Traveling to a politically divided and war-ravaged country to mete out justice wouldn’t be most people’s idea of fun, but for state appellate Judge Larry Eisenhauer, due back from Kosovo later this week after a six-month stint as a war crimes judge for the United Nations, the odyssey was stirred by more than professional interest.

It was professionally enlightening, of course. Eisenhauer, one of five Americans serving as a war crimes judge, has presided over cases ranging from trafficking in human beings to rape to murder. The experience has broadened the jurist’s perspective of how offenders are judged and sentenced in other countries. In a recent case, the prosecutor was German; the court reporters were English and Kenyan; the defendants were Kosovar Albanians; Kosovo police and a contingent of Indian special police officers provided security; the judges were American, Serbian Kosovar and Swedish; and translators were available to help the Albanians understand the proceedings.

From a personal standpoint, Eisenhauer is an astute scholar of European history. Balkan history in particular. He also studied the career of Iowa Supreme Court Justice Charles Wennerstrum, appointed by President Truman to be a war crimes judge in the Nuremberg Trials after World War II.

Below, Eisenhauer shares some of his discoveries with Executive Life.

As a scholar of European history, what have you learned from this experience that you didn’t know before?

The difference between reading the history of an area and walking around and seeing and sensing the places where events occurred is palpable. The Balkans are alive with history. Here in Prizren alone, I’m acquainted with ethnic Turks, whose families have lived here for hundreds of years. They are now the minority, although during the Ottoman Empire, they ruled the area. On the hillside above Prizren is a burned-out neighborhood, and several destroyed Orthodox churches. They were burned in the riots of March 2005.

Only history can explain the level of ethnic and religious hatred that would lead neighbors to destroy the homes of people they have known for years. The residents of the area see everything through the prism of history. Often myth is as powerful as facts. Serbs still consider Kosovo their religious home, even though it is now populated by 90 percent Albanians.

What has surprised you the most?

There is a genuine nostalgia for Yugoslavia amongst those old enough to remember. They recall full unemployment, ethnic harmony and no borders in the whole of the Balkans.

Has the experience changed your view on the situation in Kosovo in any respects?

Although I didn’t have many preconceptions when I arrived, my experience has made me more pessimistic about the future. The territory is only about the size of six Central Iowa counties with a population of 2 million people. It remains largely agricultural with only some mines in the north for an economic base. Much of the money coming into the territory is from the Albanian diaspora throughout Europe. I think it will require a large international presence for years to ensure stability and peace. I’m not sure with all the other problems in the world that the United Nations will be able to maintain its presence. It will be up to the European Union. It has a direct strategic interest in peace in the Balkans.

From what you have observed, how long will it take to establish an effective self-government in Kosovo?

I predict a generation. Organized crime is flourishing. By the time the province becomes “stable enough” to warrant the gradual exit of international aid and development agencies, many of the organized criminal businesses will have been transformed into somewhat more legitimate companies. For example, a group that may have started its venture by smuggling contraband may become a registered company doing legitimate business. It should come as no surprise when this company – for example, a construction business – is consistently awarded government contracts for public projects.

The Balkans may have suffered through a series of ethnically polarizing wars and conflicts for over a decade, but ironically, organized criminal groups simply did not discriminate along ethnic lines when recruiting their members and spinning their web. In fact, organized crime in the Balkans – and Kosovo is no exception – could be viewed as a working example of multiethnic cooperation where economic self-interest trumps ethnic allegiance.

Has ethnic discrimination become such a regular pattern of life that there is a sense that security and freedom loom so far into the distant future as to seem unattainable?

In Kosovo as a whole, the Serb population is refusing, with directions from the Serbian government in Belgrade, to participate in any of the governing activities in Kosovo. This is a big mistake, I believe. Kosovo is now 90 percent Albanian. The only hope for those Serbs who wish either to stay or to return is to engage with Albanians. It will take many months and perhaps years to overcome age-old animosities. Plus, there are grievances arising out of the Milosevic purges of the 1990s, the war in the late 1990s and the riots of 2004. I have fears that without some international presence or at least continued pressure from the European Union, the remaining Serbs will be forced out of the country. The wounds are not only deep; they are old.

Modern society, with all of its problems, may be part of the solution. Internet cafes are everywhere, and access to what is happening in the rest of the world is readily available. The negotiations are bound to be painful. Serbs are determined to keep Kosovo as their religious heartland, while ethnic Albanians demand independence after suffering years of ethnic violence that culminated in the war of 1998 to1999.

In your opinion, what is the most politically courageous course of action for the international community to take?

To not pull out too soon. I sense the U.N. is getting ready to leave. The military occupation, KFOR (Kosovo Force), has been reduced to guarding some religious sites and doing police work. Care needs to be taken in turning over control to the locals. Independence seems to be inevitable. UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) has adopted a new criminal code and criminal rules of procedure. The country has its own phone code and has adopted the euro as its currency. I don’t know how they can go back to being a Serbian province, even with semi-autonomous status.

What lessons should Americans learn from the crisis in Kosovo?

Our actions were taken with the best of intentions, and getting into Kosovo was done with the best of intentions, preventing the mass expulsion and perhaps genocide of a whole population of Kosovar Albanians, and it should be done with a commitment to the long-term completion of the mission. Knowing that the immediate need for action will wane and many months or even years of effort will be required must always be in mind when making the initial decision.