Negotiating Kosovo: The Role of the International Community as a Mediator (Research Brief)

My research which involved interviewing key negotiators, led me to conclude that the failure of Kosovo negotiations was a result of missed opportunities on the part of negotiators, which could partly be explained through their unwillingness to cooperate but even further by their inability to take advantage when such opportunities arose.

These negotiations clearly show the extent to which issues such as timing, power and perceptions, strategy, trust, negotiating personalities, the choice of mediator as well as broader issues of outside political interests have on the outcome of negotiations. The most important lesson for all parties involved including the mediator is to determine early on in the negotiations the different interests that are present at the negotiating table and beyond. My study shows that there were opportunities for the parties to achieve an agreement during the negotiations, however due to the fact that the key components of successful negotiations were missing, the Kosovo negotiations ended in failure.

Download the pdf at the top of this page for the full brief.

Daniella Fridl, of Riskline International, was a 2008-09 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) fellow.