동유럽·발칸 민족분쟁과 공존 가능성: 21세기 코소보 사례

Abstract

The ‘Kosovo War’ at the end of the 20th century was an international conflict that ushered in the ‘New Cold War’ of the 21st century. And it was an event that clearly impressed the international community on the geopolitical and geostrategic importance of Kosovo in the international dynamics. In terms of the history of international relations, there are two main implications of the ‘Kosovo War’. First, it was the first attempt to convert NATO's traditional concept of ‘defensive strategy’ into the concept of ‘offensive strategy’. The Kosovo War was the first war involving NATO in a country outside the region. And through this, NATO can be said to have laid the foundation for pursuing its own influence in the Interest Sphere of United States in the 21st century. The second can be said to be the ‘resurrection of the Russian Empire’ and the ‘emergence of Putin’. As a result of the 1999 Kosovo War, Russia chose Putin in 2000, and he promised to revive Russia in the 21st century as an empire similar to that of the Cold War era. And this led to the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022. As Kosovo’s geopolitical importance has been confirmed, the United States and Europe agree on the need to establish permanent peace in Kosovo for peace in Europe. However, it is also true that there are still many obstacles to the possibility of peace and coexistence between the Serbian and Kosovo governments surrounding Kosovo today. Therefore, in this study, based on theoretical discussions on the origins of national conflicts in Balkan Europe, I will introduce the various aspects and characteristics of national conflicts in Kosovo in the 21st century, and consider the possibility of their coexistence.