EU power in the democratization process of Albania?
Keywords:
EU power, democratization, Albania, authoritarianismAbstract
This paper examines Albania as a Western Balkan country, by investigating the European Union (EU) integration process framework of factors linked with its democracy. In the last decade WBs countries have shown tendencies of stagnation of democratization and over-reliance on strong leaders. The paper deals with some of EU toolbox limits and deadlocks to achieve democratic governance focusing on Albania. On the one hand, strategically EU and its member states are seen to become more self-centered, making thus the EU actorness in the latest as in the Western Balkans less concerned with enlargement. On the other hand, the weakening of the EU integration process, not a clear membership perspective for these countries and lack of benefits from the EU accession process, allowed sometimes the instrumentalization of Europeanization from the internal political actors, leading to the revival of the authoritarian mechanisms. These dynamics enabled the internal actors to use week democratic institutions, political polarization, week state, political crisis, week opposition as legitimacies means of raising their authoritarian power. This internally shifted leading role EU remains one of the hampering factors of an effective democratic governance in Albania.
References
Bërdufi, Dorina & Afrim, Krasniqi (2022). Democracy state and autocratization features in the republic of Albania. Journal of
Liberty and International Affairs 8 (3), pp. 34-46. https://e-jlia.com/index.php/jlia/article/view/741.
Berdufi, Dorina & Krasniqi, Afrim (2024). National representative survey. Priorities of the electoral reform and challenges of
political participation in Albania. Tiranë: ISP
Bieber, Florian (2020). The Rise of Authoritarianism in the Western Balkans. Palgrave Macmillan
Buras, Piotr & Morina, Engjellushe, (2023). Catch-27: The contradictory thinking about enlargement in the EU. ECFR.
(accessed on 13 March 2024)
Dahl, Robert (1971). Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
European Council (2024). Albania. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/enlargement/albania/ (accessed on 28 March
Follesdal, A. & Hix, S. (2006). Why there is a democratic deficit in the EU: A response to Majone and Moravcsik. Journal of
Common Market Studies, 44(3), pp. 533-562. Freedom House, Nations in Transit 2023, War Deepens a Regional Divide, 2023
Freedom, House (2024). Nations in Transit 2024. A Region Reordered by Autocracy and Democracy.
Gola, Gentiana & Bloom, Emily, (2022). Democracy in the Western Balkans: A Long and Winding European Path. IDEA.
https://www.idea.int/blog/democracy-western-balkans-long-and-winding-european-path (accessed on 25 February 2024).
Krasniqi, Afrim (2021). Impact on Democracy of Emergency Measures Against Covid-19. IALS Student Law Review, 8. Pp.
-38.
Lika, Liridon (2021). The Western Balkans at the crossroads of European integration and the emerging powers’ projection of
influence. The Journal of Cross-Regional Dialogues/La Revue de dialogues inter-regionaux Special issue Western Balkans,
European Union and Emerging Powers. https://popups.uliege.be/2593-9483/index.php?id=151.
Lührmann Anna & Lindberg, Staffan, I. (2019). A third wave of autocratization is here: what is new about it? Democratization,
:7, pp. 1095-1113.
Nord, Marina; Lundstedt, Martin; Altman, David; Angiolillo, Fabio; Borella, Cecilia; Fernandes, Tiago; Gastaldi, Lisa; God,
Ana, Good; Natsika, Natalia & Lindberg, Staffan, I. (2024). Democracy Report 2024: Democracy Winning and Losing at the
Ballot. University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute.
Regional Cooperation Council (2023). Balkan Barometer 2023 Public Opinion.
https://www.rcc.int/balkanbarometer/key_findings/2/public (accessed on 11 March 2024).
V-Dem Institute (2024). Graphing Tools for Albania. https://v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ (accessed on 30 February
.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 EIRP Proceedings
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
-
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.