ARTICLES

Chiodi, Luisa. 2008. "The profession of Civil Society in Post-communist Albania." Albanian Journal of Politics, IV (1) (June 2008).

Alpion, Gezim. 2008. "Brain down the drain. An exposé of social closure in Western academia." Albanian Journal of Politics, IV (1) (June 2008).

BOOK REVIEWS

Hajrullahu, Arben. 2007. "Langfristiger Frieden am Westbalkan durch EU-Integration. Der EU-Integrationsprozeß als Chance für die Überwindung des serbisch-kosovoarischen Konfliktes." [Long term peace in the Western Balkans through EU-Integration.] Albanian Journal of Politics, IV (1) (June 2008).
Reviewed by Henriette Riegler.

Mulaj, Kledja. 2008. "Politics of Ethnic Cleansing: Nation-State Building and Provision of In/Security in Twentieth-Century Balkans." Albanian Journal of Politics, IV (1) (June 2008).
Reviewed by Ada Hyso.

With the end of Cold War, ethnicity with its multi-dimensional character has become a salient source of strife within and between states, thus profoundly affecting both domestic and transnational politics across the world, especially that of developing world. The effects of ethnic identity are felt at micro- and macro levels of decision making. It affects the choices of individuals, groups of individuals and decision-makers in a series of arenas: political, economic, and military. As the human toll as result of internal and external ethnic conflicts is increasing every day, so does the concern of political scientists trying to understand and identify its roots and persistency; its interaction with other political, economic and military factors; and the methods that best end or mitigate ethnic conflict. While questions such as how ethnic conflict affects political stability, establishment and consolidation of democracy, economic development, and security and safety have been considered in the discipline, there is still room for further exploration of these issues as no broad consensus exists.

ARTICLES

Tamvaki, Dionysia. 2007. "Theoretical Differentiation: New Wine in the Old EU Enlargement Bottle.” Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2).

Dahl, Matilda. 2007. “Transforming States and the Construction of Progress: European Commission Monitoring in Central East Europe.” Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2).

Papa, Elda. 2007. “Albanian Political Parties 2007.” Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2).

BOOK REVIEWS

Leslie Holmes. 2006. “Rotten States?: Corruption, Post-communism, and Neoliberalism.” Reviewed by Catherine Spieser, Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2)

Gezim Alpion. 2007. “Encounters with Civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa.” Reviewed by Gaston Roberge, Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2)

Christian Joppke. 2005. “Selecting by Origin: Ethnic Migration in the Liberal State.” Reviewed by Ridvan Peshkopia, Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2)

Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner (Eds). 2006. “Electoral Systems and Democracy.” Reviewed by Altin Ilirjani, Albanian Journal of Politics, III (2)

ARTICLES

Zerpa, Levis. 2007. “Outline of a Game-Theoretical Approach to the Philosophy of Science Based on the Hawk-Dove Game.” Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

Peshkopia, Ridvan. 2007. “Solving the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Employing the Golden Rule: Some Implications for Political Science Research.” Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

Weishaar, Stefan and Jonida Milaj. 2007. “Albanian State Aid Legislation and Its Coherency with EC Legislation.” Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

Hasimja, Ermal. 2007. “2007 Local Elections in Albania: What Each Side Won and Lost.” Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

Xhaferi, Arbën. 2007. “The Religious Suspension of the Divine.” Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

BOOK REVIEWS

Ralph, Margaret Nutting. 2007. Review of Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?, by Gëzim Alpion. Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

Harri, Ardian. 2007. Review of The Euro Before the EU?: An Estimate of the Effects of Euroization in the Western Balkans, by Altin Ilirjani. Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

Djajić Horváth, Aleksandra. 2007. Review of Albania Today. A Portrait of Post-Communist Turbulence, by Clarissa de Waal. Albanian Journal of Politics III (1).

ARTICLES [Read Abstracts]

Brisku, Adrian. 2006. “Occidentalizing the Past and Orientalizing the Present: Ismail Kadare’s and President Moisiu’s ‘European’ Albanian Identity.” Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 82-103.

Beluli, Raim. 2006. “Mental Mapping: Southeastern Europe, a Politically ‘Contaminated’ or a Historical Meso-Region.” Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 104-119.

BOOK REVIEWS

Alpion, Gezim. 2006. Review of Mother Teresa: A Saint from Skopje, by Hiromi Josepha Kudo. Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 120-122. [Download in PDF]

Prifti, Renis. 2006. Review of Kosova Express. A Journey in Wartime, by James Pettifer. Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 123-124. [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES [Read Abstracts]

Young, Antonia. 2006. "'Sworn Virgins' as Supporters of Patriarchy." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 7-25.

