Kosovo: Road to Independence

In early 1989, the government of Slobodan Milosevich severely limited Kosovo’s autonomy within Yugoslavia. This led to the beginnings of a Kosovar movement for an independent state. The Kosovo state-building process went through three main phases: nonviolent movement (shadow state), liberation war, and UN protectorate. Through nonviolence, Kosovars created the idea of an independent state. The liberation war, helped by NATO intervention, realized this idea and the UN administration in Kosovo prepared the institutional framework. The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence from Serbia is the real epilogue and the final stage of Kosovo’s road to independence.