The purpose of this essay is to examine why some countries in the world decided to support Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, while others did not. The essay is a type of case study, with Kosovo’s independence as the main focus. For the purpose of the essay, main focus will be on the United States of America, Russia, China and Serbia. The countries’ actions will be examined through the theoretical perspectives presented in the book Essence of Decision: Rational Actor Model, Organizational Behavior and Governmental Politics. The conclusion drawn is that countries put their own interests before the good of the international community, sometimes putting other countries at risk of conflict or war, to achieve their own goals. This can be seen in the cases of Russia and China especially, as they did not accept Kosovo’s independence partly because they have similar conflicts in their own states to that of Serbia’s with Kosovo.