By Edlira Majko
The Albanian Institute for International Studies and its partners organized in the end of October the international conference “Twenty Years After: Rethinking Democracy and State in Albania” where you were one of the keynote speakers. What is your opinion of the topics covered in the conference?
The range of topics was truly impressive; and so was the range of speakers. The organisers should be given full credit for doing a first-class job. They arranged for leading politicians, thinkers and experts from Albania as well as for a wide cross-section of foreign analysts- both seasoned observers of Albania and scholars of the younger generation- to participate in the conference. Among the topics discussed, there was a focus on the promises, achievements and failures of the 20 years of transition; an in-depth exploration of the development of Albanian democracy; and a look at the prospects of Albania’s European integration. I was particularly interested in the personal memories of those who visited Albania before during or immediately after the chaotic developments that transformed the country in the early 1990s. Having visited Albania for the first time in 1990 on an organised package tour, when journalists were not yet welcomed, and then on numerous occasions- as a reporter- in subsequent years, it was fascinating to compare my own recollections of the momentous changes of that period with the memories of others who witnessed the same events.
How would you assess these two decades of Albania’s transformation? How has Albania changed in these 20 years?
I think it would be fair to say that Albania has changed more dramatically and more comprehensively than any other of the formerly communist-ruled countries of Eastern Europe. Of course, that is hardly surprising if we take the starting point of the transformation in 1990, when Albania was in practical terms a Stalinist state. By contrast, that kind of totalitarian system had been gradually dismantled from the 1950s onwards elsewhere in Eastern Europe (with the exception of Romania under Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship), and was then completely swept away by the democratic revolutions of 1989. In Albania, the changes have been truly staggering: from one-party communist rule to a working, if at times dysfunctional, democracy; from a single radio and TV network and a handful of newspaper acting as propaganda organs of the state to a wide variety of competing and contrasting views, expressed in the electronic and print media; from poverty, unmatched at the time anywhere else in Europe, to modest prosperity for an increasing number of people (and wealth for a few). But perhaps the biggest improvements have taken place in the infrastructure: buildings, roads, bridges, the electricity supply and so on. In the mid-1990s, visitors from the less war-ravaged parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina used to express surprise at the state of decay affecting the infrastructure in Albania. Today they would see a country reborn.
BBC has played an important role in the democratic changes of Albania. You have worked at the BBC World Service as a journalist covering Central and South-eastern Europe and as Head of the Albanian Service. Can you share for our readers some memories from that time?
It has been my good fortune to have the opportunity to report, analyse and comment on developments in Albania since the mid-1980s. For much of that period- for two decades starting in 1986- I worked as the BBC’s central and south-east Europe analyst. Equally, it was privilege to be able to work closely with Albanian colleagues in London, Tirana, Prishtina, Shkup and elsewhere, when I was helping to run the BBC’s Albanian Service for brief, but very exciting, periods in 1993-94 and in 1997-98. The most striking experience for me of that involvement was the trust in which the BBC was held. This trust was reflected in the huge share of radio audiences in Albania, and among Albanians elsewhere. It was also expressed in the listening habits of influential figures in many areas of life who told us how they would listen to the BBC Albanian Service at the same time every day to be informed about developments in Albania, the Balkans and the rest of the world. Obviously, it was easier to enjoy that degree of trust and popularity at a time when the Albanian media were still emerging into the age of democracy and learning the professional skills that go with competition among the electronic and traditional forms of media.
Can we say for sure that the Albanian transition, meaning the replacement of the totalitarian state regime with a democratic state and the transformation of a centralized economy with a market economy, has already ended?
There can be no doubt that Albania has made a decisive shift away from a totalitarian form of government under communist rule and from the associated centralised “command and control” that prevailed in the economy. Many important aspects of democracy and the market economy have been adopted and are becoming embedded in the political and economic practices in the country. In that sense, the transition has been broadly completed. Having said that, the process of change in Albania continues- just as the process of development it carries on in societies, such as those of Western Europe that embarked on the path of democracy much earlier and have not had saddled with a comparatively recent legacy of dictatorial control over political life and the economy. As the succession of recent financial crises has demonstrated, there are many shortcomings in west European countries, and these problems have a political as well as economic dimension. Yet, whatever the problems elsewhere, Albania has much ground to cover before it can catch up with countries that are further ahead in the process of improving democratic practices and economic policy. In Albania’s case the European Commission’s annual progress report is a valuable guide to the shortcomings that still exist.
Can you draw a balance-sheet of Albania’s main achievements and failures in these past 20 years?
I have partly answered that question in my earlier replies relating to developments in democratic politics, the media and the market economy. But to complete the balance-sheet, I would add one big achievement: replacing the earlier hostility towards neighbouring countries with good, often friendly, relations. This positive change has been part of Albania’s success in promoting its Euro-Atlantic integration, which has earned it NATO membership and will lead to EU accession in due course. One big failure that cannot be glossed over is the inability, or unwillingness, of politicians and the judiciary to crack down on corruption, which by all accounts remains widespread. Beyond the world of politics and the politicians, I would also highlight a major achievement in the way Albanians have opened up to the rest of the world, if for no other reason, because so many of the country’s citizens have had to seek work or education in Greece, Italy, Britain and elsewhere. This opening up has brought many positive changes, such as greater tolerance for the views and opinions of others, a willingness to innovate and an enthusiasm for trying new and different approaches, whether in business, education or in other areas of life. These gains need to be set against some of the losses: a weakening of community and family cohesion- and some of the traditional values associated with a strong sense of belonging- which has been inevitable as family members have been separated for long periods by the need to find work far away from home.
Gabriel Partos is a Balkans editor/analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. He previously worked at the BBC World Service as a journalist covering Central and Southeastern Europe and as Head of the Albanian Service; and at the UK Foreign Office as a research analyst. His publications include The World that Came in from the Cold, an interview-based history of the Cold War (published in Albanian as Bota q롥rdhi prej t롦tohtit).
