Regulating Statehood: The Kosovo Status Settlement

Abstract

On 2 February 2007 the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General unveiled a comprehensive proposal for a supervised independence of Kosovo with a view of clinching the last chapter of the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. This proposal constitutes a further attempt by the international community of states to bridle the volatile and unpredictable phenomenon of statehood. The state of Kosovo that is envisaged by the Status Settlement is to be endowedwith all the features that are nowadays seen as indispensable for the establishment of a modern government apparatus, a tendency that had already beenobserved in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina or East Timor. The proposed regulation of statehood in this case, however, proves to be of an unprecedented extent. Against that backdrop, the article grapples with the legal questions revolving around the independence of Kosovo, including secession, recognition, succession, international supervision, self-determination, and membership of international organizations.