Democratization from Within: Political Culture and the Consolidation of Democracy in Post-Communist Albania

Contents
Preface......................................................................................................14
Chapter 1 - Investigating Albanian History. A Heritage of Profound Heterogeneity..............................................................................21
1.1 Authoritarian Ottoman Legacy; Myth or Reality.......................21
1.2 Declaration of Independence and Prince Wied Govern-ance...................................................................................................26
1.3 Social Condition..............................................................................28
1.4 The ‘Democratic’ Revolution........................................................30
1.5 Ahmet Zogu Period and the Effort for Stability.........................32
1.6 Albania in the World War II and the Ascension to Power of the Communist Party............................................................................40
1.7 Transition to Democracy................................................................58
Conclusions......................................................................................64
Chapter 2 - Political Culture and Democratization in Communist and Post-Communist Albania..............................................................67
2.1 Employing the Concept of Political Culture...............................68
2.1.2 The Variable of Political Culture in Political Sci-ence...................................................................................................73
2.1.3 Marxist Influence.....................................................................79
2.2 Experience under Communist Rule in Albania.........................82
2.2.1 Socialization under Communism..........................................89
2.3 Democratization in the Post-Communist Albania a Country Turned in a ‘Stabilocracy’..............................................................98
2.3.1 State Democratization...........................................................100
2.3.2 Accountability........................................................................102
2.3.3 Political Parties and Elections..............................................106
2.3.4 Today’s Elite Governance under
Authoritarian Legacies.........................................................112
2.3.5 External Actors and the European Dream.........................117
Conclusions............................................................................125
Chapter 3 - The Problematics of Survey Research. Political Attitude Studies During the Transition to Democracy in Post-Communist Albania...................................................................................................136
3.1 A Survey of Surveys: Findings, Trends and Contextual.........137
3.2 Shortcomings Surveying Albania...............................................140
3.2.1 The Uncritical Employment of Western
Theories...................................................................................153
3.2.2 The 1998’s World Values Survey
Investigation...........................................................................158
3.2.3 Investigating the Dynamics of Value. The 2004
Survey.....................................................................................164
3.2.4 Investigating the Dynamics of Value. The 2008
Survey.....................................................................................167
3.2.5 Public Opinions on the Perception of Democracy.
Investigating Communist and Post-communist
attitudes..................................................................................172
3.2.6 Investigating the Dynamics of Value. The 2012
Survey.....................................................................................178
3.3 A Critical Approach to Survey Methods...................................179
3.4 Beyond Survey Methods..............................................................185
Conclusions....................................................................................201
Chapter 4 - Authentic democratic values?........................................204
4.1 A Short History of the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini.........................209
4.2 The Clashes of Ethics................................................................... 223
4.3 Inside Kanun’s Structural Ethic. Looking for the ‘Spirit of Democracy’.........................................................................................232
15
4.4 ‘Group-Responsibility’ in Lieu of Individual Accountability...............................................................................................244
4.5 The ‘Spirit of Democracy’ and Kanun’s Dissonances..............250
4.6 Investigating Religious Cohabitation in Albania.....................256
4.6.1 Legal Mentality......................................................................256
4.6.2 Language and Ethnic Homogeneity the Cohabitation Initi-ators.................................................................................................260
4.7 The Interwar Albanian Intellectual Discourses. Preconditions for a Democratic Future Conclusion..........................................263
Conclusions....................................................................................271
Conclusions...........................................................................................276
Bibliography..........................................................................................287
Figures
1. Post-Communist divergence in Attitude....................................71
2. The Incongruence between the model of the interiorized totali-tarian state and its reality explained with the graphic model elaborated by Lieury, Magourou, Louboutin and Fenouilet........................................................................................149
Tables
1. The Sixth Edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index.......................................................................................123