The Influence of Secessionism in Foreign Relations: The Case of Kosovo’s Secession from Serbia

This thesis aspired to analyze Serbia’s relationship with Kosovo after Kosovo’s Declaration of Independence in 2008. Building on the literature related to ontological security, fear of domino secession, and counter-secession foreign policies, this research hypothesized that Kosovo’s secession dented Serbia’s national identity, triggered a more defensive policy toward Kosovo, and ultimately led to a deterioration of the Kosovo-Serbia relationship. To test these assumptions a content analysis was conducted, using 255 statements from the official site of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dating between 2009 and 2013. Following, the statements were assessed and coded deductively in Atlas.ti. From this several conclusions could be drawn. First, Serbia adopted a more defensive foreign policy toward Kosovo in the aftermath of the secession. Second, Serbia’s relationships with other countries became evermore relevant after the secession. Third, Serbia seemed to perceive its autobiographical continuity as a bigger priority than EU accession. Drawing on the findings, it is recommended to further look into Serbia’s foreign policy before and after Kosovo’s secession, analyze the difference in results between other types of sources, examine Kosovo’s foreign policy after secession compared to Serbia’s, and apply a different time frame.