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Kosovo is one of the last states in the Balkan puzzle to gain its independence. The disputed region that declared independence on February 17, 2008 is still a "quasistate," a country with limited sovereignty, divided into a Serbian dominated north and an Albanian south. The international community has committed itself to the political and financial responsibility of securing peace in Kosovo and in the Balkan region at large. Yet neither the UN nor the EU has been able to undertake the necessary measures to prevent a possible partition of the new state. Besides a number of unresolved juridical and political issues, the country also has to deal with negative macroeconomic developments. Due to the lack of legal clarity, and the so-called reconfiguration of the tasks, competences and responsibility areas of the international organizations, only very modest steps have been made to integrate the country in the stabilization and association process of the accession to the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]