VOTING FOR DEMOCRACY: THE EXPERIENCE OF ALBANIA
VOTING FOR DEMOCRACY: THE EXPERIENCE OF ALBANIA
REINA ZENELAJ
27.05.2010
SEE Student Research Conference
Universum Institute for Economic and Social
Studies
I. ABSTRACT
This paper tends to focus on the process of democratization in Albania since 1991. After 20 years of experience, although Albania adopted reasonably free elections, it deepened in corruption and left the role of citizens still underdeveloped and little defusing. Therefore, it’s very legitimate to ask whether the ideology of democracy was failing in Albania, or was it that political leaders tended to distort this theory and apply it in a way that would fit their interests.
To analyze the first part of the question, we present the theory of Perpetual Crises of Democracy of Guillermo O’Donnell that defines democracy as a horizon of hope and dissatisfaction. In other words, its greatest capacity is that it entails hope by expressing the universal human demand for freedom, recognition and respect; and its greatest crisis comes from pending the agenda that readdresses the social ills.
Secondly, to understand the position of Albania, we discuss the need to perceive democracy as a process rather than an event which each state experienced differently depending upon its internal political and international conditions. Therefore, to learn the experience of Albania, we look at the legacies of communism that influenced the path of democratization and consequently all political, social and economic aspect and the external factors that influenced Albanian democratization, with a special attention at the process of EU negotiations.
As a conclusion, we criticize the Albanian practice of democracy but we do not challenge the theory itself. It is crucial to understand that democracy is not only about elections, or what Ivan Krastev calls as “ritual killing” of governments, but it’s about building liberal institutions and empowering citizens. Therefore, democracy will not flourish in Albania until public institutions perform the most fundamental duties in an efficient way.
Keywords: Elections, democracy, communism, European Union
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