ALBANIA WAS THE LAST COUNTRY in Eastern Europe during the early 1990s
to undergo a transition from a totalitarian communist regime to an
incipient system of democracy. Because Albania was isolated from the
outside world and ruled by a highly repressive, Stalinist-type
dictatorship for more than four decades, this transition was especially
tumultuous and painful, making a gradual approach to reform difficult.
Following the establishment of the People's Republic of Albania in
January 1946, Albania became a rigid police state, dominated completely
by the communist party and by Marxism/Leninism. Although Albania
operated under the facade of constitutional rule, the communist party,
led by Enver Hoxha, who was also president of Albania, actually
controlled all aspects of the political, social, and economic systems.
Hoxha pursued a repressive internal policy, while at the same time
implementing a highly isolationist foreign policy. His reliance first on
the financial aid and political protection of a sequence of patron
states, then insistence on Albania's economic self-reliance, and a
highly centralized economic system caused Albania to lag far behind its
neighbors in terms of economic development.
After Hoxha died in 1985, his hand-picked successor, Ramiz Alia, who
became party leader while retaining his post as titular head of state
(chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly), at first appeared
to be carrying on Hoxha's tradition of hard-line policies. But it soon
became clear that he was more flexible than his predecessor and was
willing to institute badly needed political and economic reforms that
attempted to prevent the country from collapsing into anarchy. These
reforms, however, were largely cosmetic and insufficient to meet the
demands of the growing radical elements in the population. By 1991,
popular dissatisfaction with Alia's regime had mounted, causing
considerable political instability and social unrest. The civil war in
neighboring Yugoslavia
(see Glossary) served only to exacerbate the growing political and
social tension within Albania. Alia resigned following his party's
resounding defeat in the spring 1992 multi-party election, and a new
government undertook the task of building democracy in a country that
for close to five decades had been isolated from the outside world,
dominated by a highly repressive political system, and devoid of
free-market, private enterprise.
<>ORIGINS OF THE
POLITICAL SYSTEM
The communists gained a foothold in Albanian politics during World
War II, when they became the founders and leaders of the National
Liberation Movement (NLM), which came into existence during the Italian
and German occupations. Hoxha, a former schoolteacher who became first
secretary of the Albanian Communist Party (ACP) in 1941, was a prominent
wartime resistance leader and was largely responsible for the success of
the communists in achieving a position of political dominance towards
the end of the war.
As leaders of the NLM, the Albanian communists were successful in
arousing active opposition to the Italian army and, after September
1943, to the German army. Toward the end of the war, the communists
worked unceasingly to ensure that they would exercise political power in
liberated Albania. In October 1944, the renamed National Liberation
Front transformed itself into the provisional democratic government of
Albania, with Hoxha as prime minister. By the time German troops had
withdrawn from Albania in November 1944, almost all organized resistance
to communism had been crushed.
Albania - Albania after World War II
The People's Republic of Albania was proclaimed on January 11, 1946,
by a newly elected People's Assembly. The assembly, which was elected in
December 1945, initially included both communists and noncommunists.
Within a year, however, all noncommunists had been purged from the
assembly and were subsequently executed. The communists had a monopoly
of power by the end of 1946.
The new regime acted swiftly to consolidate its position by breaking
up the power of the middle class and other perceived opponents. The
communist party tried before special tribunals those classified as
"war criminals," a designation that came to include anyone who
was unsympathetic to the new government. Members of the landed
aristocracy and tribal chieftains were arrested and sent to labor camps.
More than 600 leaders were executed during the new government's first
two weeks in power. In an effort to strengthen its grip on the economy,
the government promulgated a series of laws providing for strict state
regulation of all industrial and commercial enterprises and foreign and
domestic trade. The laws legalized the confiscation of property of
political opponents in exile and anyone designated an "enemy of the
people" and levied a crushing "war-profits tax" against
the economically prosperous members of the population. As part of its
program to nationalize industry, the government confiscated all German
and Italian assets in Albania and revoked all foreign economic
concessions. All means of transportation were also nationalized. As far
as the peasantry was concerned, the new government was cautious. The
Agrarian Reform Law of 1945 nationalized all forests and pasturelands,
but landowners who possessed farm machinery were allowed to keep up to
forty hectares for farming.
Albania - The Hoxha Regime
Hoxha was the most powerful leader in modern Albania, occupying at
times the posts of prime minister, minister of defense, and commander in
chief of the armed forces, while continuing to serve as first secretary
of the ACP. He was head of state from 1944 until 1985. His main rival in
the initial period of his rule was the minister of internal affairs and
head of the dreaded secret police, Ko�i Xoxe. Xoxe was close to the
Yugoslavs and was arrested in 1948 as a Titoist
(see Glossary) following Albania's break with Yugoslavia. The next most
influential political figure was Mehmet Shehu, who became prime minister
when Hoxha relinquished this post in July 1954.
Hoxha's efforts to impose a rigid, repressive political and
government structure on Albania met with little active resistance until
the country's declining standard of living and poor economic performance
led to such dissatisfaction that unrest began to spread in 1965-66. In
response, the Hoxha government initiated the Cultural and Ideological
Revolution in February 1966, which was an attempt to reassert communist
party influence on all aspects of life and rekindle revolutionary
fervor. By 1973 demands for a relaxation of party controls and for
internal reforms were creating considerable pressure on Hoxha. The
pressure led him to launch a series of purges of top cultural, military,
and economic officials. In 1977, for example, an alleged "Chinese
conspiracy" was uncovered, which resulted in the dismissal and
arrest of several top military officials.
In keeping with its Stalinist practices, Albania's government pursued
a rigorously dogmatic line in domestic policy, instituting highly
centralized economic planning and rigid restrictions on educational and
cultural development. In 1976 a new constitution was promulgated, the
third such constitution since the communists came to power. The 1976
Constitution, which changed the official name of the country to the
People's Socialist Republic of Albania, was little different from the
1950 version. It paid lip service to such institutions as the Supreme
Court and the People's Assembly, but it affirmed the primary role of the
communist party, known as the Albanian Party of Labor (APL) from 1948.
Whatever gains the Hoxha leadership achieved in socioeconomic terms
were diminished by the sharp repression in all areas of life, and
Hoxha's decision to keep Albania isolated retarded the country's
technological growth to such an extent that it became economically
inferior to all of its neighbors.
