The Regional and International Implications of Kosovo Independence

The support of the United States and some European Union countries for Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence has in many ways contributed to a deterioration of the security situation in southeastern Europe. The fundamental strategic assumption of promoters of Kosovo’s independence—that Kosovo was the last open question left over from the breakup of Yugoslavia—is likely to prove wrong. Thus, given the breakdown in the international and regional consensus on the contours of a legitimate Balkan political and security order, the instability of Kosovo and other states in the region is in reality likely to increase in the post-Kosovo independence period.