March 2004 Riots in Kosovo

<p>In June 1999 the international community represented by KFOR and UNMIK entered Kosovo and started one of the most costly peace-building operations ever. In March 2004 a part of the Albanian majority in Kosovo carried out riots that primarily targeted the Serb minority. The riots reversed much of the perceived progress five years of hard work by KFOR and UNMIK after the war in 1999. KFOR and UNMIK failed to use the levers of hard power-the principled and decisive application of force-or of soft power-education the media and the symbolic environment-to convince the vast majority of Kosovars to robustly support Kosovo's new legal and political order. UNMIK and KFOR were never able to change a situation where a sizable segment of the population pursued crime and militancy. The rule of UNMIK and KFOR created an atmosphere of impunity which directly contributed to the expectations and attitudes that led to the riots of March 2004. Key lessons identified are the need to define an end-state to eliminate national caveats and to base realistic expectations on thorough study of history.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>