Kosovo has been populated with Albanians and Serbs for centuries, differed in their language and religion. The majority of the Kosovars consisted of ninety percent of Albanians and ten percent of Serbs. Though the basis of Albanian nationalism was the language, the Serbs considered the Orthodox religion as the basis.
The question is: Was Kosovo a failed state or in other words, a failed territory? Using the criteria of failure described in the chapter I, we will conclude that Kosovo was defined as failed.
The 1999 Kosovo war was probably the result of the Yugoslav breakup. All national groups’ majorities that made up this Yugoslav Federation wanted to create their own State with a total independency: the Slovenes, the Croatians, the Bosnians, the Macedonians and the Albanian Kosovars. With regard to the Slovenes, the Croatians, the Bosnians and the Macedonians, independency was realized and internationally approved. However, independency was established at the expense of a war for Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia.
The international community intervened in order to stop the conflicts; the 1995 Dayton Summit has succeeded in stopping the confrontations for at least two years. Nevertheless, the breakup of Yugoslavia might not be considered as finished. Indeed, three areas were remaining weak due to their geopolitical belonging. The first one was Bosnia, the second area was Macedonia and the third one was Kosovo. The crisis that hit Kosovo since 1998 seemed to be the repercussion of the breakup of Yugoslavia inasmuch as the third Yugoslavia consisted of Serbia and Montenegro ran the same risk. Albanian Kosovars wanted their independency since 1991 but the UNO 1244 resolution kept the principle of sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia in 1999.
With regard to the most important criterion of failure, namely security, Serbia and even the Federation of Yugoslavia were not able to maintain a sustainable security and to protect citizens. This lack of security led to the ethnic cleansing against Albanian Kosovars by the Serbs. Only with the inability to provide the most important political good that is security, Kosovo (as an autonomous territory) can be declared as failed. It has not the capacities to protect its borders and ensure the security against the Serb threats. This situation led to the failure of the others political goods.
Kosovo faced with social pressures relative to food supply; it faced with massive movement of refugees, a sustained human flight and the creation of ethnic groups out of control of the Kosovar regime.
Due to the previous failure, Kosovo saw its economy declining; the poverty level and the mortality rate increased. Corruption took place and arms trafficking emerged.
As for the political indicators, Kosovo faced with the delegitimization of the regime, mass public demonstrations, the deterioration of public services, the suspension of the rule of law and the violation of human rights, and the emergence of an army within an army that serves the interests of the population, namely UCK the army of Liberation of Kosovo.
All these factors contributed to the failure of Kosovo and the intervention of the international community.