The main question this paper raises is how to conceptualize the agency of reconciliation agents in the context of postwar Kosovo (1999-2008) where there is neither a national ‘civil society’ nor a national state that can be juxtaposed with it. More specifically, it analyzes how the undefined political status of Kosovo shaped the interaction between reconciliation agents, political spectrums, and media. Hence, it offers insights into efforts of key ‘civil society’ agents—both in Kosovo and Serbia—and their struggles to assert themselves as emancipatory political force after the war. Among other points, this paper argues that it is important to differentiate between two notions: reconciliation agents as a competitors to national and international political leaders and as advocates of the new state in the making. It concludes that while interethnic reconciliation agents sought to achieve the opposite, they were often perceived as threat to national interests and ‘foreign agents’.