The early 1980s were marked by further purges in the government and
party in preparation for the impending succession to Hoxha, who was in
ill health. Although Prime Minister Shehu had been regarded as the
second most powerful leader, especially because he had significant
support in the police and military, Hoxha decided against naming him as
his successor. Instead, Hoxha began a campaign against him, which
culminated in Shehu's alleged suicide in December 1981. Hoxha then
proceeded to arrest all of Shehu's family and supporters.
Albania - Alia Takes Over
Before Hoxha died in April 1985, after more than forty years as the
unchallenged leader, he had designated Ramiz Alia as his successor. Alia
was born in 1925 and had joined the Albanian communist movement before
he was twenty years old. He had risen rapidly under Hoxha's patronage
and by 1961 was a full member of the ruling Political Bureau (Politburo)
of the APL. Hoxha chose Alia for several reasons. First, Alia had long
been a militant follower of Marxism-Leninism
(see Glossary) and supported Hoxha's policy of national self-reliance.
Alia also was favored by Hoxha's wife Nexhmije, who had once been his
instructor at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. Alia's political
experience was similar to that of Hoxha; and inasmuch as he appeared to
share Hoxha's views on most foreign and domestic issues, he easily
accommodated himself to the totalitarian mode of ruling. That he had
managed to survive several waves of extensive purges bespoke his
political prowess and capacity for survival.
The second-ranking member of the leadership after Hoxha's death was
Prime Minister Adil �ar�ani, a full member of the Politburo since
1961. Among the fifteen candidate and full members of the party's
Politburo in 1985, nine were members of the postwar generation and most
had made their political careers after Albanian-Soviet ties were severed
in 1961. By late 1986, both the Politburo and the party's other
administrative organ, the Secretariat, were dominated by Alia's
supporters.
When Alia took over as first secretary of the APL, the country was in
grave difficulty. Political apathy and cynicism were pervasive, with
large segments of the population having rejected the regime's values.
The economy, which suffered from low productivity and permanent
shortages of the most basic foodstuffs, showed no sign of improvement.
Social controls and self-discipline had eroded. The intelligentsia was
beginning to resist strict party controls and to criticize the regime's
failure to observe international standards of human rights. Apparently
recognizing the depth and extent of the societal malaise, Alia
cautiously and slowly began to make changes in the system. His first
target was the economic system. In an effort to improve economic
efficiency, Alia introduced some economic decentralization and price
reform in specific sectors. Although these changes marked a departure
from the Hoxha regime, they did not signify a fundamental reform of the
economic system.
Alia did not relax censorship, but he did allow public discussions of
Albania's societal problems and encouraged debates among writers and
artists on cultural issues. In response to international criticism of
Albania's record on human rights, the new leadership loosened some
political controls and ceased to apply repression on a mass scale. In
1986 and 1989, general amnesties brought about the release of many
long-term prisoners. Alia also took steps to establish better ties with
the outside world, strengthening relations with Greece, Italy, Turkey,
and Yugoslavia. A loosening of restrictions on travel and tourism
resulted in a more promising outlook for Albania's tourist trade.
By the late 1980s, Alia was supporting a campaign for more openness
in the press and encouraging people to talk freely about Albania's
problems. As a result, controversial articles on a range of topics began
to appear in the press. Not everyone, however, was happy with Alia's
cautious program of reform. The entrenched party bureaucrats were
worried that they would lose their powers and privileges and hence
resisted many of the changes. Thus Alia's regime was not able, or
willing, to attempt changes that would put an end to the repressive
elements of the system.
Albania - ALBANIA'S COMMUNIST PARTY
Albania's communist party, in early 1992, was in a state of
transition, and its future remained uncertain. Known from 1941 to 1948
as the Albanian Communist Party, from November 1948 as the Albanian
Party of Labor (APL), and from June 1991 as the Socialist Party of
Albania (SPA), the communist party was organized along lines similar to
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The 1976 constitution
recognized the special status of the APL, which controlled the
political, cultural, and economic life in the country. According to the
Article 3 of the constitution, the party is the "leading political
force of the state and of the society." The party was organized on
the principle of democratic
centralism (see Glossary), under which the minority had to submit to
the majority and could not express disagreement after a vote. The
highest organ of the party, according to the party statutes, was the
party congress, which met for a few days every five years. Delegates to
the party congress were elected at party conferences held at the
regional, district, and city levels. The party congress examined and
approved reports submitted by the Central Committee, discussed general
party policies, and elected a Central Committee. The latter was the next
highest echelon in the party hierarchy and generally included all key
officials in the government, as well as prominent members of the
intelligentsia. The Central Committee directed party activities between
party congresses and met approximately three times a year.
As in the Soviet Union, the Central Committee elected a Politburo and
a Secretariat. The Politburo, which usually included key government
ministers and Central Committee secretaries, was the main administrative
and policy-making body and convened on a weekly basis. Generally the
Central Committee approved Politburo reports and policy decisions with
little debate. The Secretariat was responsible for guiding the day-to-
day affairs of the party, in particular for organizing the execution of
Politburo decisions and for selecting party and government cadres.
The Ninth Party Congress of the APL was convened in November 1986,
with 1,628 delegates in attendance. Since 1971, the composition of the
party had changed in several respects. The percentage of women had risen
from 22 percent in 1971 to 32.2 percent in 1986, while 70 percent of APL
members were under the age of forty. The average age of members in the
newly elected Central Committee was forty-nine, as compared with an
average age of fifty-three in the previous Central Committee. The new
Central Committee elected a Politburo of thirteen full and five
candidate members. In his speech at the Ninth Party Congress, Alia did
not indicate any significant departure from the policies of Hoxha, but
he launched a campaign to streamline the party bureaucracy and improve
its efficiency. Alia urged that standards of cadre training and
performance be raised in an effort to rid the system of bureaucrats who
were so concerned with protecting their privileges that they blocked the
implementation of new economic policies. The Politburo also instituted a
policy whereby cadres in positions that were vulnerable to graft and
corruption would be rotated on a regular basis.
At the Ninth Plenum of the Central Committee in January 1990, Alia
announced further modest reforms. Meetings of all lowerlevel party
organizations would be open to the masses; secretaries of party
organizations could serve no longer than five years; one-third of the
membership in state organs had to be renewed each legislative term; and
at each congress of the APL a third of the delegates would be replaced.
These reforms, however, appeared to be ineffectual after Albania
underwent radical changes in its political culture in 1990-91. As was
the case in the Soviet Union and in other countries of Eastern Europe,
attempts at cautious reform in response to unrest gave rise to
widespread manifestations of discontent. On December 11, 1990, student
protests triggered the announcement at the Thirteenth Plenum of the
Central Committee of the APL that a multiparty system would be
introduced in time for the general elections set for February 1991.
