Sosyal İnşacılık Açısından Kosova’nın Kimliği: Bağımsızlık Sonrasında Ortak bir “Kosovalı” Kimliği Oluşturmak Mümkün mü?

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the identity politics in Kosovo after the independence. It employs social constructivist approach to argue that the enmity between Albanians and the Serbs of Kosovo is not natural or primordial but socially constructed as a by-product of Albanian and Serbian national building processes. Considering nation and national identity as socially constructed and therefore a process never completed, the article claims that it is theoretically possible to construct an all embracing "Kosovar" identity in the post-independence Kosovo by emphasizing citizenship rather than ethnic or religious affinities by the new Kosovo state. However, as the independence period and its aftermath was analyzed, it was concluded that the successful formation of a Kosovar identity remains heavily dependent on the degree to which the newly established Kosovo state is able to apply constitutional principles such as supremacy of law and human rights indiscriminately to all its citizens.