Elita politike dhe shoqëria civile në Shqipërinë postkomuniste: Një marrëdhënie problematike
The Political Elite and the Civil Society in the Post-Communist Albania: A thorny relationship

Summary/Abstract: The least studied concept in social sciences in Albania is, perhaps, that of “civil society”. The main reason seems to be not only a tradition of poor organization of civil society in our country, but the lack of a consolidated school in sociology and political science in Albania. In fact, the concept of “civil society” dates back much earlier, but it has been modified and refined as a result of various treatments in different periods and contexts. Civil Society resurfaced as an important concept in Central and Eastern Europe after 1990 and it emerged as a social sphere independent of the state and against political authority. In this paper I try to argue that Albanian society has generally showed a problematic relationship between political elites and the state, on the one hand, and civil society, on the other. This paper poses a problematic combination of the very concept of civil society with some classical and contemporary theoretical treatments of it. Furthermore, this is combined with empirical findings in the Albanian context in its analysis on the development of this concept since 1990. At the conclusion of the paper I briefly try to formulate some conclusions and recommendations, which underscore the need to improve the performance, role and scope of activities of civil society, in view of establishing a more just and a more natural collaboration between the civil and the political.

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