Nationbuilding as Peacebuilding: Racing to Define the Kosovar

Abstract
Nationbuilding – (re)building a sense of community within a polity – can contribute towards peacebuilding. This article examines how the ambition to reduce the salience of ethnic identities and stimulate new integrative ones in Kosovo has figured in the international post-war reconstruction efforts. A number of arenas are surveyed – where contacts could emerge to break the present pattern of segregation and mistrust. In assessing the success thus far of international efforts to promote multi-ethnicity in Kosovo, the article contends that a mixed record of achievement is evident.

Also published in Nordisk sikkerhetspolitisk forskningsprogram: Arbeidsgruppe for fredsstøttende operasjoner (AFO): AFO Paper 7 (Oktober 2004)