|
Albania
Government and Politics
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.
Data as of April 1992
|
