Kosovo: a 'European' or an 'Albanian' State? Frames of Statehood in the Contentious Political Debate Between the Democratic Party of Kosovo and Lëvizja Vetëvendosje on the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue

Abstract

In this thesis I examine the 'frames of Kosovar statehood' as created, upheld and promoted by the governing party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), and the opposition party, Lëvizja Vetëvendosje, in their contentious political debate on the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue. Since its beginning in March 2011, the two parties have not only disputed the effect that the dialogue and its agreements will have on Kosovo's statehood, but also disagreed on the very nature of that statehood: on what kind of state Kosovo is and should be, as well as whose state it is. Drawing on Benford and Snow's framing theory, the diagnostic and prognostic framing processes, as well as the counterframings with which the two parties have attempted to undermine each other, are analyzed, in order to determine the 'frames of statehood' advocated by these collective actors. The core argument of this thesis is that whereas the PDK presents the frame of Kosovar statehood of Kosovo as a multicultural, civic and European state, Vetëvendosje employs the frame of Kosovo as a state of and for the Kosovo ethnic-Albanians; a nation-state. This research is empirically relevant in that it contributes to the existing literature on Kosovo's contentious politics. Moreover, it sheds theoretical light on what Rogers Brubaker has neglected in his theoretical framework on 'nationalizing' nationalisms of newly independent states, namely, the dynamics, interactions, and contestations in which nationalization is demanded, and opposed.