ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the dynamics of national identity reconstruction under the international protectorate and in relationship to the state-building project. It examines the inter-linkages between ethnicity, ethnic reconciliation and the politics of state formation. Kosovo's location in the region has played a considerable role in its narratives of national and cultural identity. Kosovo is not a case of factious 'critical geopolitics'; it is a real social, cultural, political and economic space. Today, the question of the Kosovo's place in Europe is prominent in the public and political discourse surrounding the issues of EU membership. Kosovo statehood is based on the 'Comprehensive Proposal for Kosovo Status', also known as the Ahtisaari Plan. The Kosovo state is defined in terms of equality of citizenship and promotion of the rights of ethnic minorities. Religious groups had been given little say in connection with post-war political developments and state-building policies. Memory is central to the political and cultural dimensions of identity formation in Kosovo.