Following the multiparty election in the spring of 1991, the APL, later
the SPA, emerged as the dominant partner in a coalition government. The SPA was defeated in the spring 1992 general
election, receiving only 26 percent of the vote.
Albania - THE GOVERNMENT APPARATUS
The Council of Ministers, formally approved by the People's Assembly,
served as the executive branch of the government, taking charge of
activities in the social, economic, and cultural spheres. The APL's
Politburo actually chose the Council of Ministers, which in early 1991
consisted of twenty-one members. At the same time, some ministers were
members of the Politburo, and all belonged to the APL. This fact enabled
the party to exercise strong supervision and direction over the Council
of Ministers, and, indeed, the council's main function was to ensure
that Politburo decisions were carried out. The Council of Ministers was
headed by a chairman, the de facto prime minister, who was chosen by the
party leadership. In January 1982, Adil Carcani succeeded Mehmet Shehu
as prime minister and was, in turn, replaced by Fatos Nano in February
1991.
People's councils, elected for three-year terms, were responsible for
government at twenty-six district levels as well as regional and city
levels. They maintained order, enforced laws, and were charged with
protecting citizen's rights. The councils met twice a year for a few
days, and between sessions their work was conducted by executive
committees.
Albania - Courts
The highest judicial organ was the Supreme Court, whose members were
elected to a four-year term by the People's Assembly in a secret ballot.
The Supreme Court consisted of a chairman, deputy chairmen, and
assistant judges and made its decisions collegially. Officers of courts
at the lower levels--district and regional courts--were elected in a
similar manner by people's councils. Trials were generally open to the
public and were often held in places of employment or in villages in
order to make them accessible.
After abolishing the Ministry of Justice in the 1960s, the Albanian
leadership placed supervision of the country's legal and judicial system
in the hands of the prosecutor general. Then in 1983, the Ministry of
Justice's Office of Investigations, charged with investigating criminal
cases, was placed under the direct supervision of the Presidium of the
People's Assembly, ostensibly to make the legal system more responsive
to the needs of the people. Whatever organizational changes occurred,
the courts themselves had little independence in practice because of
party interference in both the investigative process and court
proceedings. In 1990 the Ministry of Justice was reestablished, with a
mandate for supervising the courts and coming up with a program of
judicial reform. As of early 1992, the creation of such a program was
still underway.
Albania - MASS ORGANIZATIONS
The mass media had long served as an important instrument for the
government's efforts to revolutionize society along communist lines. One
of the first acts of the communists when they came to power in 1944 was
to seize control of the media, although formal nationalization of media
operations did not occur until 1946. Thereafter the press, radio, and
later television were used to justify communist rule and instil Marxist
values in the population.
The press, radio, and television were also used to mobilize the
population to support and participate in the implementation of regime
programs, such as economic plans, antireligious policies, or campaigns
to promote literacy. In order to appeal to the sentiments of the masses,
much of the media's message had a nationalist content, evoking feelings
of loyalty and pride associated with Albanian independence. The media
also served to keep party and government officials in check through
exposure of corruption and inefficiency.
The media were closely controlled by the party through the exercise
of vigorous censorship until 1990, when the leadership began to moderate
policies and to gradually allow for the expression of views that ran
counter to the official line. Before 1990 all individuals who worked in
the mass media, whether editors, film directors, or television and radio
producers, were subject to strict party discipline and rigid guidelines.
The most important daily newspaper was Zeri i Popullit (Voice of the
People), published by the party's Central Committee. As a result of the
democratic changes that began in 1990, Zeri i Popullit lost its
substantial circulation to the new, liberal papers that started to
emerge. By 1991 several opposition papers had emerged, including the
popular and outspoken Rilindja Demokratike. In response to the changing
public mood, Zeri i Popullit dropped the hammer and sickle insignia from
its masthead, along with the Marxist slogan "Proletarians of the
World Unite." It then joined with opposition newspapers in the
campaign to expose and denounce the corruption and privileges of the
ruling elite.
Albania - REFORM POLITICS
In 1990 Albania had the youngest population in Europe, with the
average age at twenty-seven, Albanian youth had been discontented and
restless for some time before the regime began to make changes. Although
efforts were made to keep Albania isolated from the rest of the world,
television broadcasts from other European countries reached Albanian
citizens, and the young could see "bourgeois" lifestyles and
the political ferment that was occurring elsewhere in Eastern Europe. In
addition, the working class was suffering the dire consequences of
Albania's declining economy, and conditions were worsened by a terrible
drought in 1989. In October 1989, workers and students in the southern
district of Sarand� staged protests against the regime's policy of work
incentives, and several protesters were arrested. A more serious protest
had occurred in May 1989 at the Enver Hoxha University at Tiran�. At
first students were simply demanding better living conditions, but their
grievances soon acquired a more political character and were treated as
a distinct threat by the regime. Although the protest eventually ended
without bloodshed, it caused the regime to reassess its policy toward
young people and to consider such measures as improving living standards
and educational facilities in order to ease the discontent that had been
building up among students.
Alia and his colleagues dismissed the Soviet Union's concepts of glasnost'
(see Glossary) and perestroika
(see Glossary) as irrelevant to the Albanian experience. Demonstrating
his ideological purity, Alia claimed that communism collapsed in Eastern
Europe because these states deviated from orthodox Marxism. At the Ninth
Plenum of the party's Central Committee in January 1990, however, Alia
announced some modest political reforms. In addition, he presented limited
economic reforms that called for some management authority at state farm
and enterprise levels and for improvements in wage and price regulations
to increase the role of material incentives.
In general, Alia's reforms suggested that the party leadership was
nervous and defensive, and Alia seemed anxious to convince the Central
Committee that Albania should not follow the path of other East European
countries. Albanian leaders seemed to fear that anything but very
limited reform could lead to the social and political upheaval that had
occurred elsewhere in Eastern Europe. But Alia's half-measures did
little to improve the economic situation or to halt the growing
discontent with his regime.
Some Albanian intellectuals, such as the sociologist Hamit Beqeja and
the writer Ismail Kadare, recommended more radical changes, particularly
with regard to democracy and freedom of the press. As their demands
grew, these intellectuals increasingly clashed with the conservatives in
the party and state bureaucracy. In October 1990, it was announced that
Kadare, Albania's most prominent writer, had defected to France. The
defection dealt a blow to Albania's image both at home and abroad,
especially since the writer had sent a letter to Alia explaining that he
had defected because he was disillusioned with the slow pace of
democratic change in the country. The official reaction to Kadare's
defection was to condemn it as a "grave offense against the
patriotic and civil conscience" of Albania, but his work continued
to be published within the country.
