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THE KOSOVO CRISIS—THE MACRO REVIEW
intervention would likely frame the conflict in distancing or neutral
terms, and either assign no blame or blame both sides for specific
problems, and not mention the possibility of Western military engage-
ment as a solution to the crisis. An intervention policy would likely
frame the conflict from the position of one side, blame the other side
as the source of problems, and openly mention the military option
against the party at fault as a potential solution.
Framing
In the context of the Kosovo civil war, the West could frame the conflict
in a number of ways. It could take a position that favored the Albanian
viewpoint, the Serb perspective, or adopt language that was neutral or
incorporated both frames. In this study, the following coding system
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was used to identify the framing of each of the 161 documents:
1. Pro-Albanian Framing
Examples of language in this framework include
• Kosovo Albanian victims, under oppression, repression, suf-
fering et cetera
• Kosovo Albanians constitute 90 percent of the population of
Kosovo
• Kosovo Albanians have right to freedom, to determine their
own affairs
2. Pro-Serbian or FRY Framing
Examples of language in this framework include
• FRY/Serbians trying to control or defend against terrorism
(KLA are terrorists)
• Kosovo is part of Serbia, internationally recognized as part of
the FRY
3. Neutral position taken (no references to contentious issues) or
both frames represented.
Overall, just over half of all Western statements were framed primarily
from the Kosovo Albanian perspective (81 out of 161), 1 statement
(under 1 percent) was dominated by the Serb viewpoint, and 79
(49 percent) were either neutral or attempted to incorporate both
frameworks. In reviewing framing during the two-week periods after
the three massacres in relation to framing during the entire period, as
illustrated in graph 6.4 and table 6.4, there are sharp increases in pro-
Albanian framing in the immediate aftermaths of the massacres. While