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THE IMPACTS OF PAST TOTALITARIANISM ON THE TRANSITION PROCESS

TOWARDS DEMOCRACY IN ALBANIA

MATILDA PAJO

matilda.pajo@universitetiaab.com

PhD, Lecturer, Faculty of Public Administration, AAB College in Prishtina (Kosovo).

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4299-5977

DONIK SALLOVA

donik.sallova@universitetiaab.com

PhD, Assistant Professor – Faculty of Public Administration, AAB College in Prishtina (Kosovo).

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4747-0347

Abstract

More than 30 years have passed since the creation of one of the wildest totalitarianisms of

Eastern Europe, the Albanian one. The Albanian totalitarian regime maintained constant

control for almost 50 years in every social activity through terror and propaganda. Today,

after a long and not easy transition, the country is still trying to find its way to full

democratization. The lack of a functional democracy, the classification as a hybrid regime, as

a partially free country and with a lack of active citizens as an institution of democracy are

just some of the problems that are present in post-communist Albania and that will be

discussed in this paper. The purpose of this paper is to offer a different perspective in the way

we look Albania's path towards full democratization based on the influence of the totalitarian

regime and the need to strengthen the concept of the active citizen and forms of active

volunteering as a way to strengthen democracy, starting from a broader concept, from the

citizen. The article provides a theoretical and practical perspective of totalitarian and post-

communist period of Albania based on reports, statistical data and classic political studies

scholar books.

Keywords

totalitarianism, post-communist, democratization, political culture, hybrid regime..

Resumo

Passaram mais de 30 anos desde a criação de um dos mais extremos totalitarismos da Europa

de Leste, o albanês. O regime totalitário albanês manteve durante quase 50 anos um controlo

constante de todas as atividades sociais através do terror e da propaganda. Hoje, após uma

transição longa e nada fácil, o país ainda está a tentar encontrar o caminho para a

democratização total. A ausência de uma democracia funcional, a classificação de regime

híbrido, de um país parcialmente livre e a falta de cidadãos ativos como instituição da

democracia são apenas alguns dos problemas presentes na Albânia pós-comunista e que serão

discutidos neste artigo. O objetivo é oferecer uma perspetiva diferente sobre a forma como

olhamos para o caminho da Albânia rumo à democratização plena com base na influência do

regime totalitário e na necessidade de reforçar o conceito de cidadão ativo, bem como das

formas de voluntariado como forma de fortalecer a democracia, partindo de um conceito mais

amplo, o de cidadão. O artigo apresenta uma perspetiva teórica e prática do período totalitário

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e pós-comunista da Albânia, com base em relatórios, dados estatísticos e livros clássicos de

estudos políticos.

Palavras-chave

totalitarismo, pós-comunismo, democratização, cultura política, regime híbrido..

How to cite this article

Pajo, Matilda & Sallova, Donik (2025). The Impacts of Past Totalitarianism on the Transition Process

Towards Democracy in Albania. Janus.net, e-journal of international relations. VOL. 16, Nº. 1. May-

October 2025, pp. 415-430. DOI https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.16.1.19.

Article submitted on7th May 2024 and accepted for publication on 8th March 2025.

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL. 16, Nº. 1

May-October 2025, pp. 415-430

The Impacts of Past Totalitarianism on the Transition Process Towards Democracy in Albania

Matilda Pajo, Donik Sallova

417

THE IMPACTS OF PAST TOTALITARIANISM ON THE TRANSITION

PROCESS TOWARDS DEMOCRACY IN ALBANIA

MATILDA PAJO

DONIK SALLOVA

Introduction

The recent developments in Europe, especially the war in Ukraine after the Russian

aggression, brought back into focus the discussion of topics related to the national

security of states, the stability of democracy as a response to the Russian autocratic

political tendencies not only towards Ukraine, but also beyond. Moreover, there is a

tendency to return to the study of authoritarianism and the ways in which today's

democracies can be strengthened in order to be more flexible to the challenges of the

future. In a significant number of studies, a trend towards a democratic stagnation of a

significant part of the European states, including Albania, is noticed in the published

results. From totalitarian dictatorship to democracy. Thus, the more than 30-year path

of the Albanian state to overcome the long and arduous phase towards democratic

transition can be summed up very briefly. The effort to establish essential democratic

institutions, in function of the citizen and his involvement in them, directs us to focus on

the influences of the period of the Albanian totalitarian state by analyzing its influences

after 1991. From a regime that fought and excluded individuality as a human value, in a

regime that embraces it and tries to represent it. It seems idyllic, but not so easy. The

fall of the totalitarian dictatorship did not mean the collapse of the undemocratic political

culture which is still present today.

