Kosovo: Can Decentralisation Resolve Ethnic Conflict?

Abstract

This chapter examines the process of decentralisation and the system of local government financing in Kosovo, covering two distinct phases of local government reforms, from 2000 until 2008, and from 2008 until 2015. Since the creation of new municipalities in 2001, local government reforms have been highly contentious and inextricably linked with both the final status of Kosovo and the state-building process. Despite the adoption of an advanced legal framework, the introduction of direct mayoral elections, and the semi-integration of the Kosovo Serb minority, the process of decentralisation has been challenged by the failure of the central government to allocate sufficient funding for the new municipal competencies and the poor trends of own-source revenue collection by Kosovo municipalities.