Territorial Disputes in the Post - Yugoslav Space

Abstract

This analysis of a sample of territorial or border disputes 30 years after the ‎beginning of Yugoslavia’s disintegration is informed by a pluri-angle analytical‎ framework. With territorial disputes, a single reading of the phenomenon ‎by international law with its established principles and standards of peaceful‎ dispute settlement can be insufficient. More often than not, territorial disputes‎ not only relate to territorial sovereignty per se, but also to issues of nation-‎building and statehood, identity narratives, ontological security, and‎(perceived) legitimacy as to whether a border is ‘just’. In the context of EU enlargement, ‎the level of power (a)symmetry between actors also plays a role. ‎Looking at the case studies (i) Croatia v. Slovenia, (ii) Serbia v. Croatia, and (iii)‎Serbia v. Kosovo, this paper demonstrates why States sometimes do not comply ‎with EU conditionality and that the behaviour of State actors is by no means ‎irrational, but can well sustain a dispute and/or pose a threat to dispute settlement‎ by international law.‎