yugoslavias implosion

SERBIA’S LAST ATTEMPTS AT PARTITION
In the wake of nato intervention, the Serbian opposition perceived
Milošević as a loser who had failed to resolve the Kosovo issue,
and he resigned following disputed elections in September 2000. The
prime mover of the new Kosovo policy was the Democratic Party
of Serbia in the form of Vojislav Koštunica. Koštunica fervently
embraced the social-political ideals of the nineteenth century—especially
the ideal of an ethnic state. But that ideal was not attainable in
the international context.
The post-Milošević period was characterized by a confrontation
between the two visions of Serbia, which for years delayed acceptance
of a new constitution mapping out Serbia as a modern state.
By earmarking Kosovo as an integral and inalienable part of Serbia
(“Kosovo belongs to us and forever shall”), 468 Koštunica announced
Serbia’s refusal to partake in the search for a compromise.
After the nato intervention, Belgrade systematically widened
the gap between the Serbian and Albanian communities in Kosovo. It
did everything possible to undermine Resolution 1244: It did not recognize
the international administration in Kosovo (passports, driving
licenses, and other official documents were issued by unmik)
and it installed and financed parallel institutions in North Kosovo.
It seized all archives and registries of Kosovo’s former administration—the
police, the judiciary, and the educational system—and relocated
them to cities in Serbia such as Nis. 469 It obstructed the Serbs’
return to Kosovo, forbade them to partake in Kosovo institutions,
and fueled their grudges. It refused to pay out pensions to more than
100,000 Albanians and never paid back their foreign currency savings.
Belgrade clearly was never interested in a dialogue with Pristina.
468 Koštunica repeated this on several occasions, including at the rally on February 21,
2008, after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, http://www6.b92.net/info/
vesti/index.php?yyyy=2008&mm=02&dd=17&nav_category=640&nav_id=285213
469 The are all dislocated to Niš, Kraljevo and Kruševac
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ChApter 3