Djajic-Horváth, Aleksandra. 2006. "'Get Armed and Buy Your Women' or What did the Turn-of-the-Century Globetrotter See in Northern Albania?" Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 26-43.

Nixon, Nicola. 2006. "The Absence of Gender: Albania’s National Strategy on Migration." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 44-61.

REVIEW ARTICLE

Dushi, Arbnora. 2006. "Antonia Young and her interest about Albanian traditions." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 62-66.

BOOK REVIEWS

Kajsiu, Blendi. 2006. Review of Arratisje nga lindja: orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadare [Escaping from the East: Albanian Orientalism from Naim Frasheri to Kadare], by Enis Sulstarova. Albanian Journal of Politics II (1): 67-71. [Download in PDF]

Pula, Besnik. 2006. Review of Arratisje nga lindja: orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadare [Escaping from the East: Albanian orientalism from Naim Frasheri to Kadare], by Enis Sulstarova. Albanian Journal of Politics II (1): 72-81. [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES

Occidentalizing the Past and Orientalizing the Present: Ismail Kadare’s and President Moisiu’s “European”Albanian Identity
ADRIAN BRISKU

ABSTRACT
With the rise of Albania’s prospects for joining the European Union, the discourse of Europeanness of Albanian identity has been gaining a strong momentum within political and intellectual discourses in Albania. While such discourses of approximating Albanian identity to a perceived European one represent nothing new, little attention has been paid as to its nature and implications within Albanian political and intellectual space and how much it reflects contemporary discourse outside Albania. By employing a conceptual analysis method, this paper analyzes the meanings behind two recent texts of Albanian President, Alfred Moisiu, and of the internationally acclaimed writer, Ismail Kadare. The paper maintains that the “European” Identity of Albanians as perceived by Kadare and Moisiu is Eurocentric, essentialist, fundamentalist and anti-modernist. Europe is seen as a Christian cultural space, positively constructed, yet a static and religiously intolerant entity, exclusive towards the Other. Such discourses are unproductive and unnecessary in the contemporary Albanian and European context.

Mental Mapping: Southeastern Europe, a Politically “Contaminated” or a Historical Meso-Region
RAIM BELULI

ABSTRACT
Since its introduction in Germany in the mid 19th century, the geographical concept of “Southeastern Europe” has undergone controversial perceptions and polemical (re)demarcations. This is not only due to evident ethnic, linguistic, economic, religious or cultural diversity of the region but also to methodology, ideology, research field, time period and purpose of the observer. Starting at least from the era of the nation-state building, the Balkans/Southeastern Europe have been consistently projected as an area of opposing European economic, political and cultural interests. By focusing on the imaginary construct of “Southeastern Europe” during the time of Weimar Republic and German National Socialism, this article aims to stress the following: The ongoing process of European integration and that of deconstructing nationalistic patterns, historiographies, myths and stereotypes of Eastern Europe, runs the high risk of constructing new clichés and imaginary borders on the region. In other words, geo-spatial divisions are not given, they are produced.

BOOK REVIEWS

Alpion, Gezim. 2006. Review of Mother Teresa: A Saint from Skopje, by Hiromi Josepha Kudo. Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 120-122. [Download in PDF]

Prifti, Renis. 2006. Review of Kosova Express. A Journey in Wartime, by James Pettifer. Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 123-124. [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES

“Sworn Virgins” as supporters of Patriarchy
ANTONIA YOUNG

ABSTRACT
In traditional patriarchal society in the southern Balkans, there has long been an option providing male heirs where none actually exist: a girl or woman herself, or her parents even at birth, may declare that she has become a male. In these cases the female thenceforth dresses as a boy/man, performs male tasks and mixes socially as a male. With the change she swears virginity and may never revert to her birth gender. In this way inheritance of a family home is assured. This possibility is also open as an honorable way for a girl to refuse to marry a specific man who has been chosen as her future husband. "Sworn virgins" still live in Northern Albania, where they are completely respected in their male roles within their tightknit societies. This phenomenon actually supports the strict patriarchal system, still in place in northern Albania, if also ambiguously, allowing subordinated females a way to a freer life.

“Get armed and buy your women” or What did the turn-of-the-century globetrotter see in northern Albania?
ALEKSANDRA DJAJIC-HORVÁTH

ABSTRACT
This text would look into the complex interplay of sexual and cultural difference in the process of constructing the latter through the analysis of representations of women from northern Albania in travel accounts from the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. The discussion of the representations of indigenous women reflects articulation of both, the viewers’ sexuality ideology and political positions. Ideas are placed within the broader framework of the analysis of the representations of the Balkans as the area of “narrative” colonialism during the delineated period, with the woman seen as embodying tradition and the essence of the region. Through the polyphony of the representations of northern Albanian women, mostly colored by sensual curiosity and latent colonial tendencies, by travelers’ fantasy and desire, there appear the descriptions of poverty and hard living conditions, particularly those of women, that very likely do reflect, in a great extent, “a reality out there.”