Albania - Human Rights
Albanian citizens had few of the guarantees of human rights and
fundamental freedoms that have become standard in Western democracies. A
large and very effective security service, whose name was changed in
July 1991 from the directorate of State Security (Drejtorija e Sigurimit
te Shtetit--Sigurimi) to the National Information Service (NIS), helped
to support the rule of the communist party by means of consistently
violating citizens' rights and freedoms. According to Amnesty
International, political prisoners were tortured and beaten by the
Sigurimi during investigations, and political detainees lacked adequate
legal safeguards during pretrial investigations. Most investigations
into political offenses lasted for several months. Such violations were
described in Kadare's literary works.
Alia's regime took an important step toward democracy in early May
1990, when it announced its desire to join the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE--see
Glossary), while at the same time introducing positive changes in its
legal system. A prerequisite for membership in the CSCE is the
protection of human rights. The United Nations Human Rights Committee
had severely criticized Albania for its human rights abuses in 1989, and
in May 1990 the secretary general of the United Nations (UN) visited
Albania and discussed the issue of human rights. The results of these
efforts were mixed, but in general the leadership became more tolerant
of political dissent.
Deputy Prime Minister Manush Myftiu announced in 1991 a long list of
legislative changes that were designed to improve Albania's human rights
record. Among the reforms were the right to a speedy trial, legal
defense and appeal; the reduction of the number of crimes punishable by
death; the right of all nationals to obtain passports for travel abroad;
and the removal of loopholes in the definition of crimes against the
state. The government also eased its persecution of religious practice
and even allowed some religious activity and "religious
propaganda". Restrictions on travel were liberalized, and the number of
passports issued was increased significantly. In addition, foreign
broadcasts, including those from Voice of America, were no longer
jammed.
Albania - Further Moves Toward Democracy
The communist regime faced perhaps its most severe test in early July
1990, when a demonstration by a group of young people in Tiran�, the
nation's capital, led about 5,000 to seek refuge in foreign embassies.
To defuse the crisis in July 1990, the Central Committee held a plenum,
which resulted in significant changes in the leadership of party and
state. The conservatives in the leadership were pushed out, and Alia's
position was strengthened. Alia had already called for privatizing
retail trade, and many businesses had begun to operate privately. Then
in late July, the Politburo passed a law stating that collectivefarm
members should be given larger plots of land to farm individually.
In a September 1990 speech to representatives of Albania's major
social and political organizations, Alia discussed the July crisis and
called for electoral reform. He noted that a proposed electoral law
would allow all voting to take place by secret ballot and that every
precinct would have at least two candidates. The electors themselves
would have the right to propose candidates and anyone could nominate
candidates for the assembly. Alia also criticized the bureaucratic
"routine and tranquility" of managers and state organizations
that were standing in the way of reform.
Despite Alia's efforts to proceed with change on a limited, cautious
basis, reform from above threatened to turn into reform from below,
largely because of the increasingly vocal demands of Albania's youth. On
December 9, 1990, student demonstrators marched from the Enver Hoxha
University at Tiran� though the streets of the capital shouting slogans
and demanding an end to dictatorship. By December 11, the number of
participants had reached almost 3,000. In an effort to quell the student
unrest, which had led to clashes with riot police, Alia met with the
students and agreed to take further steps toward democratization. The
students informed Alia that they wanted to create an independent
political organization of students and youth. Alia's response was that
such an organization had to be registered with the Ministry of Justice.
The student unrest was a direct consequence of the radical
transformations that were taking place in Eastern Europe and of Alia's
own democratic reforms, which spurred the students on to make more
politicized demands. Their protests triggered the announcement on
December 11, 1990, at the Thirteenth Plenum of the APL Central
Committee, that a multiparty system would be introduced in time for the
general elections that were set for February 1991. The day after the
announcement, the country's first opposition party, the Albanian
Democratic Party (ADP), was formed.
The Thirteenth Plenum of the APL Central Committee also announced an
extensive shakeup in the party leadership. Five of the eleven full
members of the Politburo and two alternate members were replaced. Among
those dismissed was Foto Cami, the leading liberal ideologist in the APL
leadership. Cami's ouster came as a surprise because he was on close
terms with Alia, but apparently Alia was dissatisfied with his failure
to deal with the intellectuals effectively.
The student unrest that began in Tiran� gave rise to widespread
riots in four of the largest cities in northern Albania. Violent clashes
between demonstrators and security forces took place, resulting in
extensive property damage but, surprisingly, no fatalities. Apparently
Alia had given the police strict orders to restrain themselves during
confrontations with demonstrators. However, Alia issued stern public
warnings to the protesters on television, claiming that they had been
misled by foreign influences and opportunistic intellectuals.
The crisis was analyzed in the Albanian press in an usually candid
manner. On December 17, the Democratic Front's daily newspaper,
Bashkimi, described what had occurred and then warned that such violence
could lead to a conservative backlash, suggesting that conservative
forces posed a real threat to the process of democratization in the
country. The outspoken nature of the article, the first instance of open
criticism of the security agencies, indicated that the government was
prepared to allow intellectuals and reformers to express their views in
the media. Later that month, the Council of Ministers set up a state
commission to draft a law on the media and formally define its rights,
thus reducing the APL's direct control over the press. The council also
authorized the first opposition newspaper, Relindja Demokratike.
Another important sign of democratization was the publication on
December 31 of a draft interim constitution intended to replace the
constitution of 1976. The draft completely omitted mention of the APL.
It introduced a system with features similar to those of a parliamentary
democracy, while at the same time strengthening the role of the
president, who would be elected by a new People's Assembly. The
president was to assume the duties of commander in chief of the armed
forces and chairman of the Defense Council, positions previously held by
the party first secretary. Also on December 31, the government eased
restrictions on private trade in the service and light industry sectors,
indicating a general trend toward a less centralized economy.
In his traditional New Year's message to the Albanian people, Alia
welcomed the changes that had been occurring in the country and claimed
that 1991 would be a turning point in terms of the economy. But despite
positive signs of change, many Albanians were still trying to leave
their country. At the end of 1990, as many as 5,000 Albanians crossed
over the mountainous border into Greece. Young people motivated by
economic dissatisfaction made up the bulk of the refugees.
