Albania

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Albania is located on the Balkan Peninsula of Europe, and shares its borders with Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, and Greece. Situated on the Adriatic Sea, the country is home to approximately 3.6 million people, according to a 2003 estimate. Albania's predominantly Islamic culture makes it unique in Europe, with 70 percent of the population identifying itself as Muslim and 30 percent as Christian (the remaining population is 20% Albanian Orthodox and 10% Roman Catholic). Albanian is the country's official language, and Greek is also spoken.

In the late twentieth century, Albania began making the difficult transition to an open-market economy. The country is poor in comparison with other European nations; in 2001 an estimated 30 percent of the population lived below the poverty line, with the unemployment rate ranging from 17 to 30 percent. As of 2002, 40 percent of households lacked access to necessities such as basic education, water, sanitation, and heating.

Albania gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire (1299–1922) in 1912 and became a communist state after World War II (1939–1945), with Enver Hoxha (1908–1985) rising to power. During the Cold War Albania was considered one of the most closed and repressive states in Eastern Europe. During his forty-year reign, Hoxha banned religion, forbade travel outside the country, and outlawed private property. Any resistance to his rule was met with brutal punishment, including long-term imprisonment, exile, or execution.

Between 1990 and 1992 forty-six years of communist rule came to an end in Albania when a multiparty democracy was established. The transition has proven difficult, however, due to corruption, a dilapidated infrastructure, and widespread organized crime. Although conditions have improved since the early 1990s, in the early twenty-first century Albania remained characterized by relatively weak institutions and the tenuous rule of law.

The Albanian government is best described as an emerging democracy. The government is based on the Albanian Constitution, adopted by popular referendum on November 28, 1998. Support for the constitution was not widespread, however, and the country's Democratic Party boycotted the vote for its adoption.

The Albanian government is divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Albanian legislature, called the People's Assembly, has one house with 140 seats. One hundred members are elected by direct popular vote, while forty are elected by proportional vote. Members of the assembly hold four-year terms. The executive branch is composed of a president and prime minister; the president is elected by the People's Assembly for a five-year term, and the president in turn appoints the prime minister. The prime minister names a cabinet, which must be approved by the president. The judicial branch is composed of a Constitutional Court, a Supreme Court, and multiple appeals and district courts. The Supreme Court's eleven members are appointed by the president, and the chief justice is elected by the People's Assembly.

Citizens enjoy the right to vote at the age of eighteen. This right is universal, and voting is compulsory. Although international observers judged the legislative elections in 2001 to be acceptable and a step toward democratic development, they did identify serious deficiencies, such as widespread administrative errors and inaccuracies in voter lists. Some of these deficiencies were addressed through reforms to the Albanian election law prior to the 2003 municipal elections.

While levels of violence and instability have improved since the early transition from communism, security remains a concern in Albania. Problems have included police abuse, restrictions on media freedom, human trafficking, and discrimination against minorities, particularly Roma, or gypsies.

Ethnic Cleansing; Genocide; Greece; Kosovo; Macedonia.

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Glenny, Misha. The Balkans: Nationalism, Wars and the Great Powers, 1804–1999. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999.

Vickers, Miranda, and James Pettifer. Albania: From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

World Bank. "Albania." Countries and Regions. <http://www.worldbank.org/al� 03E;.

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