The Absence of Gender: Albania’s National Strategy on Migration
NICOLA NIXON

ABSTRACT
One of Albania’s nine Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) is to achieve higher levels of gender equality and gender empowerment. To this end, in theory, the Albanian government, in cooperation with international organisations under the umbrella of the United Nations, is endeavouring to implement gender-sensitive national policies that will address the growing inequalities between men and women in Albanian society. Yet the Albanian government is very much a product of the post-communist culture in which it operates and, as such, it tends to reflect, in its policy making activities, the kinds of gender biases that are present in every-day life in Albania.

REVIEW ARTICLE

Dushi, Arbnora. 2006. "Antonia Young and her interest about Albanian traditions." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 62-66.

BOOK REVIEWS

Kajsiu, Blendi. 2006. Review of Arratisje nga lindja: orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadare [Escaping from the East: Albanian Orientalism from Naim Frasheri to Kadare], by Enis Sulstarova. Albanian Journal of Politics II (1): 67-71. [Download in PDF]

Pula, Besnik. 2006. Review of Arratisje nga lindja: orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadare [Escaping from the East: Albanian orientalism from Naim Frasheri to Kadare], by Enis Sulstarova. Albanian Journal of Politics II (1): 72-81. [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES [Read Abstracts]

Brisku, Adrian. 2006. “Occidentalizing the Past and Orientalizing the Present: Ismail Kadare’s and President Moisiu’s ‘European’ Albanian Identity.” Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 82-103.

Beluli, Raim. 2006. “Mental Mapping: Southeastern Europe. A Politically ‘Contaminated’ or a Historical Meso-Region.” Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 104-119.

BOOK REVIEWS

Alpion, Gezim. 2006. Review of Mother Teresa: A Saint from Skopje, by Hiromi Josepha Kudo. Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 120-122. [Download in PDF]

Prifti, Renis. 2006. Review of Kosova Express. A Journey in Wartime, by James Pettifer. Albanian Journal of Politics II(2): 123-124. [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES [Read Abstracts]

Young, Antonia. 2006. "'Sworn Virgins' as Supporters of Patriarchy." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 7-25.

Djajic-Horváth, Aleksandra. 2006. "'Get Armed and Buy Your Women' or What did the Turn-of-the-Century Globetrotter See in Northern Albania?" Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 26-43.

Nixon, Nicola. 2006. "The Absence of Gender: Albania’s National Strategy on Migration." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 44-61.

REVIEW ARTICLE

Dushi, Arbnora. 2006. "Antonia Young and her interest about Albanian traditions." Albanian Journal of Politics II(1): 62-66.

BOOK REVIEWS

Kajsiu, Blendi. 2006. Review of Arratisje nga lindja: orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadare [Escaping from the East: Albanian Orientalism from Naim Frasheri to Kadare], by Enis Sulstarova. Albanian Journal of Politics II (1): 67-71. [Download in PDF]

Pula, Besnik. 2006. Review of Arratisje nga lindja: orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadare [Escaping from the East: Albanian orientalism from Naim Frasheri to Kadare], by Enis Sulstarova. Albanian Journal of Politics II (1): 72-81. [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES [Read Abstracts]

Rama, Shinasi A. 2005. “Continuity or Metamorphosis? Realist Theories and the Anomaly of Medieval International Politics.” Albanian Journal of Politics, Vol. I (2).

Saunders, Robert A. 2005. “Virtual Irredentism? The Redemption and Reification of the Albanian Nation in Cyberspace.” Albanian Journal of Politics, Vol. I (2).

Ilirjani, Altin. 2005. “Electoral Institutions, Social Heterogeneity and Political Party Systems in Eastern Europe.” Albanian Journal of Politics, Vol. I (2).


BOOK REVIEWS

Pula, Besnik. 2005. Review of King Zog of Albania: Europe’s Self-Made Muslim Monarch, by Jason Hunter Tomes. Albanian Journal of Politics, I (2). [Download in PDF]

Peshkopia, Ridvan. 2005. Review of The New Albanian Migration, edited by King, Russell, Nicola Mai, and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers. Albanian Journal of Politics, I (2). [Download in PDF]

ABSTRACTS

Continuity or Metamorphosis? Realist Theories and the Anomaly of Medieval International Politics
SHINASI A. RAMA
New York University

In this essay, I conduct an in-depth analysis of several canonical texts of realism. I seek to establish whether or not the analysis of medieval international politics constitutes an anomaly within realist approaches. I make a fourfold argument. First, I establish that while agreeing on the primordial assumption of the anarchical nature of international politics, the founders of realist school and the leading realist theorists disagree almost on every aspect of medieval political relations. Second, I demonstrate that the canonical texts of realism lack consistency across the board on each and one of the essential aspects of medieval politics. Third, I demonstrate that the interpretation of medieval politics in core realist texts falsifies the very assumptions upon which their arguments and claims about continuity are based. I conclude that the analysis of medieval politics and that of the transitions to and from medieval era constitute major anomalies within realism.