Albania - Multiparty System
Alia and his political colleagues did not respond to demands by
reformers for a multiparty system until the pressure became too great to
resist. After the government was finally forced to introduce political
pluralism and a multiparty system, several opposition parties were
created. The first was the Albanian Democratic Party (ADP), formed on
December 12, 1990. One of the founders of the party was the
thirty-five-year-old Gramoz Pashko, a physician and a former APL member
and son of a former government official. The party's platform called for
the protection of human rights, a free-market economy, and good
relations with neighboring countries. At the end of 1990, the ADP
started organizing rallies in various cities intended to help people
overcome their fear of expressing political views after decades of
authoritarian control. Thousands of people attended the rallies. The ADP
supported the rights of the large Albanian population in Kosovo, a
province in the Serbian Republic of Yugoslavia, and advocated a
reduction of the length of military service.
By early February 1991, the ADP had an estimated membership of 50,000
and was recognized as an important political force both at home and
abroad. The ADP was led by a commission of six men, the most prominent
of whom were Sali Berisha, a cardiologist, and Pashko. Berisha, a strong
nationalist, vigorously defended the rights of the Albanian residents of
Kosovo, and Pashko was an outspoken advocate of economic reform. The
party's newspaper, Rilindja Demokratike, was outspoken in its political
commentary. Its first issue, which appeared on January 5, 1991,
criticized the government very aggressively.
The second main opposition party, the Republican Party, headed by
Sabri Godo, was founded in January 1991. The Republican Party, which
soon had branches in all districts of the country, advocated a more
gradual approach to reform than that espoused by the ADP. Several other
opposition parties with reform platforms were formed; they include the
Agrarian Party, the Ecology Party, the National Unity Party, and the
Social Democratic Party.
Albania held its first multiparty elections since the 1920s in 1991.
The elections were for the 250 seats in the unicameral People's
Assembly. The first round was held in February and runoff elections took
place on March 31, and a final round was held in April. Staff members of
the CSCE observed the voting and counting of ballots on election day.
They found that the process was orderly, although some complaints of
irregularities were reported. The turnout was an extremely high 98.9
percent. The APL emerged as the clear victor, winning some two-thirds of
the seats. The margin enabled it to maintain control of the government
and choose a president, Ramiz Alia, who had previously been chairman of
the Presidium of the earlier People's Assembly.
The ADP captured 30 percent of the seats in the People's Assembly, as
opposed to 67.6 percent acquired by the APL. Although the APL bore the
burden of being the party responsible for past repression and the severe
economic woes of Albania, it nonetheless represented stability amidst
chaos to many people. This fact was particularly true in the
countryside, where the conservative peasantry showed little inclination
for substantial changes in their way of life. Another advantage for the
APL was its control of most of the media, particularly the broadcast
media, to which the opposition parties had little access. It was
therefore able to manipulate radio and television to its advantage.
Although many conservative leaders won election to the People's
Assembly, Alia lost his seat. Alia had surprised many people by adopting
a new, apparently pragmatic, approach to politics in the months leading
up to the election. He had faced a serious challenge in mid-February,
when unrest erupted again among students at the Enver Hoxha University
at Tiran�. Approximately 700 students went on a hunger strike in
support of a demand that Hoxha's name should be removed from the
university's official name. The demand was a serious attack on the
country's political heritage and one that Alia refused to countenance.
He resisted student demands and stressed the necessity of preserving law
and order, thereby antagonizing those who had expected him to be more
moderate.
In April 1991, Albania's new multiparty legislature passed
transitional legislation to enable the country to move ahead with key
political and economic reforms. The legislation, the Law on Major
Constitutional Provisions, was in effect an interim constitution, and
the 1976 constitution was invalidated. The words "socialist"
and "people's" were dropped from the official title of
Albania, so that the country's name became Republic of Albania. There
were also fundamental changes to the political order. The Republic of
Albania was declared to be a parliamentary state providing full rights
and freedoms to its citizens and observing separation of powers. The
People's Assembly of at least 140 members elected for a four-year term
is the legislature and is headed by a presidency consisting of a
chairman and two deputies. The People's Assembly elects the president of
Albania by secret ballot and also elects the members of the Supreme
Court. The president is elected for five years and may not serve more
than two consecutive terms or fill any other post concurrently. The
president does, however, exercise the duties of the People's Assembly
when that body is not in session. The Council of Ministers is the top
executive body, and its membership is described in the interim
constitution. The law on Major Constitutional Provisions is to operate
as Albania's basic law until adoption of a new constitution, to be
drafted by a commission appointed by the People's Assembly.
The constitutional changes of April 1991 made it obligatory that Alia
resign from all of his high-level posts in the APL in order to accept
the post of president, and the amendments depoliticized other branches
of government, including the ministries of defense, foreign affairs, and
public order. The People's Assembly also gained regulation of the radio,
television, and other official news media.
Albania - The Coalition Government of 1991
Prime Minister Fatos Nano, a moderate communist, did well in the
spring 1991 elections, and he was able to set up a new government, which
he established in February 1991. His postelection cabinet consisted
mostly of new faces and called for radical market reforms in the
economy. In outlining his economic program to the People's Assembly,
Nano presented an extremely bleak picture of the economy. He said that
the economy was in dire straits because of the inefficiencies of the
highly centralized economic system that had existed up to that point,
and be advocated extensive privatization as a remedy. He also announced
government plans to reform and streamline the armed forces.
Nano's twenty-five-member cabinet and his progressive economic and
political program were approved in early May 1991. But the outlook for
his administration was clouded by the fact that a general strike had
almost completely paralyzed the country and its economy. Indeed, the
situation became so dire that Nano was ousted and a "government of
national salvation" was created, in which the communists were
forced to share power with other parties in the executive branch for the
first time since the end of World War II. The new government, led by
Prime Minister Ylli Bufi, was a coalition of the communists, the ADP,
the Republican Party, the Social Democratic party, and the Agrarian
Party. It took office in June 1991.
Just days later, also in June 1991, the Tenth Party Congress of the
APL took place in Tiran�. Delegates voted to change the name of the
party to the Socialist Party of Albania (SPA) and elected a reformist
leadership under Nano. Former Politburo member Xhelil Gjoni gave the
keynote address to the congress. He openly attacked the late dictator,
Hoxha, and even went so far as to criticize Alia. His speech was a
milestone for the Albanian communists and signified the end of the
Stalinist line pursued by the party until that time. The new program
adopted by the party stressed the goal of making a transition to a
modern, democratic socialist party.
Alia also gave a speech at the party congress, in which he, too,
sanctioned a significant reform of the party. But it appeared as though
he were under a political shadow. By July 1991, he had come under severe
attack from various political quarters. Serious and highly damaging
allegations were made by several of Alia's former associates. One
detractor charged that Alia had given orders for police to fire on
unarmed demonstrators in February 1991, and others openly questioned his
claims to have started the process of democratization in Albania. The
campaign against Alia was apparently designed to discredit him and force
him to step down.
