Performing Special Protection: Cultural Heritage in PostWar Kosovo

In a society that has suffered social division due to cultural oppression and war, reconstruction and protection of cultural heritage gains a special meaning and value, which moulds social beliefs and social behaviour. In current practice, international agencies intervening in postwar/peace-building efforts have played an increasingly influential role in shaping cultural heritage protection and management by imposing alternative values and political priorities. International agencies operate in a postconflict society with their own professional and financial means to assess, evaluate and intervene in policymaking, which gives them a sense of entitlement in the decision-making process. The most prominent example of this phenomenon is Kosovo in the aftermath of the war of 1998/99. In that instance, the United Nations obtained a comprehensive governance mandate over ten years. A Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement followed the United Nations mission’s conclusion, known as the Ahtisaari plan. The Ahtisaari plan includes protective measures applied to predominantly cultural heritage sites of importance to the Serbian Orthodox Church, known as Special Protective Zones (SPZs). This paper considers the process that led to adopting this mechanism of heritage protection, its substantive policy provisions and their implementation. It identifies stakeholders, means of implementation and relations with the local communities. Through the example of SPZs, this study demonstrates that the ultimate objective in preserving and protecting cultural heritage and offering access to cultural heritage sites will often be commandeered by national and international political elements within the process. It further argues that buffer zones as a means of demarcating cultural heritage may provide for the protection of the object through physical division and security; however, they do not necessarily contribute to preserving the inherent values that cultural heritage may represent for the immediate community and society as a whole.