Society and Culture
The Contradiction of Kosovo and Multi-Ethnic Societies
The recognition yesterday of Kosovo by Croatia, Hungary, and Bulgaria is the last nail in the Yugoslav (and Serbian) coffin. It is one thing for the USA, UK, Germany and France to recognize a country they have helped create. It is entirely another for Serbia’s own neighbors to do so. After all, if Serbia and Russia cannot persuade countries within their sphere of influence from recognizing Kosovo, what chance do they have of stopping other countries, such as Canada?
Thus far, the issue of Kosovo’s independence has generally been considered one of sovereignty versus stability. Russia claims that Kosovo’s independence would serve as a precedent for other separatist movements worldwide, including in Spain, Northern Cyprus, and Georgia. Conversely, the US argues that this independence will provide stability and closure to the region. Recognition follows on the basis of internal and external political compulsions.
Recognition of Kosovo, however, leads to another troubling contradiction that no one has acknowledged. During the Balkan wars atrocities were committed by all sides of the conflict. In recent history Serbia was willing to go very far to accommodate an autonomous Kosovo. That Kosovo has become independent implicitly suggests that Kosovars cannot ever co-exist peacefully in Serbia – and in so doing fundamentally weakens the case for multi-ethnic societies themselves.
Such an understanding of nation states is highly Euro-centric, which holds that to be viable a nation must have a common identity of ethnicity, language, and religion. It is this limited perspective that led Churchill to claim, “India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the Equator.” This is also why Europe continues to struggle with “integration” of immigrants.
Large European countries, which today face an influx of immigrants, must face up to the contradiction inherent in their support of Kosovo. They cannot have diverse “integrated” societies at home while espousing that ethnic groups elsewhere form small independent states rather than put in the effort needed to make multi-ethnic societies work.
Worse, such a position requires that we also consider the converse. If Kosovo has a right to independence, rather than accommodation within a multi-ethnic Serbia, then why does Serbia not have the inverse right to choose to be a single-ethnicity nation of Serbs? Without condoning the horrible atrocities that took place during the Balkan Wars, this reasoning unfortunately would bring us full circle back to the Wars themselves and, at least in theory, Kosovo’s independence would end up validating the atrocities that led to that independence.
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2 comments for “The Contradiction of Kosovo and Multi-Ethnic Societies”
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Whilst I agree with your point that Europe has trouble coming to terms with the modern reality of multi-ethnic societies, to paint this is the only or even main reason for their support of Kosovo’s independence is over-simplistic. If European nations were truly set on a mono-ethnic Kosovo, would they not have drawn the political boundary such as to leave Serb-populated Northern Kosovo to Serbia?
Rather, support for Kosovan independence seems to me to be the result of a Realpolitik, promoted by European administrators in the province itself. As you yourself rightly point out, it is by no means a particularly desireable solution, but it may just be the best one available.
You’re right. I’m not trying here to comment on the desirability of this situation, or suggest that Europeans want mono-ethnic societies. However, I do want to point out the inherent contradiction in Europeans’ view of nation states as ethnically homogeneous (as suggested by Kosovo), and the reality at home that they are increasingly ethnically diverse.