Kosovo: A Short History
By Noel Malcolm
Published by New York University Press, 1998
492 pages

"An excellent scholarly contribution to the study of the province. . . . Seriously differs from the biased interpretations published by Serbian and Albanian historians, or trendy but shallow Western "Kosovology experts."
—Canadian Slavonic Papers

"A thrilling detective story."
--New York Times Book Review

"Excellent."
--New York Review of Books

"A book every policy expert, journalist and lay person must read."
--Wall Street Journal

"Malcolm's narrative is gripping, even brilliant at times ... He takes to his task with the vigor of a detective driven by true passion. At times his claims are, in terms of Balkan history, quite revolutionary."
--Economist

"Cover(s) the whole history of Kosovo, with an authority that is often breathtaking and never oppressive."
--Sunday Times

"Brilliantly researched and argued ... a magisterial work of history ... Kosovo will inevitably be received immediately as an immensely valuable contribution to our understanding and knowledge of a contemporary crisis. But to see the book as merely a contribution to the present-day debate is to do it a disservice. This is a profound and pioneering work which will endure for generations."
--Times Literary Supplement

In this awe-inspiring work, Malcolm has created a vital successor to his Bosnia: A Short History and an essential aid to anyone who wishes to understand this tragic region today...His book is exceptional not only for his unimpeachable rearch, but also for his equitable examination of the conflicting ethnic views of what really happened ... One can't help speculating on how a clear understanding of the information contained here might have affected the Dayton Accord and history.
--Publisher's Weekly, 4/20/98

By far the best available guide to the fatal steps to catastrophe.
--The New York Review of Books
". . .elaborately researched . . ."—Book World

A contested region of Serbia bordered by Albania and Macedonia, Kosovo was left out of the Bosnian peace agreement of 1995. For the 2.2 million Albanians living in Kosovo, this sparked the abandonment of a nonviolent independence movement in favor of armed struggle. The tinderbox Balkan province of Kosovo thus remains in limbo as Albanians urgently rally their forces against Serbian rule.

Exemplifying once again the best of narrative, analytical history, Noel Malcolm here provides the definitive story of Kosovo, from its origins to its current state of unrest. Kosovo clarifies the troubled past and present of this crucial region in a readable and neatly compressed style.

Kosovo What Everyone Needs to Know
By Tim Judah
Published by Oxford University Press US, 2008
208 pages


On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence, becoming the seventh state to emerge from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. A tiny country of just two million people, 90% of whom are ethnic Albanians, Kosovo is central-geographically, historically, and politically-to the future of the Western Balkans and, in turn, its potential future within the European Union. But the fate of both Kosovo, condemned by Serbian leaders as a "fake state" and the region as a whole, remains uncertain.

In Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know, Tim Judah provides a straight-forward guide to the complicated place that is Kosovo. Judah, who has spent years covering the region, offers succinct, penetrating answers to a wide range of questions: Why is Kosovo important? Who are the Albanians? Who are the Serbs? Why is Kosovo so important to Serbs? What role does Kosovo play in the region and in the world? Judah reveals how things stand now and presents the history and geopolitical dynamics that have led to it. The most important of these is the question of the right to self-determination, invoked by the Kosovo Albanians, as opposed to right of territorial integrity invoked by the Serbs. For many Serbs, Kosovo's declaration of independence and subsequent recognition has been traumatic, a savage blow to national pride. Albanians, on the other hand, believe their independence rights an historical wrong: the Serbian conquest (Serbs say "liberation") of Kosovo in 1912.
For anyone wishing to understand both the history and possible future of Kosovo at this pivotal moment in its history, this book offers a wealth of insight and information in a uniquely accessible format.

Contested Statehood: Kosovo's Struggle for Independence
Marc Weller
Published by Oxford University Press, 2009
328 pages


This book offers the first critical analysis of the international attempts to settle the Kosovo crisis from its inception to Kosovo's declaration of independence. The author participated in most of these settlement attempts, including the Carrington Conference on the former Yugoslavia and the Rambouillet and Ahtisaari negotiations. On this basis, the book provides first hand insights into the failure of high-level international diplomacy in dealing with one of the most explosive crises to hit the European continent since 1945.
The introductory chapters offer a brief account of the background to the crisis, identifying the structural tensions in the modern international system that made it so difficult for the organized international community to address the episode effectively. The book addresses the initial settlement attempts, from the London Peace Conference on Yugoslavia of 1991 to the Geneva negotiations and the impact of the Dayton peace conference on the situation in Kosovo.

The second part of the book considers the first attempt of addressing the Kosovo crisis on its own terms, initially through the shuttle diplomacy of US Ambassador Chris Hill over the summer of 1998. The Holbrooke agreement, obtained under the threat of NATO air strikes and providing for a cease-fire is then considered, along with further attempts to obtain a political settlement during this purported breathing space. The book then turns to the extraordinary episode of the Rambouillet Peace Conference and the subsequent use of force against the rump Yugoslavia.
The final part of the book addresses the attempts to prepare for final status during the UN administration of Kosovo. The initial constitutional framework for Kosovo is discussed, along with the abortive 'standards before status' policy. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the Vienna negotiations on final status, and the subsequent tug of war at the United Nations about Security Council endorsement of the result. The book concludes with an analysis of the comprehensive proposal for a settlement proposed by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari and its eventual recasting into the constitution of Kosovo upon unilateral independence.

This book ties together several strands of analysis, including the tension between state sovereignty and humanitarian concerns, the problem of squaring the doctrine of territorial unity with the principle of self-determination, the reluctance of international actors to involve themselves in internal conflicts, in particular where secessionist conflicts are concerned, and the role of the threat or use of force in the context of coercive international diplomacy.

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