In response, Alia made a great effort to portray himself as a real
reformist. In early August 1991, he addressed the nation on television
to talk about the attempted coup in the Soviet Union. He said that
Mikhail S. Gorbachev's ouster only encouraged all kinds of dictators and
he deplored the actions of the selfdeclared Soviet State Committee for
the State of Emergency. The subsequent defeat of the Soviet coup was
described by Alia and others as a victory for the forces of reform.
An earlier sign that the government was making an attempt to break
with the nondemocratic traditions of the past was the announcement in
early July that the notorious Sigurimi, the Albanian secret police, had
been dissolved and replaced by a reformed security organization. The new institution, the National Information
Service (NIS), was to be far more attentive to individual rights than
its predecessor had been. The move to disband the Sigurimi and form the
NIS coincided with a steep rise in crime and a wave of Albanians fleeing
to Italy, an exodus that the NIS was unable to stem. The refugee problem
reached epidemic proportions in August 1991, with 15,000 Albanians
seeking asylum in Italy; most were later returned to Albania.
In many respects, Alia was a political survivor. He had managed to
remain a key political figure throughout several political crises.
Although he had some genuine concerns for stability and continuity, he
was not inflexible. He changed in response to the circumstances and
accommodated the demands of the reformers. Nonetheless, with Albania in
the throes of a grave economic crisis, Alia had to face challenges that
he could not surmount. After the collapse of the coalition government in
December 1991 and the ADP's landslide victory in the spring 1992 general
election, he resigned as president on April 3, 1992. On April 9, the
People's Assembly elected ADP leader Sali Berisha as Albania's new head
of state.
Albania - FOREIGN POLICY
Several factors contributed to Albania's foreign policy, but
nationalism was probably the single most important factor. Albanian
nationalism had developed over years of domination or threat of
domination by its more powerful neighbors: Greece, Italy, and
Yugoslavia. The partition of Albania in 1912, when Kosovo and other
Albanian-inhabited territories were lost, left the country with a deep
sense of resentment and hostility to outsiders. Traditional fears of
being dismembered or subjugated by foreigners persisted after World War
II and were aggravated by Hoxha's paranoia about external enemies.
To offset the influence of Yugoslavia, Hoxha made an effort to
improve relations with the Western powers, but was largely unsuccessful.
Following the 1946 purge of Sejfulla Maleshova, the leader of the party
faction that advocated moderation in foreign and domestic policy,
Albania's relations with the West deteriorated, and both the United
States and Britain withdrew their foreign envoys from Tiran�. Albania's
application to join UN was also rejected (Albania did join the UN in
December 1955). Hoxha made peace with Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslavia's
president, and in July 1946 signed the Treaty of Friendship,
Cooperation, and Mutual Aid with Yugoslavia. Yugoslav influence over
Albania's party and government increased considerably between 1945 and
1948. Yugoslavia came to dominate political, economic, military, and
cultural life in Albania, and plans were even made to merge the two
countries.
Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform
(see Glossary) in 1948 gave Hoxha an opportunity to reverse this
situation, making his country the first in Eastern Europe to condemn
Yugoslavia. The treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia was abrogated;
Yugoslav advisers were forced out of Albania; and Xoxe, the minister of
internal affairs and head of the secret police, was tried and executed,
along with hundreds of other "Titoists." As a result of these
changes, Albania became a full-fledged member of the Soviet sphere of
influence, playing a key role in Stalin's strategy of isolating
Yugoslavia. In 1949 Albania joined the Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance ( Comecon--see
Glossary) and proceeded with a program of rapid, Soviet-style,
centralized economic development.
Tiran�'s close relations with Moscow lasted until 1955, when the
post-Stalin leadership began pursuing a policy of rapprochement with
Yugoslavia. As part of the de-Stalinization process, Moscow began to
pressure Tiran� to moderate its belligerent attitude toward Yugoslavia
and relax its internal policies. Hoxha managed to withstand this
challenge and to resist the pressure to de-Stalinize, despite the fact
that the Soviet Union resorted to punitive economic measures that caused
Albania considerable hardship. In 1960 the Soviets attempted to engineer
a coup against Hoxha, but were unsuccessful because Hoxha had learned of
their plans in advance and had purged all pro-Soviet elements in the
party and government.
By 1960 Albania was already looking elsewhere for political support
and improving its relations with China. In December 1961, the Soviet
Union, while embroiled in a deep rift with China, broke diplomatic
relations with Albania, and other East European countries sharply
curtailed their contacts with Albania as well. Throughout the 1960s,
Albania and China, countries that shared a common bond of alienation
from the Soviet Union, responded by maintaining very close domestic and
foreign ties. China gave Albania a great deal of economic aid and
assistance, while the latter acted as China's representative at
international forums from which the Chinese were excluded. Although
Tiran�'s break with Moscow had been very costly in economic terms,
Albania made no effort to reestablish ties with the Soviet Union. In an
address to the Fifth Congress of the APL in November 1966, Hoxha made it
clear that Albania intended to stay close to China.
The 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, however, marked the
beginning of a gradual estrangement between Albania and China, primarily
because Hoxha realized that an increased Soviet military threat could
not be offset by an alliance with a country that was far away and
militarily weak relative to the superpowers. Hoxha sanctioned a cautious
opening toward neighboring countries such as Yugoslavia and Greece,
although he continued to be concerned about the domestic effects of
moving too far from foreign policy that excluded all countries except
China.
Another cause of the estrangement was the realization that Chinese
aid was not enough to prevent Albania from having serious economic
problems. Albania's experience with financial assistance from communist
powers from 1945 to 1978 had begun to make it wary of becoming so
dependent on any outside entity. A chill in relations with China began
to occur following the death of Mao Zedong in September 1976, and in
July 1978 China terminated all economic and military aid to Albania, an
action that left Albania without a foreign protector.
In the late 1970s, Albania embarked on a policy of rigid
self-reliance. Having broken ties with the two leading communist states,
Albania aspired to total economic independence and declared itself the
only genuine Marxist-Leninist country in the world. The government was
actually forbidden to seek foreign aid and credits or to encourage
foreign investment in the country. Hoxha rigidly adhered to
Marxism-Leninism, seeing the world as divided into two opposing
systems--socialism and capitalism. But he also led Albania in a
two-front struggle against both United States "imperialism"
and Soviet "social-imperialism." For example, Albania refused
to participate in CSCE talks or sign the Helsinki
Accords (see Glossary) in 1975 because the United States and the
Soviet Union had initiated the negotiating process.