Communist Albania was under the leadership of dictator Enver Hoxha for 45 years. After

the natural death of dictator Hoxha and the assumption of leadership of the communist

party by Ramiz Alia, the first signs of the weakening of Albanian dictatorship quickly

emerged. The fall of Albanian totalitarianism occurred naturally at a time when every

other regime of this nature in Eastern Europe and the Balkans had already capitulated.

The emergence of the new social and political system, democracy, came about because

the Albanian totalitarian state could no longer prevent the inertia of change coming from

outside the political borders of Albania. The world had changed dramatically, and

Albanian society was already aware of this. As a result, the first protests started with the

students of the University of Tirana and later turned into nationwide protests against the

communist regime.

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"We want Albania like all of Europe" was the message of Albanian youth written on every

banner in the city squares where demonstrations took place. However, the path to

transition towards democracy would not be easy for the poorest and most isolated state

in Europe. The fundamental change in the political, social, and economic regime would

be radical, and the way citizens experienced this system change was also brutal. After

more than 30 years of transition, this process is still unfinished, while democratization in

many aspects has stagnated (European Comission, 2021). Albania is still classified as a

semi-democratic system by international institutions such as Freedom House (Freedom

House, 2021). One of the most lacking dimensions of democracy is the absence of active

citizenship as a democratic consciousness of society.

For democracy scholars, democracy is seen from the perspective of two models:

procedural democracy and substantive democracy. If procedural democracy emphasizes

democratic standards, regulations, and the institutional-legal framework, substantive

democracy (or substantial democracy) emphasizes citizen participation in the political

system of a country and societal support for the political system as determining factors

(Saikal, https://pesd.princeton.edu/node/251). Citizen participation in the political

system, as political culture, is seen as one of the dimensions of the quality of democracy

in different countries worldwide (Almond & Verba, 1963, 23). In this dimension of

substantive democracy, which the post-communist Albanian society is still

underdeveloped in, lies the interest of this work. Thus, the main aim of this work is to

investigate the influence that totalitarian political culture has had on political

developments in post-communist Albania, specifically to highlight the negative and

obstructive role of this influence in building a substantive democracy in Albania. In this

perspective, the role of political culture is considered quite important in the functioning

of such a democracy, where active citizen participation in political processes and

sensitizations is one of the key indicators. It is precisely here that we believe Albanian

democracy struggles the most because, after more than 30 years of transition from the

totalitarian system, an electoral and procedural democracy has been achieved, but the

democratic citizen who is an active and determining political participant within a genuine

substantive democracy has not been built.

Disappointed with the democratic successors of the transition period, or lacking a

tradition of participatory democratic culture, Albanian citizens, for the most part, have

been spectators and indifferent to political developments driven by partisan and clan

interests of political parties in Albania during this post-communist period. Therefore, the

purpose of this work is to analyze and interpret the influence that the totalitarian culture

formed over almost half a century under the communist regime has had on Albanian

society and how this influence has hindered other social agents in building an active and

participatory citizenry in Albanian democracy. Has the long history under a totalitarian

regime influenced the decline of volunteerism in Albanian society, and has it undermined

the existence of a democratic political community in Albania during the post-communist

period? Can there be substantive democracy without a solid political community that

shares a common interest in democracy in this case? Have other social agents managed,

and to what extent, to address the consequences of weakening the sense of community

based on volunteerism in Albania? These and other dilemmas will be examined

throughout this work.

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The scholarly approach of this study will be based on qualitative research methods, as

we aim to analyze and interpret the influence and role of the totalitarian culture in the

fragility of present-day Albanian democracy. We consider all sources from various

international organizations and institutions that provide statistical and analytical data on

the extent and performance of democracy in Albania to be primary for this work, including

the quality of elections, the functioning of institutions, civic accountability, and public

involvement in political and decision-making processes. Another important part of the

sources that will support this work will be the most significant texts of political theory,

especially those that frame substantive democracy.

Enver Hoxha: L'état c'est moi

The Albanian totalitarian regime ruled over political Albania for almost five decades, of

which 45 years were under the leadership of dictator Enver Hoxha. Statistical data

published by the Institute of Studies on Crimes and Consequences of Communism clearly

show the brutality of Albanian totalitarianism. The archive of the Ministry of Interior

proves that up until the 1990s, 25,000 political prisoners were sentenced in Albania.

