Collective Identity and Economic Development : A Case Study of How People’s Perception of the Collective Identity Affects The Economic Development in Kosovo

Abstract: This paper aims to show how identity can be of importance to issues relating to development. More specifically, it deals with how the Kosovar Albanians perception of their collective identity have affected Kosovo’s economic development. The study draws primarily from the theories of Identity Economics and Orientalism and presents a hypothesis which is then tested empirically through the analysis of the in-depth interviews and participant observation carried out in Kosovo. The results show that Kosovar Albanians have, to a degree, internalized the Orientalist discourse, which often portrayed them in racist terms as the ’other’, in their view of their collective identity and that this has had a negative effect on how they perceive their potential in the global economic system, which in turn has undermined the country’s economic development. Thus, identity seems to be of significance when it comes to issues relating to development.