Rama - The end of communist rule in Albania : political change and the role of the student movement

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the Albanian Student Movement of 19901991. To date, there are no thorough studies of the first year of the post-Communist transition in Albania, which constitutes the most critical period of transition. The lessons to be learned are vast and of great importance to the debates on social movements, mobilization, and transition.

Renowned scholars of modern Albanian history, led by the former leader of the Albanian Student Movement, Shinasi A. Rama, provide a study of the critical role played by this movement in the political transformation of Albania from a totalitarian cult-state to a multiparty political system during 19901991. Their informed analyses combined with first-hand knowledge of the events during a key period of Albanian history shed light on the Student Movement, its ideology, values, contributions, and its relationship to the system and to the ruling caste. The authors come to the core conclusion that the Student Movement remained an independent player that achieved change in the political system at a crucial juncture.

The End of Communist Rule in Albania is a much-needed contribution in the fields of social movements, democratization studies, Communist and Post-Communist politics, and Albanian Studies.

Shinasi A. Rama is a Clinical Professor of Politics with the International Relations Program at New York University. He was a co-founder of the Democratic Party of Albania, served as the Spokesman of the Provisional Government of Kosova in the USA, and was the Political Advisor of the Kosovo Liberation Army. After the war, Prof. Rama served as a Senior Political Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Interim Government of Kosova and an Adviser to the Commandant of the Kosovo Protection Corps. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of The International Journal of Albanian Studies.

Conceptualising Comparative Politics: Polities, Peoples, and Markets

Edited by Anthony Spanakos (Montclair State University) and Francisco Panizza (London School of Economics)

Conceptualising Comparative Politics seeks to bring a distinctive approach to comparative politics by rediscovering the disciplines rich conceptual tradition and inter-disciplinary foundations. It aims to fill out the conceptual framework on which the rest of the subfield draws but to which books only sporadically contribute, and to complement theoretical and conceptual analysis by applying it to deeply explored case studies. The series publishes books that make serious inquiry into fundamental concepts in comparative politics (crisis, legitimacy, credibility, representation, institutions, civil society, reconciliation) through theoretically engaging and empirically deep analysis.

5. Migration Governance across Regions

State-Diaspora Relations in the Latin American-Southern Europe Corridor

Ana Margheritis

6. What Kind of Democracy?

Participation, Inclusiveness and Contestation

Kateina Vrblkov

7. Trust and Terror

Social Capital and the Use of Terrorism as a Tool of Resistance

Ammar Shamaileh

8. Manipulating Political Decentralisation

Africas Inclusive Autocrats

Lovise Aalen and Ragnhild L. Muriaas

9. Shaping Citizenship

A Political Concept in Theory, Debate and Practice

Edited by Claudia Wiesner, Anna Bjrk, Hanna-Mari Kivist and Katja Mkinen

10. The End of Communist Rule in Albania

Political Change and The Role of The Student Movement

Edited by Shinasi A. Rama

First published 2020

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2020 Taylor & Francis

The right of Shinasi A. Rama to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rama, Shinasi A., 1959- editor.

Title: The end of communist rule in Albania : political change and the role of the student movement / edited by Shinasi A. Rama.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2020.. |

Series: Conceptualising comparative politics : polities, peoples, and markets 10 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019018428 (print) | LCCN 2019980685 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367193607 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429519574 (mobi) | ISBN 9780429512711 (pdf) | ISBN 9780429516146 (epub) | ISBN 9780429242991 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Student movements--Albania--History--20th century. |College students--Political activity--Albania--History--20th century. |Youth--Political activity--Albania--History--20th century. |Post-communism--Albania. | Albania--Politics and government--1990

Classification: LCC LA1040.A4 E64 2019 (print) |LCC LA1040.A4 (ebook) |DDC 371.8/1094965--dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019018428

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019980685

ISBN: 978-0-367-19360-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-24299-1 (ebk)

For Aidan R. and Ashtin B.: Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Fred Abrahams is a special advisor at Human Rights Watch. Among other publications, Abrahams has co-authored A Village Destroyed: War Crimes in Kosovo (2002). He is the author of Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy (2015).

Mirela Bogdani holds a doctorate and currently is an Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Tirana. Among her books are Albania and the EU: The Tumultuous Journey towards Integration and Accession (2007) and Turkey and the Dilemma of EU Accession: When Religion Meets Politics (2010).

Luisa Chiodi holds a Ph.D. from the European University Institute of Florence and is the Director of the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. Among her contributions are the edited volume (with Francesco Priviterra) Guida ai paesi ell Europa Centrale e Balcanica (Bologna, 2006); Transnational Policies of Emancipation or Colonization: Civil Society Promotion in Post-Communist Albania (Florence, 2007); her edited volume The Borders of the Polity: Migrations and Security across the EU and the Balkans (Ravenna, 2005); and Mass Migration, Student Protests and the Intelligentsia Popullore in the Albanian Transition to Democracy, Working Paper Series/Report, 2012/02.

Llukman Halili holds the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences from the University of Zadar, Croatia and is affiliated with The Helvetian Institute of South Eastern European Studies. With Blerim Shala, in 1992 he published a long interview with the former President of Albania Ramiz Alia, Une Ramiz Alia, dshmoj pr historin