Abstract
This paper explores the Kosovo Conflict through the use of the Cognitive Conflict Evolution Model and the Integrative Explanatory Model. The paper discusses the perceptions of two conflicting sides, the Kosovo Serbs and the "West" represented by the United Nations Missions in Kosovo (UNMIK), investigating how from a perspective different from the common branding of the Serbs as the perpetrators and the Albanians as the victims, the West can be perceived as contributing to an exacerbation of the situation by the "rational loop" which leads to an aggravation of the human rights situation and the "cognitive loop" which leads to a support of independence under unsatisfactory human rights situations. The Integrative Explanatory Model provides a holistic representation of the main factors of the conflict, supplementing the mechanism unraveled by the Cognitive Conflict Evolution Model.
