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International peacebuilding in Kosovo presents a puzzling case. Despite significant investments and institutional successes, ethnic hostilities between Albanians and Serbs persist, in this study exemplified through the 2023 clashes in Northern Kosovo. Existing literature offers multiple explanations for peacebuilding failures to prevent hostilities, but cannot satisfactorily explain Kosovo, treated here as a deviant case. This study assumes that previous explanations overlook a critical factor: socio-cultural understanding of the case. Situated theory, which stipulates that aligning peacebuilding practices with the socio-cultural context leads to successful peacebuilding of reduced violence, constitutes the theoretical approach to this study. Using a theory-consuming research design, the study examines three indicators of situated theory: universal top-down peacebuilding approach, socio-cultural understanding, and disputes between local and international agencies. Findings support the hypothesis and indicate that international peacebuilding in Kosovo was overly top-down, lacked contextual understanding, and faced frequent disputes, contributing to the 2023 clashes and its failure to reduce hostilities. This study does not aim to generalize results, and situated theory’s applicability to other cases remains untested. While some explanatory factors were controlled for, other factors may have influenced the outcome. Future research should apply situated theory to additional cases and further explore alternative explanations for Kosovo’s persistent ethnic hostilities.