However, researchers within this Institute claim that this number is between 30,000 and

34,000, as statistical data is missing for the years 1945-1946. In the 2016 report

published by the Institute of Studies on Crimes and Consequences of Communism (ISSK)

in Albania, it was stated that 984 prisoners died in prison, and 308 others lost their

mental abilities. Meanwhile, 5,577 men and 450 women were sentenced to death and

killed by the regime (Institute for the Studies of Communist Crimes and Consequences

in Albania, 2016). The bodies of these victims were never returned to their families.

During the period of 1946-1990, 110 internment camps were built in Albania, which were

camps of forced labor where living conditions and working conditions were among the

most severe. The prisons of Burrel and Spaç were known mainly for their inhumane and

extremely harsh conditions for the enemies of the people. (Bunkart,

http://bunkart.al/2/ekspozita_historike/policia-dhe-sigurimi-ne-kohen-e-diktatures-

/burgjet-dhe-kampet-e-punes).

The persecution, investigation, and elimination of the different, heterogeneous and

unique is essentially at the core of totalitarian logic. Just as with the biological body of a

human, the social body must fight its own diseases, and the "disease" of the totalitarian

system, which could endanger its existence, was freedom, i.e., any entity, group, or

individual that had independent goals that differ from those of the regime. Therefore,

within the totalitarian machinery built in communist Albania, not only the bourgeois,

intellectuals, and good communists referring to Lefort's (Lefort, 2000) term for

communists who believed in the values and principles of Marxist doctrine and attempted

to criticize its actual implementation in society) were fought against, but the individual

himself, or rather the community of free individuals, became the target of the police and

state security.

The idea of the political enemy as a necessary element of the totalitarian regime kept

the population mobilized at all times. The external enemy, the revisionist, the bourgeois,

the imperialist, and the internal enemy (infiltrators of external enemies) were the

justification for the totalitarian state to aggressively direct the state apparatus through

total control measures over society. Only indifference, apathy of action and thought were

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accepted from the individual. As G. Orwell writes, "in totalitarian systems, thinking is a

crime," (Orwell, 2005) as thinking itself is an act of freedom and a challenge to

totalitarian oppression. The uniformity of thought and behavior of the Albanian individual

became the goal of the totalitarian state and its propaganda tools. Conformism, which

is, acting automatically without thinking about the logic behind the action, was achieved

through the use of socializing agents of society by emptying them of their essential

functions and turning them into instruments for the realization of totalitarian ideology.

In these conditions, the individual was alienated from oneself, turned into an amorphous

form without content, and as such, only had meaning within the collective. The collective

was the place where individual homogeneity was dissolved, so throughout the totalitarian

period, we witnessed the strengthening of collective structures and groups so that the

individual would not stand alone, would not think. The totalitarian regime empowered

artificial collective structures through the monopolization of the indoctrination center and

the party. The individual is not left alone with themselves but is heavily worked on within

social homogeneity, the aim of the new socialist society, as Lefort also raises the

question: "Is this not the first time that the dimension of the other has been stopped or

erased?" (Lefort, 2000)

This psychic fluidity, (Fridrich & Brzezinski, 1956) a distinct atmosphere of totalitarian

dictatorship, is created through the collaboration of two phenomena that are

interconnected and are one of those characteristics found only in totalitarian systems and

not in other forms of governance: propaganda and terror. Propaganda and terror work

hand in hand to extend state power into every part of society. Modern mass

communication media, the press, radio, and film all function to transmit the party's

message as the sole source of truth and its interpretation. Propaganda is directed by the

party with the sole purpose of maintaining power and creating a relationship of

manipulating reality between the citizen as the subject of propaganda and the totalitarian

power as its enforcer.

In this context, the Albanian totalitarian regime would reach the extreme of propaganda

and terror towards its citizens by challenging and suppressing any entity, community, or

social segment that had collective influence in Albanian society at the time. In 1972,

Albania would become the world's first officially declared atheist country. The claim to be

the sole source of truth and its interpretation led the totalitarian regime to strive to be

the sole earthly and heavenly authority in totalitarian Albania. Objects of worship were

destroyed, churches and mosques were closed and either ceased to function or were

demolished, priests and clergy were persecuted, interned, and executed by the

dictatorship. A new phase of terror began against anyone who identified themselves with

symbols of religious worship. Only symbols and myths associated with the party were

allowed, an endeavor to establish the party's power as everlasting, rather than merely

earthly and transient.