Albania - Changes in the 1980s
Hoxha had basically used the threat of external enemies to justify a
repressive internal policy. His primary goal was to stay in power, and
an isolationist foreign policy suited this goal. But some members of the
APL leadership began to question the efficacy of such a policy,
particularly in view of its adverse economic consequences. At the end of
the 1970s, Hoxha was pressured into sanctioning a cautious effort to
strengthen bilateral relations with Albania's neighbors, in particular
Yugoslavia. Bilateral cultural contacts between the two countries
increased, and by 1980 Yugoslavia had replaced China as Albania's main
trading partner. In the early 1980s, however, Yugoslavia's military
suppression of ethnic Albanians demonstrating in the province of Kosovo
led to a chill in Albanian-Yugoslav relations. Approximately two million
ethnic Albanians lived in Kosovo, and Albania supported Kosovo's demands
that it be granted the status of a republic. Yugoslavia responded by
accusing Albania of interfering in its internal affairs, and cultural
and economic contacts were severely reduced. Trade between the two
countries stagnated.
In the early 1980s, a diplomatic shift toward Italy, Greece, and
Turkey occurred. In November 1984, Alia, as Hoxha's heir apparent, gave
a speech in which he expressed an interest in expanding relations with
West European countries. He noted that "Albania is a European
country and as such it is vitally interested in what is occurring on
that continent." Relations with Italy and Greece became noticeably
stronger in the early and mid-1980s. In 1983 Albania signed an agreement
with Italy on establishing a maritime link between the ports of Durr�s
and Trieste. The two countries also ratified a long-term trade
agreement, whereby Albania would send Italy raw materials in exchange
for industrial technology. Albania entered into a longterm economic
accord with Greece in December 1984, and the two countries also signed a
series of agreements on road transportation, cultural exchanges,
scientific and technological cooperation, telecommunications, and postal
services. Albania's closer relations with Italy and Greece caused
Yugoslavia concern, primarily because it appeared preferable to Belgrade
to have Albania isolated. But Albania worried that West European
countries would allow Yugoslavia to dictate its policies if it failed to
develop strong relations with other countries in the region.
Albania - Alia's Pragmatism
On succeeding to Hoxha's party leadership post in 1985, Alia
reassessed Albania's foreign policy. He realized that it was imperative
for Albania to expand its contacts with the outside world if it were to
improve its economic situation. He was eager in particular to introduce
Western technology, although limited foreign-currency reserves and
constitutional bans on foreign loans and credits restricted Albania's
ability to import technology.
Alia's public statements indicated that in pursuing his country's
foreign policy objectives he would be less rigid than his predecessor
and put political and economic concerns ahead of ideological ones. Thus,
at the seventy-fifth anniversary of Albania's independence in 1987, Alia
stated, "We do not hesitate to cooperate with others and we do not
fear their power and wealth. On the contrary, we seek such cooperation
because we consider it a factor that will contribute to our internal
development."
In February 1988, Albania participated in the Balkan Foreign
Ministers Conference, held in Belgrade. The participation was a clear
sign of a new flexibility in Albania's foreign policy. During the 1960s
and 1970s, Albania had refused all regional attempts to engage in
multilateral cooperation, but Alia was determined to end Albania's
isolation and return his country to the mainstream of world politics.
This new approach entailed an improvement of relations with Yugoslavia.
Indeed, Alia apparently realized that Albania had nothing to gain from
confrontation with Yugoslavia over the Kosovo issue, and he ceased
endorsing Kosovar demands for republic status in his public statements.
The government's conciliatory approach to Yugoslavia was expressed fully
in a declaration by Minister of Foreign Affairs Reis Malile at the
conference. Malile said that the status of Kosovo was an internal
Yugoslav problem.
Trade and economic cooperation between Albania and Yugoslavia
increased greatly toward the end of the 1980s. But Kosovo again became a
source of tension when the Yugoslav government imposed special security
measures on the province and dispatched army and militia units in
February and March 1989. These actions resulted in violent clashes
between Yugoslav security forces and the Albanian inhabitants of Kosovo.
Albania denounced Yugoslavia's "chauvinist policy" toward
Kosovo and noted that if the oppression continued, it would adversely
affect relations between Albania and Yugoslavia. For its part,
Yugoslavia threatened to close down Albania's only rail link to the
outside world, a move that would have caused great hardship to Albania.
In December 1989, a Yugoslav newspaper reported alleged unrest in
northern Albania; President Alia denounced this report and similar ones
as a foreign "campaign of slander" against Albania. He denied
reports of unrest and said that Yugoslavia was trying to stir up trouble
to divert attention from ethnic troubles in Kosovo.
By the late 1980s, Albania began to strengthen further its relations
with Greece. The substantial Greek minority in Albania motivated Greek
concern for better communications with Albania. It was especially important for Greece that Albanian nationals
who were ethnically Greek should be allowed to practice the Greek
Orthodox religion. Greece offered Albania hopes of economic and
political ties that would offset the deterioration in relations with
Yugoslavia. Albania and Greece had already signed a military protocol on
the maintenance and repair of border markers in July 1985. In August
1987, Greece officially lifted its state of war with Albania, a state
that had existed since World War II, when Italy had launched its attack
on Greece from Albanian territory. In November 1987, the Greek prime
minister visited Tiran� to sign a series of agreements with Albania,
including a long-term agreement on economic, industrial, technical, and
scientific cooperation. In April 1988, the two countries set up a ferry
link between the Greek island of Corfu and the Albanian city of Sarand�.
In late 1989, however, their relations began to worsen when some Greek
politicians began to express concern about the fate of the Greek
minority in Albania, and a war of words began. This hostility marked a
sharp departure from the trend over the past decade.
Albania's relations with both Turkey and Italy improved after the
death of Hoxha. In May 1985, Prime Minister �ar�ani sent a message to
the Italian prime minister, Bettino Craxi, stating that he hoped
cooperation between the two countries could be increased. In late 1985,
however, there was a slight setback in Italian-Albanian relations when
six Albanian citizens sought refuge in the Italian Embassy in Tiran�
and the two countries found it difficult to settle the dilemma. The six
were allowed to remain in the embassy until Albania finally gave
assurances that they would not be persecuted.
