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Jelena Todorović Lazić, PhD
Institute for political studies
Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

 

THE 1981 KOSOVO CRISIS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE “BIG FIVE” COUNTRIES

Vol. XLII, 2/2024, pp. 453-470
https://doi.org/10.29362/ist20veka.2024.2.tod.453-470

 

ABSTRACT/RESUME:

Based on archival materials collected in the Diplomatic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of France in Paris, this paper presents the positions of the “big five” countries on the Kosovo crisis of 1981. What can be extracted as common to all the “big five” countries during the Kosovo crisis in 1981? Firstly, we came across their explicit or implicit support for the maintenance of the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia, as well as the position that the Kosovo issue was the question of Yugoslaviaʼs internal politics. Secondly, we could observe more implicit than explicit support in the attitudes of the Germans and the French while explicit support was recorded in the USA, Italy and Great Britain views. Some of these countries based their positions and attitudes on security aspects, while others highlighted economic aspects as key to understanding the crisis in Kosovo, while some countries looked at the problems that Yugoslavia faced a year after Titoʼs death in a very comprehensive way. The context in which the Kosovo demonstrations were taking place was such that the Cold War relaxation has not still started, so it is not surprising that the “big five” countries have such unique positions in favor of maintaining the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. However, what they also have in common is that all countries expressed their fear, as it later turned out to be visionary that the situation around Kosovo may turn into a serious regional problem in the coming years.

 

KEYWORDS: Kosovo, Kosovo issue, 1981 Kosovo crisis, “big five”, France, Germany, Great Britain, USA, Italy

 

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