'Parallel System' in Kosovo: Strengthening Ethnic Identity through Solidarity and Common Social Action

This paper argues that ethnic and national solidarity expressed among Albanians in Kosovo in the 1990s, which was created as a result of the social and political action, had a significant impact on political mobilization and reinforcement of national identity among Kosovar Albanians. This movement and common social action it undertook did reinforce the sense of belonging and ethnic identification among Albanians. Further, it argues that solidarity, despite the fact that is created with the aim of providing disadvantaged groups with a resource for collective action and group self-protection, it may lead to ethnic or national ‘unmixing’, alienation and hostility. Apart from the issue of solidarity, this paper analyzes the Kosovar ‘parallel system’ from the point of view of social movements and networks as well as its relations with identity and political change it aimed to achieve.