Conflict in Kosovo through the Conceptual Framework of Stakeholders

Kosovo has been one of the longest-running ethnic conflicts in contemporary Eu- rope. It can be characterized by the diverse nature of the participating entities and the hetero- geneous complexity of their interactions. These aspects violently surfaced during the civil war that lasted for almost two years, from 1998 to 1999. One of the major frameworks for viewing and analyzing the conflict, as well as one capable of seeing to its ultimate resolution, appears to be an assessment of the issues through the conceptual lens of “stakeholders.” This focuses on the specific investments or “stakes”—be they economic, ethnic, historic, or cultural—that each of the participants “holds” in generating the scene of the conflict. This lens provides a significant focus, and is one of the more important research methods employed within the do- main of strategic analysis.