Separatist Movements Seek Inspiration in Kosovo

Kosovo has become a rallying cry for minority rights, autonomy and independence in European states such as Spain and Greece, report Stephan Orth, Nadine Michel and Maike Jansen for Spiegel Online. Perhaps more significant, the writers note, is Kosovo’s symbolism in the ethnically diverse and traditionally less powerful Eastern European and Balkan countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus. Governments, some threatened by any such calls for sovereignty, manifest their disapproval by refusing to recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. After all, violence could accompany the rhetoric of self-determination spilling over from the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo. Fissures between governing parties and minority populations call into question the limits of sovereignty among disparate ethnic groups within a larger state model in these countries, drudging up memories of old rivalries as well as current realities of inequality along ethnic lines. In a sense, this tension represents on a countrywide level what the EU struggles to reach on a macro-level – that is, how to create a positive sum for all EU members while dealing with diverse interests within its own “European family,” all while espousing democratic ideals and beliefs in universal rights – YaleGlobal