The UN as Government in Kosovo

The establishment of UNMIK, the international administration in Kosovo, marked the beginning of a new phase in the history of the longstanding dispute between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians as well as a new phase in international involvement in conflict management of war-torn territories. UNMIK was not only mandated to play a central role in efforts to address the underlying cause of the Kosovo dispute, the contest between Kosovo’s independence and Yugoslavia’s sovereignty, but also to march into the largely uncharted territory of acting as the government of Kosovo. This article examines the factors that have posed major political challenges for the international administration of Kosovo and that have influenced central policy choices regarding “how to govern” and “towards what end.”