The main argument in this chapter is that the focus of international peacebuilding, which has been to build strong institutions to secure the functionality of the state, is not sufficient as it is when it neglects dialogue and reconciliation between the citizens of the same state. The wars in the Western Balkans in the 1990s left many communities ethnically segregated. In a segregated society, people grow up with reduced knowledge and experience of each other. This lack of knowledge and understanding weakens representative democracy in these societies. In the case of Kosovo the generations of Serbs and Albanians coming of age are not learning each other’s language or enough about each other’s cultural and spiritual heritage. This will reduce the functionality of and reduce the effect of democracy in the new state.
By Steinar Bryn
Pp. 365-394 of Civic and uncivic values in Kosovo: History, politics, and value transformation
Central European University Press (2015)
Available through Project Muse