To dominate the social and private life of the individual was not enough; the Party sought

to be the sole source of truth and its interpretation for the individual. Propaganda and

terror thus worked towards this goal by gradually replacing every social agent along with

their role in society.

Propaganda and terror are closely linked concepts, with propaganda being the means

and form through which terror is conveyed. The construction of communist propaganda

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came gradually with the attempt to idealize and present the new totalitarian order as

utopian/ideal. “In one hand the shovel, in the other the gun”! Join comrades in the ranks

(the party), let's climb the mountain with full bellies, "The masses build socialism, the

party makes them conscious," "Let's sow the hills and mountains, let's make them fertile

like fields," "We will eat with silver spoons (Albanian Party of Labour), “We'll take the

rough with the smooth" (Tautology with slogans in Albania by the propaganda of the

communist regime).

The purpose of the PKSH (Party of Labor of Albania) was the revision of history, its

alteration, and interpretation according to the perspective of the communist

nomenclature. After replacing and fighting against the main religious beliefs in the

country, religion is the opium of the people, now there was a demand to replace the

concept of history itself. In this way, during the totalitarian dictatorship, the individual

had no past or future but only a constant state: the presence of the party within them.

Through propaganda and terror, through the control of social agents by the party and

the fight against these islands of separateness (Fridrich & Brzezinski, 1956), the Albanian

society was transformed into a tabula rasa, devoid of previous content and ready to be

rewritten by the totalitarian regime. In his memoir book, the eminent Franciscan priest,

At Zef Pllumi, writes, "Military drills are the main dish of all dictatorships. The army is a

blind, paid, and thoughtless organism that survives only through obedience: Get ready!

Forward! Backward! Order! This is the iron boot that mercilessly crushes every right and

every human dignity; it is the heart and mind of every tyranny" (Pllumi, 2020). In this

constant state of power exercise by the totalitarian system, social agents were at the

center, their role and function in society.

The most important social agents in the significant process of socialization and promotion

of social, cultural, economic, and political values, beliefs, orientations in society are: the

family, peer groups, educational institutions (kindergartens-schools), religious

institutions, and mass media.

The islands of separateness, as referred to by Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski

(1956), the spaces of freedom where the individual managed to preserve his human

essence, through propaganda and state terror, became the target of the totalitarian

regime. The communist regime of Albania sought to break the intimate cohesion of the

family, weaken and divide this "oasis of freedom," so that the individual would assimilate

within political and collective structures. Every social institution had to be weakened in

order to strengthen the party. Thus, the promotion of socialist morality, the proclamation

of socialist values began within families, and from early childhood, from a very young

age, individuals became subjects of communist indoctrination. There were families

persecuted by the system, with a "stain in their biographies," hiding the truth from their

children who grew up with the illusion of a just, equal, and free society: "Stalin, elevated,

proud and unbeatable, who loved children as he loved freedom, our great Stalin, comrade

with Uncle Enver." (Ypi, 2022).

On the other hand, educational institutions were another instrument of totalitarian power

to shape loyal young people towards Albanian communism and its values. From 1945 to

1990, several reforms were implemented in educational institutions in the country;

profound changes were made in the educational system depending on Albania's political

alliances. In the 1960s, 1963, 1967, and 1970, an even greater phase of ideological

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indoctrination of schools began by increasing the presence of politically oriented subjects

such as History of the Party, Marxism, and so on. Meanwhile, history and literature

subjects became subjects of this ideology. The trinity on which the curriculum was based

was: teaching, productive work, physical and military education, with the aim of creating

entire generations of young people under the model of the socialist "new man."

