- American University in Kosovo, Management and Public Policy, AlumnusEuropean University Institute, Department of Politics and Social Sciences, Department Member, and 2 moreadd
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- www.shpendkursani.comedit
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Why do some people resolve disputes through the state, while others use religious or customary justice? We address this question by conducting a vignette experiment in Kosovo. We design hypothetical situations in which fictitious... more
Why do some people resolve disputes through the state, while others use religious or customary justice? We address this question by conducting a vignette experiment in Kosovo. We design hypothetical situations in which fictitious characters are involved in disputes regarding inheritance, debt, domestic violence, and murder. We vary information concerning (i) vignette characters’ resources, (ii) their beliefs about the efficiency of state justice, and (iii) dispute settlement customs in the characters’ communities. Survey respondents assess whether a vignette character is likely to seek informal justice, given the described circumstances. We find that respondents associate informal justice with characters who believe that the state would resolve their disputes very slowly, and whose other community members would not use state justice. These findings generalize to respondents’ own justice preferences and patterns of actual informal dispute settlement in Kosovo and beyond. Our article ...
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Instead of rejecting Putin’s analogies and parallels as being simply cynical ploys, this essay interrogates and turns Putin’s very analogies with the Balkans upside down. The Balkans – the area which Putin has engaged with analogically... more
Instead of rejecting Putin’s analogies and parallels as being simply cynical ploys, this essay interrogates and turns Putin’s very analogies with the Balkans upside down. The Balkans – the area which Putin has engaged with analogically often to justify his actions – is the exact area which may highlight Putin’s intentions or, at best, the consequences of his analogical exercises. The Balkans can serve more to analyse what Putin does not say, than what he does say. The essay shows, to some extent, that Putin’s words (analogically) may make some sense when it comes to drawing superficial parallels of foreign intervention either to prevent “genocide” or “crimes against humanity.” However, beyond his words, the essay calls for a focus on his deeds; for it is his deeds that can shed more light on his analogies with the Balkan wars of the 1990s if turned upside down. That is – and the Balkans does serve as an example – the very risk of committing genocide in the name of preventing it. Russia may be heading towards that path.
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Appendix for "Frustrated Aspirations and Different Types of Political Violence: Evidence from 'Folk Knowledge' in Kosovo"
Dataset and replication files for "Frustrated Aspirations and Different Types of Political Violence: Evidence from 'Folk Knowledge' in Kosovo"
Research Interests: Odds and De Facto States
Defence date: 23 July 2020 (Online)Examining Board: Professor Jennifer Welsh (EUI, Supervisor); Professor Dorothee Bohle (EUI); Professor Nina Caspersen (University of York); Professor Eiki Berg (University of Tartu)One of the most... more
Defence date: 23 July 2020 (Online)Examining Board: Professor Jennifer Welsh (EUI, Supervisor); Professor Dorothee Bohle (EUI); Professor Nina Caspersen (University of York); Professor Eiki Berg (University of Tartu)One of the most fundamental principles underpinning the post-World War II order, on which there is a broad and long-held consensus, is that once admitted into the club of universally recognized states, a political entity’s territory and borders become sacred. The phenomenon of the “contested state,” however, stubbornly challenges this sacred consensus, by suggesting that the current membership in and territorial configuration of the international society may not be entirely fixed. With three standalone substantive chapters, this thesis investigates three different aspects of contested states’ relationship with the existing society of states. In Chapter 1, I attempt to make sense of the existence of these entities alongside other actors in the international system. By emp...
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This article examines recent Great Powers’ revisionist attempts at challenging the post–World War II norm of territorial integrity. These attempts may invigorate sovereignty claims in the old-time fashion of buying, swapping, or annexing... more
This article examines recent Great Powers’ revisionist attempts at challenging the post–World War II norm of territorial integrity. These attempts may invigorate sovereignty claims in the old-time fashion of buying, swapping, or annexing territories. We show that recent dynamics in international politics speak a language that challenges the status quo consensus in territorial matters. While the article focuses mainly on the evidence during the period of Trump presidency, it concludes that this is not only about “Trump just being Trump.” The article shows that despite changes in domestic power in the United States, no changes in, or challenges to, Trump's decisions and proposals regarding territorial revisionisms have taken place. With several brief illustrative examples on board, the article tries to assess how the contemporary international order based on fixed territorial entities and inviolability of borders is contrasted by representations manifested in contemporary sovereig...
