Summary
In 1999, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) forces drove the Serbian army out of Kosovo. By the end of the operation, the province was in chaos. Kosovo was a society ripped apart by generations of ethnic violence. The minority Serb and majority Albanian populations each had stories of victimization and a desire to seek revenge upon the other. There were few functional political, economic and social institutions. Displaced refugees were flooding back into the region, poverty was rampant and much of the physical infrastructure was destroyed during NATO bombing. To stem the humanitarian disaster, the UN (United Nations) created UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) and stepped in to administer and rebuild the province. A key part of the reconstruction effort was the creation of a domestic police force, the KPS (Kosovo Police Service). The UN agency UNCIVPOL (United Nations Civilian Police) together with the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) set out to build the KPS from the ground up. Their stated goal was to construct an independent, impartial, professional police service that was committed to the principles of democratic policing. In other words, a modem police agency trained in the liberal model. The goal set for the KPS was in line with the broader objectives of UNMIK. As part of a systemic approach to state building, the UN and the international community planned to transplant economic, political and social institutions they believed worked well in the North American and Western European contexts into Kosovo: the end goal being to create a stable, peaceful, sustainable society. To accomplish their goal, UNCIVPOL would train new KPS recruits in the liberal model and mentor them through their early years. UNCIVPOL would also take care of the day to-day policing of Kosovo until the KPS was ready. The process would transition from training and operations to monitoring and support. Five years later, have UNCIVPOL and the OSCE achieved their goal? Why have they or have they not? What could be done to improve their efforts and the UNCIVPOL program in general? These are the primary questions investigated through the course of this project. The investigation was conducted via action research.