Globalization and Albanian Civil Society during the Democratic Transition

Globalization and Albanian Civil Society during the Democratic Transition

OZCAN, Salih
HOXHA, Gilda

This paper is part of a research on Albanian society after 1990. This study will attempt to explain and analyses the effect of globalization on the democratization process of Albania. Within this framework this paper will focus mainly on to identify the role of civil society on political behavior in Albanian case. To achieve this goal, the principal aims are to examine how civil society in Albania is involved during the ‘democratic transition’ after the fall of communism and the civil movements' influence on political behavior.In order to analyze the relationship between the concept of “civil society” and “democratization process” in Albania, it will be studied, among others, from two perspectives: a- in terms of national, political and social context that formed the movement's goals and strategies in terms of becoming influential on the decision-making process of government through the protests in Albania. Secondly the features of Albanian civil society will be treated in this paper, based on the debate: “How globalization has influenced the philosophy and organization of civil society? This debate will compare with the cases in the neighboring countries in the Balkan region. In theory, one of the main functions of civil society is to play an important and ‘tutoring’ role in the process of building a democratic society. Analyzing civil society in Albania requires looking at the way how civil society works and interacts with various financial, human and technical factors. This paper will be based on qualitative method. For analytic purposes, the discussion is organized in two main parts. The first part, examines theoretical part and focusing on the key issues that relate and link the government and NGOs in decision making process and political behavior of Albanian civil society. The second part examines existing Albanian civil society and its outcomes during the 'democratic transition' in reference with the first theoretical part. The paper will conclude with predicting the future of civil society in Albania. Keywords: Globalization, Civil Society, Protest, Political behavior, Albania.

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2303-4564

International Burch University

2014-04-24

2460