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"Democratization Albania."
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Clans and Democratization: Chechnya, Albania, Afghanistan and Iraq
\"Clan societies differ substantially from Western democratic states. Clan societies are based around the extended family. Honour and solidarity are important, which is reflected in nepotism and blood revenge. However, a more positive aspect of clan societies is the use of reconciliation to solve conflicts. This guarantees that parties to a conflict can cooperate in the future. When intervening in a clan based society it is important to be aware of the differences compared to Western democracy. Based on theory and practice the cases of Afghanistan, Iraq, Albania and Chechnya are investigated. This book explains clan society and provides tools to facilitate state building and democratization in clan based societies for those who intervene, aimed at conflict resolution and democratization\"--.
eBook
Who Will Sustain a Culture of Democracy in Post-Communist States? Examining Patterns of Democratic Competence among Youth in Albania and Belarus
Research is mixed on the current state of democratic consolidation in transitioning states and whether young people are prepared to help sustain a culture of democracy. This study draws on the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competencies for Democratic Culture and the framework of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study to explore patterns of democratic orientation among adolescents in Albania and Belarus (N = 711). Latent profile analyses identified five groups of democratically oriented adolescents in both states: (a) All-around citizens, (b) Idealistic and Disengaged, (c) Duty-oriented, (d) Diversity Enthusiasts and (e) Alienated. Results further revealed that profiles were unevenly distributed between the two countries and that profile membership was differentially related to adolescents’ perceptions of school climate and their intentions to participate in civic and political life. The article concludes with a discussion of how consideration of heterogeneity within democratically-competent youth can inform efforts to promote a culture of democracy in transitioning societies.
Journal Article
Transitional justice and democratic consolidation in post-communist Eastern Europe: Romania and Albania
While there are many studies on the democratization trajectory of former communist countries of Eastern Europe, only a few of them have a particular focus on how transitional justice helps democratic consolidation. The present comparative study seeks to fill that gap by focusing specifically on the cases of Romania and Albania, situating them in the wider kaleidoscope of former Eastern Europe. Some of these countries have had a fast implementation of transitional justice measures and successful democratization. Yet, despite adopting an early mechanism of transitional justice, others did not necessarily have any particular success in their democratic endeavour. On the other hand, additional states have had democratic consolidation despite not undertaking such rapid measures (for example Estonia), while others have failed either to adopt the transitional justice mechanisms or democratizing at all (i.e., Belarus). The present paper offers a theoretical framework that seeks to capture and explain such dynamics and by referring specifically to the telling cases of Romania and Albania, to explain what role and impact transitional justice measures have in democratic transitions.
Journal Article
DEMOCRACY STATE AND AUTOCRATIZATION FEATURES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
This article examines the Albanian political regime, as a single case study, for the period 2013-2021, as part of the Western Balkans' experience of democratic backsliding, by investigating the framework of factors linked with the formidable challenge posed by the emergence of a hybrid regime of Albania in these years. For the first time in Albania’s post-communist history, the incumbent Socialist Party of Albania won for the third time in a row the parliamentary elections of April 2021, thus making the bid for the power of the leading opposition parties much harder. This paper uses country-expert statistical data from V-Dem and qualitative data analyses. The study reveals that the over-reliance on strong leaders, the growing government control over public life, fragmentation of the opposition, its lack of appeal, organization and mobilization, the boycott of the parliamentary mandates, combined with the weakening role of media and distrust of the citizens in democratic institutions, led to the resurgence of the authoritarian mechanisms, making the liberal democratic transformation in Albania an increasingly challenging task.
Journal Article
Agents of Change and Continuity: The Pivotal Role of Teachers in Albanian Educational Reform and Democratization
This article explores how teachers navigate and respond to the competing pressures of school change in a global policy context. In postcommunist Albania, national policies reflecting global norms for the teacher’s role overshadowed complex and cultural aspects of teaching and learning and, as a result, led to gaps in implementation. On the basis of ethnographic research and the analysis of two Albanian teachers’ narratives, this article shows the complexity of the teachers’ world as well as their significant dual role as agents of change and stakeholders of continuity. Findings suggest that in response to pressures, teachers selectively adopted reform policies and created hybrid forms of practice. To avoid unintended consequences, policy makers should thus reinforce teachers’ experiential knowledge along with policy aims.
Journal Article
Diasporas and democratization in the post-communist world
If diaspora communities are socialized with democratic values in Western societies, they could be expected to be sympathetic to the democratization of their home countries. However, there is a high degree of variation in their behavior. Contrary to the predominant understanding in the literature that diasporas act in exclusively nationalist ways, this article argues that they do engage with the democratization of their home countries. Various challenges to the sovereignty of their homelands explain whether diasporas involve with procedural or liberal aspects of democratization. Drawing evidence from the activities of the Ukrainian, Serbian, Albanian and Armenian diasporas after the end of communism, I argue that unless diasporas are linked to home countries that enjoy both international legal and domestic sovereignty, they will involve only with procedural aspects of democratization. Diasporas filter international pressure to democratize post-communist societies by utilizing democratic procedures to advance unresolved nationalist goals.
Journal Article
The reality confronting the merit principle in the Albanian civil service
There have been many studies that have investigated the history of the meritocratic competitive testing of public officials, with historians of and researchers in administrative science concluding that China was the first country to apply the principle of merit in selecting public officials through open competition. The novelty of the approach set out in this article is to analyse historic facts through the eye of an employee who has significant experience in the public administration of Albania. There have been attempts to introduce the merit principle in Albania, but these have encountered significant difficulties due to the communist traditions of the country and the problems of its 28-year transition to democracy. In exploring the origin story developing in a faraway eastern country, the questions arise as to why China was the first country in the world to apply the principle of merit in selecting public officials and what lessons this has for Albania today. By combining historical and analytical method, analysing the history of meritocratic competitive testing, this article aims to serve the development of public administration in Albania.
Journal Article
Financial liberalization and reversals: political and economic determinants
What accounts for the dynamics of financial reforms? This paper identifies the political regime as one of the main factors. Focusing on democratization and financial reform, it puts forward novel evidence for a U-shaped relation, across countries and over time, for different reform measures and a wide range of estimators. Partial democracy is a main obstacle to financial reforms and democratization, when incomplete, may lead to severe financial reform reversals.
Journal Article
“Quadratic nexus” and the process of democratization and state-building in Albania and Kosovo: a comparison
This paper examines the interplay between internal and external actors in the process of democratization and state-building in Albania and Kosovo. It does so by using David J. Smith's “quadratic nexus” that links Brubaker's “triadic nexus” – nationalizing states, national minorities and external national homelands – to the institutions of an ascendant and expansive “Euro-Atlantic space”. The main argument of this paper is twofold. First, it argues the nexus remains a useful framework in the study of state-and nation-building provided that it moves beyond the “civic vs. ethnic” dichotomy. Today, many states with a mixture of civic and multi-ethnic elements involve this relational nexus. Second, while comparing Albania and Kosovo, this paper argues that all the four elements of the nexus have a different impact on the process of state- and nation-building and their relationship is more conflictual in Kosovo than in Albania.
Journal Article