(Bunkart1, https://bunkart.al/1/ekspozita_muzeale/arsimimi-ne-shqiperi-1945-1990_)

On the other hand, religious institutions were at the brink of survival as a result of the

war against cult objects and religious beliefs in Albania, especially after the 1970s. Mass

media, radio, and television, as well as other forms of official propaganda, were under

state control, and the dissemination of news and the right to information were only done

through the party's version of the truth. This reality would continue until the natural

collapse of the communist system, following the economic surrender of the system and

the inability to keep the country under control. The most evident consequence of almost

50 years in the totalitarian dictatorship was the denaturalization of human relationships

that members of society had with each other and the substitution of natural social

networks with artificial social networks, which were an extension of the party's power

and totalitarian doctrine. Every relationship was politicized, the relationship between the

priest and the believer, between the teacher and the students, between the director and

the ordinary worker, between the head of the family and family members, and even

between the husband and wife in intimate marital relationships. The emptiness of natural

social networks and their alienation through the political dualism of the time changed the

relationships between the self and the other, where the other became the subject of

suspicion and exclusion. The loss of the ability to trust another individual has perhaps

been the greatest cost that Albanian totalitarianism has brought to Albanian society, an

ability that is still lacking 32 years after the fall of the system.

Voluntary work under communism was not voluntary but rather work forced by labor

organizations. Factories and enterprises operated on the same principle as educational

institutions: teaching (ideological), productive work, physical and military education. The

totalitarian state viewed individuals as subjects of exploitation for the advancement and

elevation of the communist system and, on the other hand, as subjects of transformation

to turn them into the model of the socialist "new man." The concept of functioning in the

productive sector was productivity and efficiency, the required yield to sustain the

extensive state apparatus. The same approach was also applied to the construction of

public works, which were built by prisoners of the system in forced labor camps and by

young workers who were still in school.

Public infrastructure, the largest public works, was built through the forced labor of

prisoners and internees in concentration camps. Taking the Soviet gulag model, from

1946 to 1990, labor camps were opened for rock quarrying, canal excavation, railway

construction, or road building (Meta & Frashëri, 2018). After the fall of the communist

dictatorship in Albania and the change of the political regime, new challenges emerged

from unresolved problems of the past in the country's democratic journey.

Today, more than 30 years have passed since the fall of the communist system. Where

does Albania stand in terms of the necessity of the system for political participation and

citizen activism as essential elements of liberal democracy? And above all, has Albania

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managed to build a new political community that would be in line with democracy as a

political and social system?

Post-Communist Albania: Transition from Totalitarian Community to

Democratic Society

We cannot begin discussing the vitality of a society, its ability to mobilize and politically

activate its members, without addressing the public sphere and the concept of

community and its significance. For several decades, scholars and intellectuals have been

concerned about the erosion of the concept of community and the fear of its dissolution.

The rapid development of technology, the empowerment of virtual social networks, and

the emergence of an economic system that has alienated individuals from their local

communities have led to the anonymization of the individual within society. Intense

individualism, atomization of the individual, and a constant sense of loneliness have

resulted in the fading of natural social relationships that have played an important role

in human society for a long period of time (Taylor, 2008). Consequently, states that

emerged from strong totalitarian systems and embarked on the path towards

democratization are most concerned about whether the dissolution of the totalitarian

political community will lead to a new organization of the democratic political community

or not, as well as the timeframe in which it can be achieved.

The concept of community may be one of the ideologically debatable concepts. According

to the Oxford Political Dictionary, community is defined as "a group of people socially

connected by a given location," (Mc Lean & McMillan, 2009) while further interpretations,

depending on ideological orientation, are provided by conservative, socialist, and liberal

doctrines. The perception and sense of belonging to a political community is an important

condition for the sustainable development of societies and states today. Isolation,

individualism, detachment, and the exclusion of individuals from the rest of society

fragment this sense of community in which the individual lives, leaving behind only the

feeling of a lack of belonging. How can one commit to the future in a society to which

they feel they belong? According to Robert Nisbet in his book “The Quest for Community”

the weakening of established social contexts as a result of modern political and industrial

development has led individuals to create fewer secure interpersonal relationships that

have given meaning and stability to human existence (Nisbet, 1996).

Self and other are two categories that determine political, moral, and social relations

within a particular society. If the other is seen as similar to the self or as hostile and

antagonistic, this relationship fundamentally shapes the individual's relationship with the

political community of their country. For almost 50 years, the Albanian people lived within

a totalitarian political community where the authorities aimed to destroy "autonomous

social ties within the population and replace them with new connections, all of which

derive their meaning and approval from the central structures of the state" (Ibidem).

After the fall of the totalitarian system and the radical shift in Albania's political and

ideological orientation, an intensive phase of new political and economic orientations

began with the assistance of international institutions such as the IMF and allied states.

The so-called shock therapy was applied, a concept derived from psychoanalysis, which

implied a radical change in the nature of the country's political and economic policies,

transitioning from the savage communist system to wild capitalist policies (Pusca, 2007).

