M. N. Ananyeva The international institutions’ strategies in respect of Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniestria in 1990s and 2000s: the analysis of achievements and mistakes

Abstract: The object of the research is the role of the international institutions – the UN (as a bearer of international law), NATO, positioning itself as a guarantor of security, and the EU as a regional leader – in the fortunes of partly recognized states of Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniestria. In the age of globalization new space and new frameworks of action appear: politics goes beyond the state borders, causing the emergence of new actors, new roles, new resources, unknown rules, new contradictions and conflicts. Therefore it is necessary to act within the institutions’ frameworks, since it allows raising awareness, reducing transactional expenses, and opens new opportunities. The research is based on the system method which gives the opportunity to find correlations between the interacting elements and to reveal the “rules” of such interaction, and to provide integration and systematization of the data collected. The choice is made in favor of the comparative approach, particularly the case oriented comparison, allowing the author to consider the specific features of the abovementioned cases. The historical approach is also used, since it is necessary for the adequate understanding of the international institutions level of participation in these processes. Moreover, for the analysis of state-building in unrecognized or partially recognized states the author uses the institutional approach which made it possible on the one hand to evaluate the institutions’ influence on the political process, and on the other hand, to understand the specificity of their functioning with account taken of the influence of informal norms and practices. The scientific originality of the article is explained by the fact that the author attempts to objectively evaluate the actions of international organizations in relation to unrecognized states on the example of Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniestria, and offers his own “recipes” of elaboration of a more rational approach to them on the base of the facts reported in the article.

Keywords: