Hamilton has had a number of fellowship or research students abroad this summer, in locations from Japan to Iceland. Riada Asimovic '07 (Sarajevo, Bosnia/Hercegovina) is one of these globetrotting researchers. Funded by a Levitt Fellowship, Asimovic spent her summer in the Balkans working on a study titled, "The Future Status of Kosovo: Will the International Community be able to find a Consensus between Albanian Aspirations for Independent and Serbian Determination to Guard Kosovo and its Sovereignty?"
Kosovo, "the last conflict in the disintegration of Yugoslavia" is a site of deep controversy between bordering countries Serbia and Albania. For Serbia, Kosovo is a center of national mythology and historically a part of Serbia. The Albanians regard the region as the home of their claimed ancestors, the Illyrians, and feel that the Albanian population in Kosovo has been the subject of long-standing colonization. Asimovic explained, "both sides think they have the right to it."
Tensions in the Balkans were high throughout the nineties. The real escalation of conflict in Kosovo began in 1998 while the bombardment was conducted in 1999.
The eventual result of a protracted struggle involving the Yugoslavian armed forces, Kosovar and Serbian fighters, and NATO troops was the creation of Kosovo as a UN protectorate in 1999.
In January 2006, a contact group made up of the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Russia began to organize talks between Serbia and Albania in an attempt to reach a consensus regarding Kosovo and, by extension, the region. Asimovic's research involved her following these talks closely and gathering information from academic works, local and foreign news, and a number of different studies. She also traveled to Belgrade, capital of Serbia, and Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, to conduct interviews there. "I really wanted to see the situation, [and the] atmosphere in both places," she said. "I wanted to get the real feel…of Kosovo."
A native of Kosovo herself, Asimovic moved to Bosnia with her family shortly before war began. She attended high school in France, the U.S. and Bosnia, and returned to France for her junior year abroad. She explained that the idea for this project had come to her while she was in Europe. A major in French and world policy with a concentration in Western and European Union politics, Asimovic was deeply interested in the talks. "The process started in February," she explained, "but summer was really the most important part."
She explained that the talks were meant to finish by the end of the year, but there was no guarantee that they would. "This is one of the hardest challenges [for the International Community] after the Cold War," she said. Although the talks are still in progress, Asimovic felt that the end result would be a compromise enforced by the European community. Serbia, she explained, wants to give Kosovo autonomy while retaining the country, whereas the people of Kosovo want full independence. The compromise will probably be what is called conditional independence, which is to say that Serbia might receive certain benefits regarding the faster integration into EU. Kosovo's independence would be supervised by an international community.
A first-time summer researcher, Asimovic enjoyed herself. There is, she said, "a certain sense of freedom" in carrying out research you have both planned and proposed. She also praised the opportunities for travel offered by the fellowship.
Asimovic is a former president of the Model European Union and Foreign Student Union. She has just returned from a junior year abroad in France and will participate in the New York program next spring. After Hamilton she plans to go to graduate school to study political science or international relations.
-- Lisbeth Redfield
