Vestul Peninsulei Balcanice – istorie și geopolitică: Albania, de la „protecționism” la „izolaționism”
The West of the Balkan Peninsula – History and Geopolitics: Albania, from “Protectionism” to “Isolationism”

Summary/Abstract: Politics of Albania during the communist period (1945-1989) is basically defined by two distinct periods. Between 1945-1977, the authoritarian regime of Enver Hoxha always sought political, economic and ideological support from a great power with the same communist ideology, a kind of „protectorate” able to confer economic and state security. Immediately after the war, between 1945-1949, the regime had as ally Tito’s Yugoslavia, which has overextended its protectorate, worrying the regime from Tirana. Relations with Yugoslavia were broken, being replaced by the USSR. Until Stalin’s death, relations were good, but the conciliatory policy of Khrushchev with the western states and Yugoslavia will gradually cool relations with Albania. In addition, the economic support given by USSR was on remand and directed mainly to the agricultural sector and not to the industry, as the regime of Tirana wanted. In April 1962, the USSR relationships came to an end. What followed was a long relationship with China, from which it received a substantial economic and financial aid, with greater freedom in the development of economic, especially industrial goals. Albania supported and implemented its own version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, which was taken to the extreme. A slight cooling of relations between the two countries occurred with the change in China’s foreign policy (toward the USSR, Yugoslavia and resumption of relations with the US), something that Albania was not consulted of. But Albania needed the economic support of China. In July 1978, the Chinese government, increasingly tired of the vehement criticism coming from the Albanian regime, suspended military and economic relations with Albania. Thus, Albania entered a period of deep external isolation, while internally E. Hoxha strengthened his totalitarian regime. Political and economic independence was taken to the extreme, Albania resisting with internal resources and the accumulation of previous years. This state of isolation was maintained by the Albanian leader until his death in 1985, manifested especially with the great powers, the USA, USSR and China but also to other Western countries and from the communist bloc, like Yugoslavia. His successor, Ramiz Alia, initially continued this containment policy, followed in the 1990s by a relaxation of Albania’s relations with other countries of the world, including the USA.

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