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History and Government
History: The first known inhabitants of Albania were probably descended from the ancient Illyrian people. A marginal Greek presence between the sixth and eighth centuries BC was followed by Roman rule. When the Roman empire divided in the fourth century BC, Albania (then known as Illyricum) came under the control of the Byzantine Empire during which period Christianity was established. Byzantine rule nominally lasted until the 14th century, but in effect Albania had withdrawn itself five centuries earlier. In the intervening five centuries, it came under the influence of various Mediterranean powers, latterly the Serbs under Stefan Dusan, who took over in 1347. Serb rule was brief; within 50 years Albania faced a more formidable foe in the form of the Ottoman Turks. After several decades of occupation in the late-14th and early-15th centuries, the Albanians found a leader in Gjergi Kastrioti – known as Skanderberg, a major hero in Albanian history – who united the local princes and expelled the Turks. Following his death, however, the Turks renewed their invasion efforts and were ultimately successful in 1506. As an outlying province of the Ottoman empire, Albania did not fare well under Turkish rule, coming under the rule of the pashas, local potentates who operated a feudal system. The fall of the pashas in the mid-19th century and the slow collapse of the Ottoman empire eventually heralded independence for Albania. This was officially achieved in 1912. However, the country at once became involved in the chaos of the Balkan Wars and, subsequently, in the 1914-1918 war.
The reign of King Zog, who assumed the throne in 1928, ended in April 1939 when Albania was conquered by Mussolini’s Italian forces. Resistance to the occupation was led by the Communists who took power in November 1944. The new regime, under Enver Hoxha fell out with a succession of allies – Tito’s Yugoslavia, the Soviets and the Chinese – before retreating into almost total isolation. This situation prevailed until Hoxha’s death in 1985. For the rest of the decade, a gradual process of internal political and economic reform took place, along with a slow development of contacts with the outside world.
The communists restyled themselves the Partia Socialiste ė Shqipėrisė (SPA – Socialist Party of Albania) as a variety of opposition parties began to organise. The most important of these was the Partia Demokratike tė Shqipėrisė (DPA – Democratic Party of Albania) which won an outright majority in the first democratic elections to the People’s Assembly held in March 1992. The DPA leader Sali Berisha took over as president. Four years later, the DPA repeated its success and increased its majority. Under the democrats, the bulk of the economy had been transferred to the private sector by this stage. However, as elsewhere in Eastern Europe, essential legal and regulatory systems were inadequate –where they existed at all. This was especially true of the banking and finance sector, which was replete with highly popular ‘pyramid’ investment schemes offering absurdly high rates of interest to investors. The collapse of one of the largest schemes in January 1997 triggered violent protests across large parts of the country. During the next two months, with the help of foreign mediation and an Italian-led peacekeeping force, some semblance of normality was gradually restored. Elections were held at the end of June 1997 and brought a comfortable victory for the socialist Fatos Nano, who became premier. The crisis greatly retarded Albania’s development prospects, which had appeared quite good in the early post-communist years, with access to funding by the main international donor bodies (IMF, World Bank, EBRD) and growing contacts with major European countries such as Italy and France.
The poor economic situation has led to a growing illegal exodus from Albania which has damaged relations with the main destination countries, Greece and Italy. Meanwhile, the presence of large ethnic Albanian populations in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and the ex-Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see separate entries for Yugoslavia and Macedonia sections) threatened to embroil Albania in the crisis. However, given its weakened economy and uncertain political situation, Albania was in truth little more than a bystander.
The main effects were domestic. Fatos Nano was forced out of office in September 1998, to be replaced by Pandeli Majko. But after a year, Majko too lost the confidence of the Socialist Party. The man they now turned to was Ilir Meta, who at age 30 is Europe’s youngest premier. Meta has not only survived in office; he also won the most recent general election held in June 2001, ensuring continued Socialist government for another four years.
Government: Under the electoral law introduced in 1992 legislative power rests with the directly elected single-chamber Kuvėnd Popullóre (People’s Assembly) whose 155 members serve a four-year term: 115 members are elected through single-member constituencies; the remainder by proportional representation. Executive power is held by the Council of Ministers, drawn from the largest party in the Assembly and headed by the Prime Minister, and by the President of the Republic, who is elected by the members of the Assembly.
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