Virtual Irredentism? The Redemption and Reification of the Albanian Nation in Cyberspace
ROBERT A. SAUNDERS
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

This essay investigates the impact of Internet use on the representation and cohesiveness of the Albanian nation—both in the ethnic homelands (Kosova, Macedonia, and Albania) and in diaspora. My study finds that the Kosova crisis accelerated the evolution of Albanian cyberspace by providing a news and communications medium which could not be replicated through traditional media platforms. Since the 1990s, the effect of the Internet has been to harmonize certain elements of Albanian cultural identity and provide conceptual contiguity for a nation that has long been divided by international borders. My conclusion is that cyberspace is uniting the Albanian nation within a single communicative space or ecumene—although this does not fully compensate for the unrealized “redemption” of all Balkan Albanians under a single state. My theoretical analysis employs Appadurai’s notion of mediascapes to construct a post-Andersonian framework of “imagined communities” for the Internet era. My findings are supported by primary research conducted among the Web-enabled Albanian-American community, interviews with Albanian Web site operators and national liberation leaders, analysis of Albanian Web sites, and an exhaustive review of the English-language literature on the topic of Albanian cyberspace.

Electoral Institutions, Social Heterogeneity and Political Party Systems in Eastern Europe
ALTIN ILIRJANI
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This paper attempts to estimate the impact of electoral institutions and social cleavages on the effective number of political parties in the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe. Several empirical models are presented based on institutional and sociological theories of party systems. Institutional designs are found to have a significant impact in shaping the party systems in Eastern Europe, whereas results about the impact of social cleavages on the effective number of vote winning parties are inconclusive. It is further argued that these results should be expected given the indeterminate nature of social cleavages in post communist societies and their relatively short experience with free elections.

BOOK REVIEWS

Pula, Besnik. 2005. Review of King Zog of Albania: Europe’s Self-Made Muslim Monarch, by Jason Hunter Tomes. Albanian Journal of Politics, I (2). [Download in PDF]

Peshkopia, Ridvan. 2005. Review of The New Albanian Migration, edited by King, Russell, Nicola Mai, and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers. Albanian Journal of Politics, I (2). [Download in PDF]

ARTICLES

Alpion, Gëzim. 2005. "Western Media and the European 'Other': Images of Albania in the British Press in the New Millennium." Albanian Journal of Politics, I (1): 4-25.
[Download in PDF]

Peshkopia, Ridvan. 2005. "Asylum Capacity Building in the Balkans: A Rational Answer to Leaders’ Concerns." Albanian Journal of Politics, I (1): 26-54.
[Download in PDF]

Hoffmann, Judith. 2005. "Integrating Albania: the Role of the European Union in the Democratization Process." Albanian Journal of Politics, I (1): 55-74.
[Download in PDF]

Ilirjani, Altin. 2005. "Political Choice in Albania. The 2005 Albanian Parliamentary Election." Albanian Journal of Politics, I (1): 75-86.
[Download in PDF]

BOOK REVIEWS

Elbasani, Arolda. 2005. Review of Albania and the European Union. European integration and the Prospect of Accession, by Mirela Bogdani and John Loughlin. Albanian Journal of Politics, I (1): 87-90.
[Download in PDF]

Article abstracts and book reviews are distributed through this website and through the Social Sciences Research Network. The annual print volume of the Albanian Journal of Politics is also available through all major bookstores in the US and Western Europe, and online through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, as well as other venues.

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Welcome to the website of the the Albanian Journal of Politics (AJP). AJP is published by Globic Press on behalf of the Albanian Political Science Association (ALPSA).

The Albanian Journal of Politics is a peer reviewed, academic publication which aims to provide a publication venue for members of ALPSA, and a forum for the academic study of Albanian politics and society. AJP seeks to provide political insight on important problems as it emerges from rigorous, broad-based research and integrative thought. AJP aspires to be engaging and illuminating while retaining the highest standards of scholarly excellence. The Editors invite suggestions for articles, symposia, reviews, commentary, and dialogues from political scientists and ALPSA members seeking to address important issues and values in the study of politics.

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