Kosovo: Perceptions of War and Its Aftermath by Mary Buckley (Professor of Politics, Royal Holloway, University of London)
NATO intervention in Kosovo marked a major turning point in post Cold War international relations. While western commentators argued that it was the first war to be fought on purely moral grounds, Serbian, Russian and Chinese assessments were sharply different. Contributors to Kosovo present 12 case-studies, ranging from Serbia, and the other former Yugoslav republics, to the USA and China. These Detailed regional studies highlight the considerable variation in the key states' perceptions of their national interest and of what constitutes legality or legitimacy. Each case explores domestic constraints, and the ways in which differing perspectives of political and military leadership fed into the crisis. Further thematic chapters determine the war's consequences and the lessons to be drawn in terms of the wider issues of refugees, humanitarian intervention, European security, and geopolitics.