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The change in Albania's political course happened abruptly, not through a gradual

opening towards democracy and the free market, but rather a direct plunge into the new

world. The situation was surreal for every citizen of the former communist Albania. Just

like in "The Truman Show," where the main character Truman realizes that the reality he

has been living is a manipulation and he himself is a victim of ignorance, he eventually

chooses to leave the cave and seek the truth (the analogy of Plato's cave and the light).

Thus, even before the "Albanian communist man" had completely disappeared, work

began on building the Albanian capitalist man. This kind of radical transition would

highlight a society oriented towards materialism as a value concept (Kocani, 2013).

The change in the political regime happened without social catharsis, without a phase of

societal action in which reflection on the past took place and a public apology was

demanded from the political class for what had happened for over 45 years. "Everyone

was guilty and no one was guilty," this slogan absolved society as a whole from

responsibility for the dictatorship. Meanwhile, the influence of the totalitarian past would

be felt throughout the journey towards democratization of the country. The early years

of post-communist Albania were filled with positive stimuli, especially notable being the

international support. In 1992, Albania was chosen as the Albania-most favorite nation

by the USA, but in 1997, the collapse of the state occurred as a result of the so-called

"pyramid schemes" (UNICEF, 1993).

The event of the pyramid schemes brought back major turmoil, protests, the looting of

public property, and almost a civil war. Disappointment from societal deception through

pyramid schemes, which were licensed and allowed by the state as legal activities, once

again raised the question of whether the Albanian citizen was prepared and willing to be

part of a democratic political system, where alongside civil, political, and social freedoms,

there are also civic responsibilities that need to be fulfilled. Democracy places the free

individual at its core, capable of forming opinions and making decisions in their own and

their community's best interest. A reflection of this is also the selection of various political

alternatives compared to others. But can we speak of a free citizen (in the political sense

of the word), just emerging from a totalitarian regime like Enver Hoxha's? We would say

no, as the journey to freedom for the Albanian citizen begins only after the fall of the

communist system. As sociologist Artan Fuga also writes, for the first time, the Albanian

individual would be alone with themselves after the fall of the communist system (Fuga,

2008). For the first time, they would decide freely for themselves, the education they

would pursue, the profession they would choose, marital relationships, dietary

preferences, and so on.

The initial reaction to the dimension of freedom is fear; freedom is frightening precisely

because it is unknown. Therefore, escaping from freedom led to the demand for other

forms of security: money, materialism, cultivating economic logic within a free market.

As mentioned above, various studies measuring the value system of post-communist

Albanian society have revealed the dominance of a materialistic value profile. In general,

human relationships are also conceptualized within this logic of the "economic man." At

this point, what is the role of formal democratic institutions in a country? Their role is to

shape, educate, and raise awareness among the public, politically emancipating them to

create a democratic political community in the country. According to many researchers,

in states undergoing democratic transition, the role of elites is crucial during this period

of transition from a dictatorial or undemocratic system to a democratic political system,

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and this role of elites cannot be replaced (Wesolowski

, 2009). However, other scholars

argue that awareness and emancipation should be realized by the citizens themselves,

but it is understood that this process is slower and may take a long time.

According to Putnam, social networks hold value for individuals, as "the connections

between individuals—social relationships and norms of reciprocity and trust—derive from

them" (Kierchel, 2000). Above all, according to Putnam (Siisiainen, 2000), the greatest

benefit of social networks and their empowerment is the increase in social trust, which

in turn helps support and renew political and economic institutions in respective societies.

The interaction among members of a community with similar interests and issues that

require solutions strengthens the sense of civic cooperation and the true nature of

democracy, where citizens understand their importance in influencing the political and

social system. Albania still faces deep problems regarding the main dimensions of

democracy: procedural and substantive. In terms of procedural democracy, there are still

difficulties in meeting international standards for the electoral process, such as holding

free and fair elections for all citizens, agreement on the election results, and translating

the will of each citizen into votes. Local elections were held in May 2023, and reports

from international institutions note that the elections were partially fulfilling the

standards, with an emphasis on electoral polarization and the presence of pressure on

voters, along with ongoing concerns about vote-buying (OSCE, 2023a).

