Joining the Kosovo Liberation Army: A continuist, process-based analysis

Drawing on semi-directed interviews with ex-combatants from the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK) and the archives of the international organization responsible for disarming and demobilizing the combatants, this article examines the process by which individuals joined the armed resistance movement in Kosovo in the 1980s and 1990s. Based on a “ground-level” approach, we emphasize the incremental nature of this mobilization and challenge the widespread understanding that Albanians in Kosovo turned suddenly to armed resistance. We also challenge strategic-political accounts of the origins of the armed struggle, instead of highlighting the importance of chance events. From a relational perspective, we demonstrate the significance of the repression that those involved in armed violence had experienced, either personally or collectively. Individual decisions to join the armed conflict of 1998–1999 took place in a continuum, following on from earlier periods that had been marked by excessive state violence.