I am not quite old enough to remember bomb drills in school. That was, thankfully, not part of the curriculum by the time I was going to school. Still the world changed a lot when Communism fell apart in Eastern Europe, and I have got to see some of that happen, more or less, right before my very eyes. In some cases, the fallout of those momentous changes took quite some time to settle. The former Yugoslavia is one of those instances, with Kosovo being a major part of the dust that has yet to completely settle.
Already eight years ago, Why Kosovo Still Matters by Denis MacShane (ISBN: 978-1-907822-39-1) was printed. At that time, Kosovo had only been independent for three short years, with many in the West wondering why this little country was such a focus for so many in government. The book gives a short history of Kosovo, but spends the bulk of its relatively few pages discussing the more modern history of the country from the fall of Yugoslavia to its troubled beginnings as an independent state. Kosovo faces a number of difficulties. Most are local, many having to do with the hostility of its neighbor and former overlord, Serbia. These are unlikely to subsist soon because of the large Serbian minority in Kosovo. Other problems exist because of the lack of support from the international community. In essence, Europe and the U.S. created the country, but the West has since then done what some perceive as a poor job at integrating the country into the West, which has left Serbia pretty free to meddle in the country it wishes had never been created. Serbia has a few allies in its efforts to keep Kosovo in a constant state of change. Some are more active than others in these efforts, but overall, only a little over half of UN members have recognized Kosovo’s independence. This situation makes it hard for the country to develop and for the people there to experience the benefits that independence and democracy are supposed to bring. The end of the book discusses a few ideas on how to move forward. Although it’s a little dated, some of the ideas being floated as ways to solve Kosovo’s troubles then are still being talked about, such as letting Serbia have the regions populated by a majority Serb population, but that is dismissed out of hand. The problems are best dealt with, according to MacShane, by accepting that both Kosovo and Serbia are going to be around and then moving forward with an eye to improving the lots of the people on both sides of the ethnic divide.
Overall, the book was interesting. The Balkans, and Yugoslavia in general, are fascinating. There’s also an element of frustration for many in the West because of the Western worldview that typically says one should leave the past where it is and look to the future. That often doesn’t float in the East, so I am not sure how well MacShane’s recommendations will play out, even though I largely agreed with them. It was also interesting to read the author’s ideas on how Russian meddling in the Balkans is one of the reasons Kosovo’s troubles with Serbia remain to real and present. That thought fits well with Russia’s actions in other places, where instability seems to be the main goal. My complaints with the book are the same I have with many. The author’s clear Leftist politics stood out, which detracted from the book. Also, the author (who, incidentally, was convicted of various crimes having to do with fraudulent expense accounts) drew heavily on lengthy passages quoted from his journals during his time as the UK European Minister, which were less analytical in nature, detracting from the book (they also included some of ridiculous use of the F-word that people seem to think books need nowadays) rather significantly, I thought.
Already eight years ago, Why Kosovo Still Matters by Denis MacShane (ISBN: 978-1-907822-39-1) was printed. At that time, Kosovo had only been independent for three short years, with many in the West wondering why this little country was such a focus for so many in government. The book gives a short history of Kosovo, but spends the bulk of its relatively few pages discussing the more modern history of the country from the fall of Yugoslavia to its troubled beginnings as an independent state. Kosovo faces a number of difficulties. Most are local, many having to do with the hostility of its neighbor and former overlord, Serbia. These are unlikely to subsist soon because of the large Serbian minority in Kosovo. Other problems exist because of the lack of support from the international community. In essence, Europe and the U.S. created the country, but the West has since then done what some perceive as a poor job at integrating the country into the West, which has left Serbia pretty free to meddle in the country it wishes had never been created. Serbia has a few allies in its efforts to keep Kosovo in a constant state of change. Some are more active than others in these efforts, but overall, only a little over half of UN members have recognized Kosovo’s independence. This situation makes it hard for the country to develop and for the people there to experience the benefits that independence and democracy are supposed to bring. The end of the book discusses a few ideas on how to move forward. Although it’s a little dated, some of the ideas being floated as ways to solve Kosovo’s troubles then are still being talked about, such as letting Serbia have the regions populated by a majority Serb population, but that is dismissed out of hand. The problems are best dealt with, according to MacShane, by accepting that both Kosovo and Serbia are going to be around and then moving forward with an eye to improving the lots of the people on both sides of the ethnic divide.Overall, the book was interesting. The Balkans, and Yugoslavia in general, are fascinating. There’s also an element of frustration for many in the West because of the Western worldview that typically says one should leave the past where it is and look to the future. That often doesn’t float in the East, so I am not sure how well MacShane’s recommendations will play out, even though I largely agreed with them. It was also interesting to read the author’s ideas on how Russian meddling in the Balkans is one of the reasons Kosovo’s troubles with Serbia remain to real and present. That thought fits well with Russia’s actions in other places, where instability seems to be the main goal. My complaints with the book are the same I have with many. The author’s clear Leftist politics stood out, which detracted from the book. Also, the author (who, incidentally, was convicted of various crimes having to do with fraudulent expense accounts) drew heavily on lengthy passages quoted from his journals during his time as the UK European Minister, which were less analytical in nature, detracting from the book (they also included some of ridiculous use of the F-word that people seem to think books need nowadays) rather significantly, I thought.
 | This work, including all text, photographs, and other original work, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 License and is copyrighted © MMXIV John Pruess. |
No comments:
Post a Comment