Kosovo: A Beacon of Hope?

In this chapter, I begin by giving an overview of recent developments in Kosovo, highlighting the extent to which Kosovo has now come to be undermined rather than supported by the West. I then summarise the book’s key lessons focusing on three variants of hope which have played a key role in Kosovo’s evolution since 1999 and have implications beyond Kosovo. I conclude by arguing that the people of Kosovo should have been commended for the way they maintained hope for progressive change and acted to achieve this through the exercise of collective agency and grassroots political mobilisation; instead, they have been treated as pariahs. The way their democratically elected government has been bullied, castigated, and punished by Western states since it came to power in 2021, is a damning indictment of the craven outlook and cynical priorities that now guide Western foreign policy. It is also dangerously short-sighted; should the West continue to appease Serbia and push Kosovo into the international wilderness, there is little Vetëvendosje, or the people of Kosovo can do. But should Vetëvendosje ultimately prove unable to convince the West to rethink its strategy, and thus dash the hopes of its own supporters, this will likely catalyse a wave of hopeless anger within Kosovo that could ultimately precipitate a sudden shift towards more extreme political movements with destabilising implications for peace in Kosovo and the region.