The OSCE/ODIHR report on the elections held in May 2023 describes them as partially

accomplished and with standards and principles that are still unfulfilled in their complexity

(OSCE, 2023b). The political competition and competitive nature of the Albanian political

system continue to be more important than addressing local issues directly related to the

quality of life that Albanian citizens have in their respective municipalities. The lack of

focus on the needs and demands of local governance has also been highlighted by

OSCE/ODIHR observers (OSCE, 2023c). If we were to chronologically examine the

observation reports of local and national elections from 1996 to May 2023, we would

repeatedly see the conclusion that the electoral process has been partially free.

Although more than three decades have passed since the beginning of the transition,

there has been little progress in terms of substantial strengthening of democracy in

Albania. According to the Freedom House Nations in Transit reports (1996-2023), Albania

is classified as a hybrid political system, which fulfills some of the basic rights of citizens,

but organized crime, corruption, links between mafia, politics, and business are present,

compromising the overall economic and democratic development of the country Freedom

House, 2023a). In the 2023 Freedom House report, Albania is ranked as a transitional

hybrid regime and democracy in the country is assessed at 3.79/7 points, with almost

negligible progress compared to 2022. Meanwhile, according to this organization that

measures the level of freedom in all countries worldwide, Albania is ranked as partially

free in 2023, with 28/40 evaluated for political rights and 39/60 for civil rights (Freedom

House, 2023).

Another problem as a characteristic of the non-consolidation of democratic Albanian

society in transition is the absence of a highly important element for democracy, such as

the concerned or active citizen. In general, Albanian citizens during the transition period

have been absent from every social and political process related to democracy. Apathy

and the lack of citizen response to major public and national issues is an important

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missing filter of a non-functional democracy. The active/concerned citizen is a watchdog

of democracy, crucial for the political and social system. As a consequence of the

alienation of natural social networks (the creation of social groups) during the totalitarian

dictatorship, the development of natural human relationships during the transition was a

more artificial process, as a result of the continued dualism of the Albanian individual

between who they are and who they claim to be. This aspect of human dualism still

manifests itself in public political and social communication by institutions, political

representatives, but also by ordinary citizens (Fuga, 2019).

There have been several attempts in recent years for a revival of environmentalist

movements, which have had several causes such as the ban on construction in protected

tourist areas, against the importation of waste from abroad, protests in defense of the

national park of Vjose (the last wild river in Europe). However, these gatherings have

not managed to have social support except from the organizers of the protests. It is still

not possible to talk about mass protests like those in Greece on the 2nd anniversary of

the train crash or in Serbia like the protests against government corruption.

Political dualism and the creation of a dichotomous relationship of social reality is

expressed by the endemic culture of political conflict between political party forces in a

country where confrontation is the basic feature of political communication in the political

system. This constant tension influenced by the high level of political confrontation

produces a cyclical cycle of deep political and institutional crises. Albania was the country

with the highest number of parliamentary boycotts in the Western Balkans during the

years 1991-2023. Repeated parliamentary boycotts reflect the lack of democratic

institutional culture and the inability of institutions to resolve political disagreements

through democratic procedures. Boycotts have been a continuous instrument in the

history of Albanian parliamentarism to maximize political interests through radical

instruments such as hunger strikes, abandoning parliament and going out on the streets

(the case of the SP with the hunger strike and placing their umbrellas in the square where

the opposition was located) or the case of the cadres being released as an action of the

PD handing over the mandates (the case of 2019 by the PD). Such precedents of which

the power is used many times when the political actors do not agree with the election

result or the electoral rules or for other disagreements of a political nature created a

situation of political mistrust between political parties by creating weak institutions and

strong political ties.

This has often resulted to be harmful for the country's progress towards the integration

of Albania into the European Union, as cases of parliamentary boycotts occurred at key

moments in the process of visa liberalization, NATO membership, voting for candidate

status, etc. As a result, the country has remained stagnant in some cases as a result of

the inability of the political elites to find the institutional way of communication, where

political competitiveness agrees with the compromise of the country's interests.

The non-institutional character of East- countries like Albania, which have emerged from

long and harsh dictatorships, comes as an influence of the totalitarian period, where the

reaction to concepts such as politics, state, law is associated with negative emotional

load and is a non-rational organic rejection of the totalitarian period. As a result, east

post-communist societies tried to build democratic society, civil society, democratic

citizen, but without political content inside. (Tomash, Feher, Agnes-Heler pg. 45).