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There is a wide consensus in literature that universal recognition comes with many benefits for the recognised state entities. The article aims to revisit the benefits of recognition by focusing on its costs. It does so by adopting an... more
There is a wide consensus in literature that universal recognition comes with many benefits for the recognised state entities. The article aims to revisit the benefits of recognition by focusing on its costs. It does so by adopting an analytical lens that views state contenders’ international environment as one of ‘negotiated statehood’. The article shows how emerging state contenders must navigate this onerous environment to achieve universal recognition of their self-determination claims. The basic argument the article attempts to advance is that while acknowledging many of its benefits, recognition by members of international society does, or can, come with a price tag for emerging state contenders’ empirical statehood. The argument is built by identifying and analysing the recognition-seeking practices of Palestine and Kosovo in their quest for recognition of their self-determination claims. The discussion in the article draws some implications for future considerations of the notions of self-determination and state recognition.
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There is a wide consensus in literature that universal recognition comes with many benefits for the recognised state entities. The article aims to revisit the benefits of recognition by focusing on its costs. It does so by adopting an... more
There is a wide consensus in literature that universal recognition comes with many benefits for the recognised state entities. The article aims to revisit the benefits of recognition by focusing on its costs. It does so by adopting an analytical lens that views state contenders’ international environment as one of ‘negotiated statehood’. The article shows how emerging state contenders must navigate this onerous environment to achieve universal recognition of their self-determination claims. The basic argument the article attempts to advance is that while acknowledging many of its benefits, recognition by members of international society does, or can, come with a price tag for emerging state contenders’ empirical statehood. The argument is built by identifying and analysing the recognition-seeking practices of Palestine and Kosovo in their quest for recognition of their self-determination claims. The discussion in the article draws some implications for future considerations of the notions of self-determination and state recognition.
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Most would agree that the recent emergence of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in Ukraine, and perhaps the Islamic State, will soon find their place in the already growing literature on contested states. Yet, despite the historical and... more
Most would agree that the recent emergence of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in Ukraine, and perhaps the Islamic State, will soon find their place in the already growing literature on contested states. Yet, despite the historical and present importance of these entities for the study of alternative forms of political authority, sovereignty, statehood, international legitimacy, as well as wars within and between states, there is very little agreement in the existing literature on what constitutes a contested state. After illustrating some of the theoretical and empirical shortcomings of the current conceptual approaches in the treatment of these entities, this article proposes and adopts an ontological approach to conceptualizing and studying contested states in international relations. I argue that the contested state's internal nature can be understood through four constitutive dimensions, which accentuate the phenomenon's distinct interaction with its environment when c...
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Instead of rejecting Putin’s analogies and parallels as being simply cynical ploys, this essay interrogates and turns Putin’s very analogies with the Balkans upside down. The Balkans – the area which Putin has engaged with analogically... more
Instead of rejecting Putin’s analogies and parallels as being simply cynical ploys, this essay interrogates and turns Putin’s very analogies with the Balkans upside down. The Balkans – the area which Putin has engaged with analogically often to justify his actions – is the exact area which may highlight Putin’s intentions or, at best, the consequences of his analogical exercises. The Balkans can serve more to analyse what Putin does not say, than what he does say. The essay shows, to some extent, that Putin’s words (analogically) may make some sense when it comes to drawing superficial parallels of foreign intervention either to prevent “genocide” or “crimes against humanity.” However, beyond his words, the essay calls for a focus on his deeds; for it is his deeds that can shed more light on his analogies with the Balkan wars of the 1990s if turned upside down. That is – and the Balkans does serve as an example – the very risk of committing genocide in the name of preventing it. Russia may be heading towards that path.
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De facto states represent an anomalous sovereign condition. Their parent states are unable to regain control over the territory that de facto states possess, while the de facto states are unable to...
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The collection includes the supplementary materials for "Frustrated Aspirations and Different Types of Political Violence: Evidence from 'Folk Knowledge' in Kosovo".
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What are society’s views on the drivers of religious extremism and other types of political violence? We address this question by conducting a large-N vignette experiment in Kosovo. We expose a random sample of the population to... more
What are society’s views on the drivers of religious extremism and other types of political violence? We address this question by conducting a large-N vignette experiment in Kosovo. We expose a random sample of the population to hypothetical situations that describe other people’s engagement in religious extremism, ethnic riots, and violent protest. We find that frustrated aspirations of vignette characters—signaled as a mismatch between the characters’ education and their labor market outcomes—are associated with increased expectations of engagement in all types of political violence. This result holds for Muslim Albanians and Christian Serbs.
