20 years after the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia: Local, Regional and Global Aspects of 'Humanitarian interventions'

20 years after the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia: Local, Regional and Global Aspects of 'Humanitarian interventions'

Organizer
Katarina Ristić, Global and European Studies Institute (GESI), Universität Leipzig; Elisa Satjukow, Historisches Seminar, Universität Leipzig
Venue
Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO)
Location
Leipzig
Country
Germany
From - Until
23.05.2019 - 25.05.2019
Deadline
15.01.2019
Website
By
Elisa Satjukow

2019 will mark the 20th anniversary of the NATO intervention in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), and the end of the Kosovo war. We take this as an opportunity to reflect on the role, importance and impact of military interventions, by presenting the dialogue between the diverse, often opposed interpretations of the NATO Intervention in FRY which have emerged during the last twenty years, when considering its role, political consequences and meaning on the local, regional and global scales.

On a local scale, the domestic mnemonic battles revolve around two contradictory interpretations of the NATO Intervention: in Serbia, the intervention is denounced as “a criminal aggression against a sovereign country and its people”, while in Kosovo the intervention is praised for supporting “liberation and a just war for independence”. The only position shared is a general silence about the victims of their own atrocities, the denial of these crimes and a political unwillingness to address, let alone prosecute, crimes committed by one’s own forces.
On a regional scale, the Kosovo war and NATO intervention were followed by a humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanian refugees seeking rescue in neighbouring Macedonia and Albania. Another refugee crisis followed the end of the intervention, when Serbs were leaving the Kosovo territory. The intervention changed the political map of the Balkans, paving the path to Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008, and providing an incentive for other regions in the Balkans and beyond to follow Kosovo's example.

On a global scale, interpretations of the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia are similarly diverse. Described as the first “humanitarian intervention”, and a blueprint for the "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) principle, the Kosovo intervention was criticized as “false humanism” employing human rights rhetoric as a tool of a new imperialism. It consolidated anti-Western sentiments in Russia and China, while turning Germany into an active military actor for the first time since World War II. Moreover, it was used as an exemplary case for later interventions in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, creating a new set of international practices, and of normative and political alliances in the West, while further consolidating the pro-sovereignty positions of China and Russia. Finally, the international diplomatic battle for Kosovo’s recognition divided UN members into those recognizing Kosovo, and those opposing its UN membership, further fuelling post-Cold War divisions.

We take such profound diversity of interpretations on the global, regional and local scales, on the one hand, and the relevance of the 1999 military intervention for domestic and international politics outside the region, on the other, as a point of departure, asking about the cultural, political and historical meaning of the NATO intervention with regard to the different scales.

Considering the diversity of disciplines, approaches and topics already addressed in the literature, the workshop aims at bringing together scholars and activists (both from the region and abroad) from various disciplines such as History, Political Sciences, International Law, Sociology, Anthropology, Memory and Cultural Studies, to discuss the local, regional and global aspects of the NATO intervention and its twenty-year-old heritage.

We are looking for contributions that should comprise, but are not limited to, the following topics:

I National and Transnational Experiences and Memories of Intervention
- Collective memory of the intervention, mnemonic practice and memory activism across the different scales (commemorations, memorials, exhibitions, media, documentaries, etc.)
- Visual and Medial representations of the intervention (atrocities, refugee crises, expulsions)
- Gender, emotions and everyday practices during the interventions in the region
II History of Intervention(s)
- Kosovo War and NATO intervention within and beyond the history of Yugoslav wars in the 90s
- The NATO intervention in Yugoslavia as an instance of a global intervention lineage (genealogy of interventions from Yugoslavia to Iraq and Bosnia and Herzegovina, on to Libya and Afghanistan)
- Education and history textbooks about NATO’s Yugoslavia intervention in the region and beyond
III Consequences of Intervention
- The NATO intervention in Yugoslavia and its political consequences in the region: Kosovo’s independence, international recognition and the EU accession of candidate countries
- Impact of the NATO intervention on the social and ecological developments in the region
- Relevance of the NATO intervention for domestic politics beyond the region, as well as for international organizations (EU, UN) and international norms (e.g. development of R2P, prevention of genocide, ethnic cleansing)

Guide for authors
All scholars and activists interested in participating in the workshop are invited to submit an abstract (300-500 words) and a short biography to the conference organizers, Katarina Ristic (ristic@uni-leipzig.de) and Elisa Satjukow (elisa.satjukow@uni-leipzig.de), by 15th January 2019.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 15th February 2019. Full papers (8,000 words) should be submitted by 15th May 2019. An edited volume of the workshop is planned.
Two nights’ accommodation and travel costs (up to 200 EUR) will be covered by the organizers.

Organizing committee:
Dr. Katarina Ristic, Global and European Studies Institute (GESI), Leipzig University
Elisa Satjukow MA, Historical Department, Leipzig University
For all general enquiries, please contact: elisa.satjukow@uni-leipzig.de

The organization of the conference is supported by the Leibnitz Science Campus - Eastern Europe Global Era (EEGA), Leibnitz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) and Southeast Europe Association (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft).

Programm

Contact (announcement)

Elisa Satjukow

Historisches Seminar, Lehrstuhl für Ost- und Südosteuropäische Geschichte, Universität Leipzig
Beethovenstraße 15, 04107 Leipzig
+49 341 97-37113

elisa.satjukow@uni-leipzig.de


Editors Information
Published on
30.11.2018
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