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Moreover, the attempt was not successful since politics is a social activity that creates

relationships and interaction between members of society. The identification of the

concept of politics with negative emotional sentiments is related to the totalitarian

experiment where the individual was oppressed by the oppressive state machinery

through terror, propaganda and indoctrination. In more than 30 years, there has been

little or no change in this perception, where a relationship of mistrust still prevails

between the Albanian citizen and the politics. There has been a lack of promotion of

democratic political culture in society, which would build a healthy relationship between

the citizen and the police. The vitality of a democracy is seen in the nature of citizen

engagement and particularly in the response of young people to politically incorrect

actions, public interest issues, rising prices, economic well-being, etc. Albanian youth see

themselves as detached from politics, they do not seek to influence the political system

to improve certain needs or put forward demands. This is also evident in a study

conducted by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), where the findings

(Westminster Foundation for Democracy & Qendresa Qytetare, 2022) show that Albanian

youth are disconnected from politics, with 80% not being involved in political parties or

civil society activities. Only 10.8% are members and 9.2% are activists of political

parties.

Furthermore, the majority of young people lack trust in central and local institutions, with

about 64% of respondents believing that the central and local government does not aim

to serve the needs of society (Ibid, 9). This perception alienates citizens and young

people from their own country's institutions. The lack of a sense of belonging to the public

sphere has consequences for the country and democracy, resulting in approximately 71%

of young people seeing emigration as a short-term or long-term solution to achieve their

goals (Ibid.).

The countries of the Western Balkans (a concept used to indicate the countries left

outside the EU) have a common history regarding the undemocratic systems of the past

and after the 90s the effort for democratization. The Berlin Process has brought about an

approximation of the legislation of these countries with that of the EU, but substantial

progress has not yet been seen, especially in civic education and volunteering as a form

of civic engagement. According to the European Fund for the Balkans and European Policy

Institute (May 2019) the involvement of young people in youth organizations is low and

one of the reasons is the lack of trust in these organizations. The low participation of

young people in various forms of social engagement is a well-known phenomenon in all

former communist countries, which is partly related to the lack of a legal framework for

volunteering. Likewise, volunteerism is closely linked to the civic education of young

people, where the lack of knowledge about the importance of social engagement comes

as a consequence of the lack of cultivation of the concept of active citizenship as a concept

that would strengthen democracy. Membership in civil society is conceived as something

useless since it is an unpaid (free) commitment.

Final reflection: Empowering volunteerism as an opportunity to restore

natural social networks for the sake of democracy

Citizen involvement in decision-making processes and public affairs has been the most

discussed topic in the past decade, especially with a decline in social support for

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democracy, which can be seen in the low levels of citizen participation in electoral

processes and, as a result, the loss of government legitimacy. This well-known issue

among political science scholars has affected a large portion of states and has been

further influenced by the role of virtual social networks (social platforms) which have

started to replace a part of genuine and essential communication based on empathy,

emotions, and human contact (highly important elements) in maintaining relationships

within a community or society. Many European states are dissatisfied with the state of

democracy in their countries (Kent, 2019). There is a close relationship between a state's

economic performance and the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction the country has

towards the democratic system (Ibid). The impacts of the war in Ukraine, in terms of

inflation and the cost of living (Council of European Union, 2022), have led citizens to

have more negative perceptions of the democratic system in a significant number of

European countries and beyond.

The role of the citizen in the polis and their influence on the country's political system is

the essence of much of the world's philosophical thought, from Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau,

Locke, Tocqueville, Kant, to contemporary scholars (Schmidt, 2012). Democracy scholars

call for finding motivating stimuli for citizens to engage more actively in the public sphere

of their country. One good way is to encourage and support forms of social volunteering

that strengthen social networks, foster a sense of community, and increase citizens trust

in their fellow members of society and their country's institutions. Through volunteering,

citizens would contribute to the public interest and feel a new sense of responsibility and

participation when this interest is compromised by the elites of political power. In the

case of Albania, a country that has inherited a complete breakdown of social networks

and a high level of distrust among people from the totalitarian period, volunteering is an

opportunity for re-socialization and the building of trust in the existence of shared values

for all. Without creating this environment of belonging in a social and political community

where common social values and aspirations are shared, political consciousness of the

role of the demos in democracy cannot be developed. The successful transition of Albania

from a totalitarian political system to a democratic one cannot be achieved if this

transition does not also imply a transition of the political community from a

totalitarianized community where interests were overridden by state power to a

community of free individuals where these interests are shaped by the sense of public

interest of all individuals and open discussion about this interest.

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