By MATILDA KARà‡ANAJ
Every year, under the same problematic situations, Albania brings its people to the Hobbesian State of Nature, where people’s life is one of fear and selfishness. The latest trend in Albania-being hit by serious floods and being unprepared to cope with the situation- is causing a fight and a fear for survival in different flooded areas in the country.
In the State of Nature, people lived without rules and governments to regulate them. The only existing law was that of the nature. The fate of people would be conditioned only in what their own nature reserves for them – a state Albanians have found themselves once again in the beginning of 2016.
Albanian government seems to be indifferent to the same problems that happen repeatedly every year and lacks the initiative to take measures in order to prevent long-term problems.
Hence, the lack of preventive measures from the government, ‘forces’ the government to apply only short-term solutions. Hobbes’ argument that human beings, despite being self-oriented are also reasonable, does not fit the Albanian government; it partially fits the people who have chosen their representatives.However, Albanians, despite agreeing to the social contract by electing their representatives, are still kept in the State of Nature.
In order to leave the State of Nature, Albanians should push their government to respect their social contract. To this point, the outsiders could be a good facilitator but they cannot be the key solution for a role that the Albanian government should take as a regulator of the country. The unwillingness of the Albanian government to take its regulator role, rather than showing a lack of capacities to make Albania a better place to live in, shows a level of immaturity and political irresponsibility.