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Research Interests: Political Science, Nationalism, Islam, Balkans, State, and 3 moreSalafism, Historical Studies, and Albanian
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Research Interests: Political Science, Nationalism, Islam, Balkans, State, and 3 moreSalafism, Historical Studies, and Albanian
Most would agree that the recent emergence of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in Ukraine, and perhaps the Islamic State, will soon find their place in the already growing literature on contested states. Yet, despite the historical and... more
Most would agree that the recent emergence of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in Ukraine, and perhaps the Islamic State, will soon find their place in the already growing literature on contested states. Yet, despite the historical and present importance of these entities for the study of alternative forms of political authority, sovereignty, statehood, international legitimacy, as well as wars within and between states, there is very little agreement in the existing literature on what constitutes a contested state. After illustrating some of the theoretical and empirical shortcomings of the current conceptual approaches in the treatment of these entities, this article proposes and adopts an ontological approach to conceptualizing and studying contested states in international relations. I argue that the contested state's internal nature can be understood through four constitutive dimensions, which accentuate the phenomenon's distinct interaction with its environment when compared to other phenomena. The article also provides a way to resolve the discord that currently exists on what the theoretical concept of contested state ought to capture empirically, by introducing an explicit and systematic procedure when applying the concept to the empirical world.
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De facto states represent an anomalous sovereign condition. Their parent states are unable to regain control over the territory that de facto states possess, while the de facto states are unable to secure widespread recognition of their... more
De facto states represent an anomalous sovereign condition. Their parent states are unable to regain control over the territory that de facto states possess, while the de facto states are unable to secure widespread recognition of their self-determination claims without the consent of their parent states. Kosovo and Serbia have recently entertained the idea of making territorial adjustments through which a settlement between the two parties can be reached. Regardless of whether or not such an agreement will be achieved, this paper probes if and the extent to which agreements for territorial adjustments can end the anomalous sovereign condition of de facto states. To do so, it develops a novel analytical framework, employs two case studies, and analyses how crucial and supplementary conditions may jointly interact to (dis)allow possible ‘land for peace’ agreements. The paper finds that the likelihood of territorial compromises remains low because the peaceful reconciliation does not outweigh the tangible and intangible values of the territory.
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This article explores the question of how Albanian Salafi Muslims have engaged with and provided religious interpretations to issues peculiar to Albanians’ historical and sociopolitical context, as well as considering the ethnic group’s... more
This article explores the question of how Albanian Salafi Muslims have engaged with and provided religious interpretations to issues peculiar to Albanians’ historical and sociopolitical context, as well as considering the ethnic group’s recent engagement in Middle Eastern conflicts. Utilizing Salafism’s doctrinal concepts of takfir (excommunication of another Muslim) and al-wala’ wa-l-bara’ (loyalty and disavowal) as guiding analytical tools, the article investigates Albanian Salafi Muslims’ position and discourse on the following three Albanian-specific issues: (i) engagement with the secular state by voting for their representatives (leaders); (ii) the question of nation and nationalism; and (iii) the question of militant Islamism related more recently to the Syrian conflict. Though there are different nuances among Albanian Salafi Muslims, the article shows the sharper distinctions and divergences that exist between the mainstream and rejectionist Salafis when considering the ways they have engaged with the three issues under analysis. Also, despite the general agreement in literature about Salafism’s globalized acculturalization impact on localized Islam(s), the analysis deduces Salafism’s ‘re-culturalized’ and ‘re-nationalized’ face in the Albanian-specific context, something prevalent among the mainstream Salafi Muslims of this ethnic group in the Balkans.
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Historically, recognition of new states is widely acknowledged to have been a function of the society of states’ normative judgement about sovereignty during different historical periods. Despite recognition being an individual practice... more
Historically, recognition of new states is widely acknowledged to have been a function of the society of states’ normative judgement about sovereignty during different historical periods. Despite recognition being an individual practice of each state, ‘Great Powers’ have often preferred to take a coordinated action amongst themselves when recognizing new states, setting thus a normative standard for smaller states to follow. This article sets to examine how small states coordinate recognition when ‘Great Powers’ fail to do so. By adopting an analytical framework which enmeshes the domains and conditions in which foreign policy change and international norms interact, this article examines the cases of Macedonia’s and Montenegro’s coordinated foreign policy change vis-à-vis Kosovo’s independence. The article finds that Macedonia’s and Montenegro’s coordinated foreign policy change was enabled only after the conditions primarily in the domain of politics and polity at the international level changed, enabling coordination to take place. Unlike the dominant claims in Foreign Policy literature that conceive of the ‘window of opportunity’ as exogenously given to actors, this article introduces the notion of foreign policy coordination arguing that actors can in fact be actively engaged in creating a ‘window of opportunity’ to materialise their desired foreign policy change.
