The thesis aims to investigate the Kosovo and Serbia conflict, as well as the causes that caused the conflict to escalate during the 1980-1990s. Furthermore, there will be an examination of the NATO intervention and its legitimacy. This will be linked to the principle of sovereignty and responsibility to protect. By analyzing the causes and background of the conflict, the focus will be on why NATO chose to intervene without the approval of the Security Council. Could it have happened differently?

The thesis will be based on conservatism as theory and then linked the same with the chosen principles.

The structure of the thesis is a qualitative case study, where the specific case is Kosovo. The war in Yugoslavia had been going on for a long time, but without direct intervention from Kosovo. In the late 1980s, crimes against humanity began to slowly but surely take place. The international community did not want to repeat the same crimes as in Rwanda and the recent in Bosnia, and acted. This action has been widely discussed, both praising but also criticizing, hence, the essay will examine its legitimacy.