflict, and conflict resolution: Alba-nian in the former Yugoslavia’, Language Policy, 15, pp. 453–474. DOI: 10.1007/s10993-015-9380-0 EDN: SHRSIW
Fearon, J., Latin, D. (2000) ‘Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity’, International Organization, 54 (4), pp. 845–877. DOI: 10.1162/002081800551398
Grigorian, A., Kaufman, S. (2007) ‘Correspondence: Hate Narratives and Ethnic Conflict’, International Security, 31 (4), pp. 180–191. DOI: 10.1162/isec.2007.31.4.180
Kaufman, S. J. (2001) Modern hatreds: the symbolic politics of ethnic war. Cornell University Press. DOI: 10.7591/
Kaufman, S. J. (2006) ‘Symbolic Politics or Rational Choice? Testing Theories of Extreme Ethnic Violence’, International Security, 30 (4), pp. 45–86.
Melander, E. (1999) Anarchy Within - The Security Dilemma Between Ethnic Groups in Emerging Anarchy, Uppsala University Department for Peace and Conflict Research, Report 52, Uppsala: Institutionen för fredsoch konfliktforskning.
Olzak S. (1992) The Dynamics of Ethnic Competition and Conflict. Stanford University Press.
Varshney, A. (2003) ‘Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Rationality’, Perspectives on Politics, 1 (1), pp. 85–99. DOI: 10.1017/S1537592703000069 EDN: FOOJST
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The author grants the Publisher of the journal (Perm State University) the right to use their article in the journal, as well as to include the text of the abstract, the full text of the article and information about authors in the "Russian Science Citation Index" (RSCI).
The author agrees to the processing of personal data.
The right to use the journal as a whole belongs to the Publisher and acts indefinitely on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond in accordance with cl. 1260 of the Russian Federation Civil Code.
There is no author's fee paid for providing the above rights by the author.
The author of the article included in the journal retains the exclusive right to it, regardless of the Publisher's right to use the journal as a whole:
a. The authors retain their copyrights to the article and transfer the right of the first publication along with the article to the journal, while also licensing it on the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to distribute this article with the obligatory indication of authorship of the article and reference to the original publication in this journal.
b. The authors retain the right to enter into separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive dissemination of the version of the text published by this journal (for example, post it in a university archive or publish it in a book), with reference to the original publication in this journal.
c. d. Authors are allowed to post their text on the Internet (for example, in a university archive or on their personal website) before and during the review process by this journal, as this can lead to a fruitful discussion and to higher number of the references to this published work (Please refer to The Effect of Open Access).
Submission of an article by the author implies that they agree for it to be used by the Publisher on the above conditions and to be included in the RSCI system. It also implicates that the author is aware of the terms of its use. The information about the author sent to the Publisher, including by e-mail, is also considered as such consent.
The editorial board posts the full text of the article on the Perm State University site: http://www.psu.ru and in the OJS system at http://press.psu.ru
The publication fee is not collected and fees are not paid. The author's copy is sent to the author to the address provided by them.
