The state of Albania has struggled with corruption for a majority of its modern history. The corruption in Albania has gotten to the point of slowing down the state’s democratic growth. The small Balkan state of Albania has had more years of authoritarian control since 1945 than democratic elections. After World War Two Albania fell into the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. The comunist regime collectivized farmland and killed or imprisoned political opponents who resisted collectivization. Albania also served as a member of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet alliance that dominated Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Under communist authoritarian control there were no democratic elections, the arm of government was used constantly to suppress dissent by the people. In the post Cold War period Albania ratified the constitution, and held democratic elections. Under soviet control members of the government and criminals were able to solidify their power and grow their wealth. In the elections that followed the crime families and members of the old government use that power and money to control the outcomes.
Currently Albania is undergoing a period of unrest and, I would argue, democratic Stagnation rather than democratic growth or erosion. In 2019 Albania found itself in a set of contentious local elections which the Democratic Party (PD) and Socialist Movement of Integration (LSI) boycotted, causing the Socialist Party (PS) to win the most Mayoral and Council seats. LSI boycotted the elections on the word of Ilir Meta the President of Albania and member of LSI. Ilir Meta cited a 2017 article from Bild, a German newspaper that reported on a conversation between PS leaders and Astit Advylaj the leader of an organized crime family in Albanian. The conversation PS officials can be heard taking orders from Advylaj as to who to pick as candidates for the upcoming elections. This blatant corruption is causing people in Albania to distrust the political system and doubt its legitimacy. Governments and democracies receive their legitimacy from the people. When people distrust the political system that legitimacy fades away starting the process of democratic erosion. According to the Worldwide Governance Indicator, created by the World Bank, Albania ranked in the 33rd percentile in terms of corruption. Albania also ranked alarmingly low when it came to the rule of law only scoring in the 34th percentile. Albania saw a massive drop from 2017, when the recording of a crime boss and socialist party officials was reported being heard. Corruption in Albanian was in the 33rd percentile 2008, where it is currently ranked after a sump in the early 2010s.
Democracy is not all bad in Albania. Albania has aspirations of joining the European Union, and in order to do that, Albania must meet certain democratic standards. One of the standards is on corruption. In 2019 Albania’s ascension into the EU was blocked. France and Belgium cited fears of corruption in their elections as a reason to block ascension.The aspiration to join the European Union has led Albania to take an active role in fighting corruption. USAID has been working with journalists in Albania to be arbiters and investigate economic crimes and corruption to inform the people, avoid oversight from the corrupt media services and hold the government accountable. Grants are provided to organizations for a variety of reasons including to organizations that oversee elections and target corruption. The mitigation done by the Albanian government has been enough to keep Albania listed as a “partly free state” according to Freedom House.
Corruption is not the only issue stopping the growth of democracy in Albania. Freedom House and the Worldwide Governance Indicator also take issue on the status of the rule of law in Albania. This ties into corruption. The rich and powerful are able to escape prosecution because of their immense wealth. They also benefit from fear of retaliation from government officials. The connection of the PS and organized crime is well known by the Albanian people. These connections cause people to fear retaliation from these shadow entities.
Albania, like many other states in the former Soviet sphere of influence find themselves in a position where their democracy is so new and so fragile that the slightest separation for a democratic norm can upset the system. In order to achieve strong democratic growth Albania needs to not just mitigate the damage of corruption but take active steps to prevent it from happening.
I have been seeing many posts from my Albanian friends who believe that the issues in the country have not been talked about enough in the media. This kind of corruption seems to be a pattern in many countries, especially the point that many of the rich elite can escape persecution due to their financial status. I also agree that corruption is one of the biggest hindrances to the growth of any democracy, great read!.
“ Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely ”
By Sir John Dalberg-Acton
Hi, the article is impressive; it makes me think about my country (Thailand), which comprises many corruptions from government and bureaucracy. However, I think one point that causes Albania to stop democratic growth is the intervention of core countries. I believe democracy is new for Albania, and it is not a problem. The problem is they never receive honesty from democracy countries to aid them being democratic country. It relates to my country that we have corruption in the military system and the corruption is from the dealing of purchasing army equipment (from the strong democracy, such the U.S. or British) until Thais have a metaphor that if we have real democracy and peace, it means they did not sell weapons to us anymore. Also, I have a question: do strong economic countries, would they want semi-periphery and periphery countries without corruption? I am not sure the answer, but I learned from my country that the strong economic countries, which came to invest, tend to give money under table to officials for facilities easy to do the business or else, and most of these countries come with the campaign to support democracy in the country. This is not only Albania’s duty to stop their corruption increase but also the core countries or their coalitions should be honest and support practical democracy to Albania.
Hey Kostas, fascinating article; particularly on your thesis that argues what is going on is a stagnation of democracy rather than a growth or decay. Examining the idea of a hold-position particularly in a nation with more of an authoritarian history and given its strides to join the EU is arguably good news. My question is what do you, based on the country profile, believe is the right area of action to addressing corruption? In Nara Pavão’s Corruption as the Only Option: The Limits to Electoral Accountability he mentions the difficulties in fighting corruption in governments known for them. He cites a sort of preemptive pessimism from the people who will view accountability efforts to be less effective by default courtesy of its pervasive nature, along with the other side in that where its common across party lines people will overlook it. Alternatively do you view this as a matter of political education and partial transition out of its less democratic roots? I think to Weitz-Shapiro and Winter’s Can Citizens Discern? Information Credibility, Political Sophistication, and the Punishment of Corruption in Brazil (albeit much different geographical region) correlated political knowledge with intolerance towards corruption. Is corruption in Albania an issue that will remain in stagnation, or do you see a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel in pushing towards democracy?