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This policy brief intends to shed some light on how police cooperation is conducted between Kosovo and Serbia. Political disagreements between Kosovo and Serbia mean substantial lapses in proper management and control of their mutual... more
This policy brief intends to shed some light on how police cooperation is conducted between Kosovo and Serbia. Political disagreements between Kosovo and Serbia mean substantial lapses in proper management and control of their mutual border, especially in the sensitive northern part of Kosovo. This opens the door to widespread smuggling of migrants, who then find their way to Hungary and then Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. Moreover, the lack of joint and frequent border patrols between Kosovo and Serbia opens the door to massive tree felling in the forests, especially in the northern part of Kosovo. Should the current trend continue, the area might soon be deforested, causing collateral damage for both Kosovo and Serbia
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This report tends to answer the many questions that relate to the phenomenon of Kosovo citizens who are participating in the wars in Syria and Iraq, such as: Which are the groups that are influencing Kosovo citizens to participate in the... more
This report tends to answer the many questions that relate to the phenomenon of Kosovo citizens who are participating in the wars in Syria and Iraq, such as: Which are the groups that are influencing Kosovo citizens to participate in the wars in Syria and Iraq? What is the ideology and their purpose? How many citizens of the country have joined the wars in Syria and Iraq? What is the profile and what are the characteristics of the persons who are taking part in the wars as part of extremist groups in Syria and Iraq? What are the main factors that are affecting the citizens of Kosovo to be part of extreme currents in Kosovo? When and how the idea started spreading extremist violence in Kosovo, which is the process of extremism victims of such ideas? How much danger constitutes to the security of Kosovo return of them in our country?
This report also addressed the sources of extremism in Kosovo, as well as states and groups that have contributed to spread the extremism in Kosovo. The report also analyzed the inter-institutional cooperation in order to prevent the spread of extremism in Kosovo. It is also analyzed the institutional approach in Kosovo in terms of combating extremism in Kosovo and were offered specific recommendations in order to address the phenomenon of extremism / radicalism in Kosovo.
The report is based on dozens of interviews with all relevant stakeholders, state institutions, religious, including dozens of field visits to the persons directly involved in the conflict and their families, as well as various literature on the issue of extremism and other statistical information.
This report also addressed the sources of extremism in Kosovo, as well as states and groups that have contributed to spread the extremism in Kosovo. The report also analyzed the inter-institutional cooperation in order to prevent the spread of extremism in Kosovo. It is also analyzed the institutional approach in Kosovo in terms of combating extremism in Kosovo and were offered specific recommendations in order to address the phenomenon of extremism / radicalism in Kosovo.
The report is based on dozens of interviews with all relevant stakeholders, state institutions, religious, including dozens of field visits to the persons directly involved in the conflict and their families, as well as various literature on the issue of extremism and other statistical information.
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Research Interests: Intelligence and Kosovo
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Research Interests: Kosovo and Kosovo Serbs
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International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance contributes theoretical and empirical insights to the existing knowledge on the scope, challenges and results of post-conflict international state-and institution-building project... more
International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance contributes theoretical and empirical insights to the existing knowledge on the scope, challenges and results of post-conflict international state-and institution-building project focusing on postwar Kosovo. Postwar Kosovo is one of the high-profile cases of international intervention, hosting a series of international missions besides a massive inflow of international aid, technical assistance and foreign experts. Theoretically, the book goes beyond the standard narrative of international top-down institution building by exploring how international and local factors interact, bringing in the mediating role of local resistance and highlighting the hybridity of institutional change. Empirically, the book tests those alternative explanations in key areas of institutional reform-municipal governance, public administration, nor-malization of relations with Serbia, high education, creation of armed forces, the security sector and the hold of Salafi ideologies. The findings speak to timely and pertinent issues regarding the limits of international promotion of effective institutions; the mediating role of local agents; and the hybrid forms of institution-building taking shape in post-conflict Kosovo and similar postwar contexts more broadly. Addressing timely and pertinent issues regarding the prospects of international interventions, local strategies of resistance, and the hybridity of institution-building experiences in Kosovo and in post-conflict contexts more broadly, International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance will be of great interest to scholars of international relations, state building, and post-conflict societies. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.