Abstract
In this chapter I show how the balance of power was essential to the fateful decisions taken at key moments during this period filled with feverish diplomatic, military, and political activity on the side of great powers. The balance of power, through the balancing acts of the competitor state, forced NATO and the United States to go to a bombing campaign instead of going to the UN and through the UN, which was much more preferable. The balance of power limited and distorted the political objectives that were to be achieved. The balance of power made possible the ending of the bombing campaign. The balance of power determined, to a large extent, the essential political choices that were made and that were fateful to the future of ethnic conflict in Kosova. Ultimately, what started as a NATO bombing campaign, in complete disregard for the UN and other great powers, ended up as a negotiated solution between the United States and Russia, with Serbia protecting its sovereignty over Serbia proper, maintaining formal control over Kosova, and with Kosova itself transformed into a UN Mandate. A game that started without much regard for the traditional diplomacy ended up being played and concluded by the traditional rules of the balance of power.
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Notes
- 1.
Henriksen (2013: 148).
- 2.
Henriksen (2013: 157).
- 3.
Talbott (2002: 297).
- 4.
Monitor, April, 20, 1999.
- 5.
Cross (2001: 10).
- 6.
Balmasov and Trukhachev (2009).
- 7.
Statement on Kosovo of the Contact Group Foreign Ministers, September 24, 1998. Quoted in Krieger (2001: 121).
- 8.
The New York Times, March 25, 1998.
- 9.
Sell (2002: 286–287).
- 10.
Talbott (2002: 303).
- 11.
Agence France-Presse (October 21, 1998).
- 12.
Talbott (2002: 303).
- 13.
The Independent International Commission on Kosovo (2000: 4).
- 14.
Judah (2000: 183).
- 15.
Latawski and Smith (2003: 95).
- 16.
Moskovskie Novosti 27 aprelia-3 maia 1999. Quoted in Borovkin (1999: 16).
- 17.
Borovkin (1999).
- 18.
Hoffman (1999: A31).
- 19.
Felkay (2002: 197).
- 20.
Security Council Press Release (March 26, 1999).
- 21.
Cited in Krieger (2001: 424).
- 22.
Cited in Krieger (2001: 424).
- 23.
Felkay (2002: 207).
- 24.
On another version, “What is happening to Serbia today, will happen to Russia tomorrow.” Zolotov (1999).
- 25.
Latawski and Smith (2003: 98).
- 26.
Latawski and Smith (2003: 99).
- 27.
“Russia’s Role in Kosovo.” The New York Times, April 6, 1999.
- 28.
The Independent International Commission on Kosovo (2000: 95).
- 29.
Roberts (1999).
- 30.
The complete NATO Statement is published in Scott et al. (2009: 97–99).
- 31.
Scott et al. (2009: 97–99).
- 32.
RFERL, April 13, 1999.
- 33.
Latawski and Smith (2003).
- 34.
Latawski and Smith (2003).
- 35.
Cited in Krieger (2001: 499).
- 36.
UNSC Resolution 1244.
- 37.
Brzezinski (1999).
- 38.
Norris (2005: 278).
- 39.
Kissinger and Schultz (2008).
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Rama, S.A. (2019). Kosova as a Chessboard: The Centrality of the Balance of Power. In: Nation Failure, Ethnic Elites, and Balance of Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05192-1_5
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