Balkan border changes risk a return to open conflicts
Redrawing borders would undermine decades-long international principles.
|2018.09.05
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It is perhaps more plausible to imagine potential border changes between Serbia and Kosovo exactly because it could be seen to be in the interests of the two dominant powers of the Cold War.
An international commission ruled that the intervention had been illegal but legitimate. This has remained a problem to this day.
An exchange of territories between Serbia and Kosovo would directly lead to increasingly homogeneous nation states formed contrary to the principles of human rights and minority protection.
Neven Andelic
Dr. Neven Anđelić is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Human Rights at Regent’s University London. He served on the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities – Council of Europe from 2014 to 2018. Dr. Anđelic is also visiting professor at the University of Bologna and senior visiting fellow at LSE. He has worked in the news media for CNN, BBC and ITN and occasionally contributes to the media in former Yugoslavia. He also writes in academic journals and has published a book: ‘Bosnia-Herzegovina: The End of a Legacy’ (London and Oregon: Frank Cass, 2003).
DISCLAIMERThe views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of Kosovo 2.0.
This story was originally written in English.