Study in the Crisis of the Nation-State System and Its Influence : Cases of Kosovo and South Ossetia

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This study aimed at investigating two cases of ethnic conflict : independence of Kosovo from Serbia and independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia, making clear commonalities and differences between the two cases, and analyzing their impact on international relations paying attention also to mutual interactions of the two cases. Concretely speaking, we, three participants in the project, studied 1) backgrounds of the conflicts, 2) process of the conflicts, and 3) their impact on international relations and international actors, based on fieldworks and from comparative perspectives. During the period of the research project we carried out every year a lot of fieldworks, invited many scholars from abroad, held many research conferences, and published a number of research results. We are still on the halfway, but we can say we have formed among ourselves a common framework of perception on the meaning and use of considering ethnic conflicts from complex points of view, relying on results from various disciplines such as political science, international relations and history. We expect that these research achievements will be utilized in more cross-regional and comprehensive studies.