Political parties emerged in Albania just a few months before the first multi-party election following decades of a peculiar authoritarian rule. In Central and Eastern Europe, the oppositions to the system were mainly staged by social movements which disintegrated themselves after the first multi-party election. In Albania, the first multi-party election was contested by political parties which have survived the long transition process. This study examines the party system in Albania focusing on: 1) the emergence of the multi-party system which combined the features of the so-called "third wave of democracy" and the legacy of the authoritarian past; 2) its implications on the transition process and on the way the political system was shaped; 3) the electoral system and the implication on the format of the party system and the dynamics of the inter-party competition.

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European Academy

The Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) announces the organization of the first session of the European Academy 2009, to take place from June 8th – June 15th in Tirana, Albania.

The European Academy is organized in the framework of an EC-funded project “House of Europe” and invites interested individuals from public administration, the media, civil society and academia to submit their applications.
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
De-securitization and re-securitization of Western Balkan inter/intrastate relations
(Supported by NATO Public Diplomacy Division)
Tirana, Feb 21st 2009

Call for Papers

Although the Western Balkan is a region where the de-securitization process is still accompanied with re-securitization, it is now safe to say that the region is reaching the point of no-turning back.

The year 2008 has been crucially important to the further de-securitization of the Balkans’ inter and intrastate relations. Albania and Croatia were invited to become members of NATO although unfortunately this did not happen for FYROM. Furthermore, the political map of the Western Balkans changed with the independence of Kosovo at the beginning of 2008, which despite fears, did not result to be an extra source of re-securitization of either intra or interstate relations in the region.                                                                                                                 ...read more

AIIS Foreign and Security Policy Forum
Albania's Domestic and Foreign Policy
2008 Agenda

On February 7th, 2008, the Albanian Institute for International Studies organized the forum: "Albania's Domestic and Foreign Policy - 2008 Agenda". Following is the speech of His Exellency Prof. Dr. Bamir Topi, President of the Republic of Albania.

Firstly I would like to wholeheartedly thank you for the invitation and opportunity extended to me to address, as you already mentioned, this excellent audience regarding the viewpoint of the President of the Republic about the domestic and foreign policies of Albania. Availing myself of this opportunity, I would like to state that the policies of Albania in both domestic and foreign levels are important institutional policies, are policies which in no way cannot be based upon individual wills, where all the distinguished representatives of state structures and politics have become part of this wonderful symphony where the Albanian state is increasingly day by day being represented better. Keeping in mind the expression that you used about small or big states, we are truly small in the geographical sense, but our continuous aspiration has been and will be that we like to make friends, it does not matter small or big friends, but what is important is that Albania today is not alone. It is part of the international institutional policies and I believe what clearly expresses the position of Albania and its institutions are the powerful aspiration held by Albania and Albanian society first of all and its institutions to be part of the Euro-Atlantic world.
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The Future Status of Kosovo

On December 16th, 2007 the AIIS organized a public speaking event in Sheraton International Hotel with Veton Surroi, one of the most prominent Kosovo Albanian publicists and politicians, leader of the political party “Ora” and member of the Kosovo negotiating team. For circa 60 minutes Mr. Surroi addressed and audience made up of senior Albanian politicians and members of the diplomatic community accredited in Tirana. The future status of Kosovo, the possible outcomes to this seemly intractable problem and costs and benefits of the alternative solutions under discussion, as well as their repercussions for the broader Balkan region were the subject of the discussions and the questions and answers session that followed.

EU Integration: Regional Experiences and the Need for Local Ownership

With the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, on November 20th, AIIS organized the conference titled “EU Integration: Regional Experience and the Need for Local Ownership.” The conference discussed the serious lack of local ownership of the process of integration in Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as well as the steps that are being undertaken to address this problem. The event was envisioned as a forum of senior representatives of Albanian institutions, representatives of the international community, Albanian and Macedonian experts, and representatives of the local government and of civil society in Albania. The Albanian experience was presented by Mr. Albert Gajo, Deputy Minister of Integration and Mr. Ilir Meta, Head of the Parliamentary Commission for European Integration. The audience was also addressed by His Excellency the German Ambassador Mr. Borchardt, who shared the view of integration from the German perspective, and by Albanian and Macedonian experts, such as Dane Taleski from the Institute for Democracy Skopje, who analyzed the economic effects of integration and exchanged the experiences of the two countries with regional cooperation projects.
AIIS also presented its latest informative publication titled “Regional Cooperation for Development and European Integration.” As a product of a regional project involving 7 Balkan countries, the publication seeks to contribute to the enhancement of regional cooperation as a practical guide for the relevant institutions and the wider public.
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Albania and the EU: Perceptions and Realities 2007

On October 18th the Albanian Institute for International Studies organized its fifth annual conference since 2002 (Hotel Tirana International) on the perceptions and attitudes of Albanians towards the EU and the integration process. The conference discussed the findings of the survey by the same title conducted by the AIIS during June and July 2007.
Differently from previous years however when the AIIS aimed to gauge the perceptions, awareness and levels of information of the elite groups of Albanian society, in 2007 the target group of the survey were Albania’s ordinary citizens. The findings which were compiled into a report published by the AIIS in November include data on the support and opposition to the EU integration project, awareness of costs and benefits of the process as well as understanding of the nature of the European Union. The conference was attended by a number of distinguished guests, such as the Albanian Minister for EU Integration, Her Excellency Majlinda Bregu, former prime minister and Head of Parliamentary Committee on Integration Ilir Meta, Head of EU Delegation in Tirana, Mr. Helmut Lohan, His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador, Manuel Montobbio as well as by AIIS members, Dr. Albert Rakipi and Mr. Maklen Misha. The report based on the survey has also been published by the AIIS and, alongside the previous four reports, it constitutes an invaluable source of information on the trends of support and opposition to the EU integration process, what the Albanians expect to gain or lose from accession into the EU, as well as on the perceptions of Albanians on the nature and mission of the Union.
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The State of the European Union and the Accession Perspectives of Albania

 On Monday September 24th 2007 the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) organized a workshop on the state of the European Union, the accession perspectives of Albania and the costs, challenges and benefits to be gained by membership. The participants discussed the achievements Albania has made in its integration process and the significant challenges that still lay ahead for the country as well as some of the shortcomings that have contributed to slowing the pace of reforms. The discussions also focused on the integration experiences of Slovenia and Hungary which helped place the Albanian case in perspective, as well as on the state of the European Union and the position of the new member states in it. Another line of discussions focused on the economic aspects of the EU integration such as criteria for businesses and the economic consequences of EU membership.
The workshop which was conducted under the moderation of Dr. Albert Rakipi the Executive Director of the AIIS was attended by a number of distinguished guests such as the former Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of parliament Besnik Mustafaj, deputy minister for Integration Alfred Gajo Michael Ehrke from the Fredrich Ebbert Stichtung Budapest as well as a number of renowned experts on the field of EU integration such as Professor Attila Agh of the Corvinus University, Budapest, Janja Petkovisk of the Slovenian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, professor Andras Inotai, director of the Institute for World Economics in Budapest and Andrej Kumar of the University of Ljubjana.
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