 The impact of norms on agreements: minority rights norms in successive agreements to resolve the Kosovo-Serbia conflictDana M. Landau Chapter 34 in Handbook on the Politics of International Agreements, 2026, pp 526-539 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter examines how international norms shape the design and content of international agreements, focusing on minority rights norms in the successive efforts to resolve the Kosovo–Serbia conflict. Drawing on constructivist International Relations theory, it argues that norms influence what mediators and negotiators consider legitimate, desirable, or acceptable, even in the absence of binding legal obligations. Through an analysis of the 1999 Rambouillet Accords, the 2007 Ahtisaari Plan, and the 2013 Brussels Agreement, the chapter demonstrates how provisions on minority representation, language, cultural rights, and self-government became embedded in these settlements. Yet, the incomplete implementation of such provisions highlights the gap between normative aspirations and political realities. The chapter concludes by calling for further research on how norms evolve, are contested, or regress in the context of shifting global orders and increasingly illiberal or pragmatic approaches to peacemaking. Keywords: Norms; Minority Rights; Constructivism; Self-Government; Kosovo-Serbia; Mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22652_35 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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