Social Movements Versus Frozen Democracy: The Albanian Perspective

Gilda Hoxha

doi:10.17951/k.2019.26.2.103-112

Abstract

The main goal of the article is to identify the role of social and political movements and non-political forms of participating within a democratic system. Albania as a young democracy had been under organizational fragmentation. Albania has a stable political party system, but its society faces a chaotic development towards the democratization process. In this paper the main aim is to explain the role of social cleavages and social movements in a young democracy like Albania. The relationship between social movements and the political party system will be viewed from two perspectives: a) the relative openness or closure of the institutionalized political system; and b) how non-conventional forms of participation, such as a protest, can be part of policy-making. The paper is structured into two main parts, the first one deals with the theoretical approaches towards social movements and social cleavages and the second one relates to the Albanian perspective and its socio-political background.

Highlights

As Jakub Zielinski [2002: 184–211] argues, Eastern Europe’s new democracies frequently undergo a period of organizational framework
The translation of preexisting social cleavages into political conflicts reduces the number of political parties and translating the new social cleavages into political ones emerges once the political party system is frozen
What is unique for social movements is that “basic changes in social structure and in political structure occur together in a mutually reinforcing fashion and these changes occur through intense socio-political conflicts in which society plays a key role” [Mcmahon 2001: 145]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

As Jakub Zielinski [2002: 184–211] argues, Eastern Europe’s new democracies frequently undergo a period of organizational framework. If stable political parties are going to emerge sooner or later, than the chaotic competition between proto-parties that lack organizational stability and ideological cohesion. Those new and young democracies tend to politicize social conflicts and emerging to new political parties. The translation of preexisting social cleavages into political conflicts reduces the number of political parties and translating the new social cleavages into political ones emerges once the political party system is frozen

GILDA HOXHA

THEORETICAL APPROACHES

CONCLUSIONS