Albanian Foreign Policy- The Perils of Change a new book from Albert Rakipi
The Balkans and the region’s neighbors have been the main subject of Albania’s foreign policy since the fall of the communist regime 30 years ago. From once being “the center of the world” in asymmetrical and privileged relations with superpowers to ending up in total isolation, the playing field of Albanian diplomacy remains the Balkans, a historically critical and influential region for international relations on a global scale.
Albanian Foreign Policy- The Perils of Change is a collections of essays, analysis and critical views on Albania’s foreign policy, especially in its relations with neighboring countries like Greece, Italy and Kosovo, but also with other countries in the region or of interest in the Balkans, such as Albania’s new relations with Serbia and Turkey.
If these different parts of this book have a common theme, it would be a critical account of Albanian foreign policy in the Balkans and with the two other neighbors both the EU front line member states, Italy and Greece.
The book shed lights to a new trend of Albanian politics and diplomacy in the Balkans — an attempt for change. In general, change — not the status quo — is a sign of a healthy development in international relations. But that’s not always necessarily the case for small countries. What can change bring to the foreign policy of a country like Albania, a NATO member and a candidate for membership in the European Union that has constructive policies in the still unstable Balkans?
It is probably one of the few cases where the status -quo should prevail over change, which carries ambiguities and risks. Change and the risks it contains, when dealing with Albania’s foreign policy, is the first subject of this new book of Albert Rakipi published by Albanian Institute of International Studies.
The second subject is the theoretical perspective on the behavior of weak and small states in international relations, seen through an analysis of the diplomacy and foreign policy of Albania. “It may be the first step for a special book on the foreign policy of weak states, an idea that is becoming more and more important to look into, said the author to Tirana Times.
