Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, America.gov, as part of its feature “The Unfinished Work of Democracy,” is asking academics and journalists from the United States and elsewhere to comment on the challenges to democracy that still lay ahead for countries of the former Eastern Bloc. What follows are their responses – and yours are welcome as well.

Albanian communists, who revered Stalin until the 1990s, maintained a brutal police state characterized by political murder, forced labor camps, and internal exile. This was accompanied by a state-of-siege mentality which saw the construction of hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers to ward off innumerable foreign enemies, and a policy of complete isolation from the outside world. What resulted has been described as a collage of fantasies and the type of place that would make surrealists weep with joy. With the collapse of this unique system, Albania was essentially required to build a state from the ground up and it is not surprising, therefore, that its transition to democracy has been difficult and remains incomplete. Albania’s history may have condemned it to be the last state in the Balkans to establish a fully functioning democracy.

Still, there are bright spots. Clearly, significant progress has been made, aided by some natural advantages. Albania is faced with few minority issues and a multi-confessional religious structure, both of which serve to dampen chauvinistic nationalism. This has allowed Albania to play an important stabilizing role in the region. Of course there has also been some internal progress. Personal freedoms have been established, privatization continues apace, a new democratic constitution was adopted, a vibrant civil society established and press freedom furthered. Elections, however flawed, have been held and Albania has experienced a peaceful transfer of power. The international community has recognized these achievements with an EU Stability and Association Agreement in 2006 and the much coveted admission to NATO in 2008.

But some have argued that these rewards may be premature since much more remains to be done. A functioning democracy demands, among other things, an informed electorate, clearly defined political choices, legal recourse and basically, the rule of law. None of these are yet fully functioning in Albania. Many of Albania’s journalists still lack professionalism, education suffers from brain drain, corruption and lack of funding, the courts are politicized and corrupted, no real civil service has been established and politically connected crime and corruption remain a serious problem. Progress has been stalled on these issues in part because of what might be termed a problematic political culture — the nature of the current political elite and the parties they control. The major parties function more as clan-based social interest groups than traditional political parties. They tend to be regional, internally undemocratic, without well-defined programs, and they view the opposition as the enemy which should be destroyed. The result has been a lack of a functioning loyal opposition, intense political polarization, occasional violence, governments without legitimacy, and nearly continual political crisis. The people’s business is often ignored.

While the task of dealing with this political culture may seem daunting, the glass is half full. Younger well-educated politicians and technocrats, whose memory of Albania’s Stalinist past is slight, or at least fading, are becoming increasingly prominent. With their dedicated hard work, and continued international support for Euro-Atlantic integration, Albania’s democratic future will remain secure.

Learn more about Dr. Bernd J. Fischer.