This book explains how Kosovo became an independent state in 2008, following more than a century of struggle to break free from political domination by others. Kosovo, formerly an autonomous province of Serbia within Yugoslavia, declared its independence on February 17, 2008, and was recognized as an independent state by fifty-four countries within a year. The recognizing states included the United States and most of the member states of the European Union (EU). The independence declaration was carefully crafted in concert among the elected officials of the provisional government of Kosovo, the United States, and the leadership of the EU. This process culminated three years of “final status” negotiations over Kosovo's future, launched by the United Nations (UN) Security Council in 2005. The key negotiations were guided by Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, who subsequently won the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work on Kosovo and elsewhere. These negotiations and international diplomacy that preceded and followed them are the subject of this book.

Kosovo's independence and the diplomatic process that led up to it have significant implications for the effective conduct of multilateral decision making in the transatlantic alliance, even as they illustrate the reemergence of Russia as a thorn in the sides of those who seek broader multilateral cooperation to solve regional problems. It illustrates the limited role that international law plays in channeling the interests of major powers into established international institutions and represents yet another example of the impotence of the UN Security Council to resolve disagreements among its permanent members.