Implementing Brussels Agreements: the EU’s facilitating strategy and contrasting local perceptions of peace in Kosovo

ABSTRACT

This article examines the conditions that influence the implementation process of the Brussels Agreements. The implementation process is analyzed along three dimensions: (1) the role of EU involvement, including conditionality pressure, (2) the capacity of the domestic actors to fulfil their commitments and (3) the content and clarity of the agreed provisions to guide the implementation process. Specifically, we analyze the interaction of each of these factors and how they play out and gain importance in explaining the intricacies of implementation at different points in time. The empirical analysis suggests that implementation, or the lack of it, arises from the dissonance between the hybrid negotiation strategy of the EU and the adversaries’ doubts with regard to the goals and benefits of negotiation. The negotiation tactic is expected to institutionalize cooperation between local actors and solve the conflict at large, but de facto, it is steering further resistance and allowing relevant local actors’ creativity to block the process.