An important step toward ending Albania's isolation and improving its
relationships with its neighbors was Tiran�'s offer to host the Balkan
Foreign Ministers Conference in October 1990. The conference was a
follow-up to the Belgrade conference of 1988 and was the first
international political gathering to take place in Albania since the
communists came to power. The conference came at a good time for the
Albanian leadership, which was attempting to project a new image abroad
in keeping with the democratic changes beginning to take place within
the country. For Albania it was an opportunity to increase its prestige
and boost its international image in the hopes of becoming a fullfledged
member of the CSCE. In fact, the latter aim was not achieved by the
conference, and it was not until June 1991, after a visit by CSCE staff
members to observe Albania's first multiparty elections, that Albania
was accepted as a full member of the CSCE.
Albania - Albania Seeks New Allies
By the mid-1980s, Alia recognized that in order to ameliorate
Albania's serious economic problems, trade with the West had to be
significantly expanded. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
was on the top of the list of potential economic partners. In 1987
Albania established diplomatic relations with West Germany, after first
dropping claims for war reparations. Albania hoped to obtain advanced
technology from West Germany, along with assistance in improving its
agricultural sector and modernizing its transportation system. In
November 1987, Albania signed an agreement with West Germany, which
enabled it to purchase West German goods at below market prices; and in
March 1989, West Germany granted Albania 20 million deutsche marks in
nonrepayable funds for development projects.
Albania initiated discussions with many private Western firms
concerning the acquisition of advanced technology and purchase of modern
industrial plants. It also asked for technical assistance in locating
and exploiting oil deposits off its coast. But the problems for Albania
in pursuing these economic aims were considerable. The main problem was
Albania's critical shortage of foreign currency, a factor that caused
Albania to resort to barter to pay for imported goods. Tied to this
problem was the economy's centralized planning mechanism, which
inhibited the production of export commodities because enterprises had
no incentive to increase the country's foreign-exchange earnings. An
even greater problem until the 1990s was the provision in the 1976
Albanian constitution prohibiting the government from accepting foreign
aid.
In addition to paying more attention to Albania's close neighbors and
Western Europe, Alia advocated a reassessment of relations with other
East European countries. A more flexible attitude was adopted, and
relations with the German Democratic Republic (East Germany),
Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria significantly improved in the late 1980s. In
June 1989, the East German foreign minister Oskar Fischer visited
Albania; he was the first senior official from the Soviet bloc to visit
the country since the early 1960s. Alia personally received Fischer, and
a number of key agreements were signed that led to expanded cooperation
in industry and the training of specialists. By 1990 long-term trade
agreements had been signed with most East European states. The Comecon
countries were willing to accept Albania's shoddy manufactured goods and
its low-quality produce for political reasons. After 1990, however, when
these countries were converting to market economies, they no longer had
the same willingness, which made it considerably more difficult for
Albania to obtain much-needed foreign currency. The Albanian media,
nonetheless, greeted the revolutions in Eastern Europe with favor,
covering events with an unusual amount of objectivity. The government in
Tiran� was among the first to attack Romanian dictator Nicolae
Ceausescu and to recognize the new government in Romania. As far as the
Soviet Union was concerned, however, Albania continued to be highly
critical of its former ally and denounced Gorbachev's policy of
perestroika. Apparently Albania was also concerned about what it saw as
Soviet support for Yugoslavia's handling of the Kosovo issue.
Nevertheless, the Soviet Union continued to call for improved relations
with Albania.
Albania's attitude toward the United States traditionally had been
very hostile. Relations with Washington were broken in 1946, when
Albania's communist regime refused to adhere to prewar treaties and
obligations. Alia showed a different inclination, however, after a visit
to Tiran� in 1989 by some prominent Albanian Americans, who impressed
him with their desire to promote the Albanian cause. In mid-February
1990, the Albanian government reversed its long-standing policy of
having no relations with the superpowers. A leading Albanian government
official announced: "We will have relations with any state that
responds to our friendship with friendship." No formal contacts
between the United States and Albania existed until 1990, when diplomats
began a series of meetings that led to a resumption of relations. On
March 15, 1991, a memorandum of understanding was signed in Washington
reestablishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. United
States secretary of state James Baker visited Albania in June 1991,
following the CSCE meeting in Berlin at which Albania was granted CSCE
membership. During his visit, Baker informed the Albanian government
that the United States was prepared to provide Albania with
approximately US$6 million worth of assistance. He announced that the
United States welcomed the democratic changes that were taking place in
Albania and promised that if Albania took concrete steps toward
political and free-market reforms, the United States would be prepared
to offer further assistance.
Alia's pragmatism was also reflected in Albania's policy toward China
and the Soviet Union. The Albanian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
made an official visit to China in March 1989, and the visit was
reciprocated in August 1990. On July 30, 1990, Albania and the Soviet
Union signed a protocol normalizing relations, which had been suspended
for the previous twenty-nine years. The Soviet-Albanian Friendship
Society was reactivated, and Alia met with the Soviet foreign minister,
Eduard Shevardnadze, when they were both in New York to visit the United
Nations in September 1990. No longer were the United States and the
Soviet Union considered to be Albania's most dangerous enemies.
Alia's trip to the United Nations was the first time that an Albanian
head of state had attended an official meeting in the West. The purpose
of the trip was to demonstrate to the world that Albania had a pragmatic
and new foreign policy. While at the United Nations, Alia delivered a
major foreign policy address to the General Assembly in which he
described the changes that had taken place in Albania's foreign policy
and emphasized that his country wanted to play a more active role in
world events. In his address, Alia discussed the ongoing efforts of the
Albanian leadership to adjust the external and internal politics of
Albania to the realities of the postcommunist world.
The internal politics of Albania, driven by a collapsed economy,
social instability, and democratic ferment, portend continued changes in
the institutions of government in the early to mid-1990s and in the
relationship between the country's leaders and its citizens.
* * *
Materials on Albania are not as readily available as those on other
countries in Eastern Europe. Nonetheless, a few useful monographs on
Albanian politics and government have appeared. The Albanians: Europe's
Forgotten Survivors, by Anton Logoreci, and Socialist Albania since
1944, by Peter R. Prifti, both of which were published during the 1970s
provide useful accounts of political developments in Albania since World
War II. Albania: A Socialist Maverick, by Elez Biberaj, offers a more
up-to-date picture of the political scene in Albania, pointing out the
positive and negative aspects of the changes taking place there. Among
the more useful articles on Albanian politics is Biberaj's "Albania
at the Crossroads," which analyzes political events in 1991 and
offers a perspective on what might be expected for Albania's future.
Also of value are the regular articles on Albanian politics by Louis
Zanga, appearing in the Munich weekly Report on Eastern Europe,
published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
