Beyond the ‘(Post-)Conflict Case Study’

Abstract Over quarter of a century since the end of the war, “Kosovo as a case study” continues to be studied in the realm of post-conflict reconstruction, (international) statebuilding and transitional justice. In this article, the authors argue that the reification of Kosovo as a case study has had two interrelated impacts in international relations (IR) literature and its sub-disciplines. First, the traditional literature has treated Kosovo as a black box: self-evident and self-explanatory in its problematique, yet, (nearly) impossible to solve. Second, the rendering of Kosovo as an inherently conflict-ridden context approached almost exclusively through the lens of reified ethnic and national categories and international intervention overlooks or neglects wider socio-cultural developments, the societal and individual impacts of its multiple transitions, ideological shifts and struggles, demographic trends as well as broader trans-border and transnational phenomena. This introductory article argues that – despite an emerging trend in literature, spearheaded by scholars from Kosovo, including the contributors in this special issue, or the wider Balkan, that seeks to turn the gaze away from macro-politics of international intervention and statebuilding to assemblages of hopes, disillusionments, crises, resistances and (counter)solidarities – much of Kosovo’s peculiarities, tensions, and contradictions remain unaddressed.