Freedom Community Research Articles

Integration Standards and Public Administration Dimensions in Light of the Integration Perspective of Albania in the EU

After the fall of the communist regime, one of the challenges and the highest priority for the external politics, is the European integration, that is also the aspiration of all Albanians. The European integration is not merely the implementation of various political, legislation, technical and institutional criteria, but rather a union of democratic, communal and integration values and ideals of the Albanian society into the European community, into the community of freedom and democratic values and norms, where these aspirations take credit. During this transitioning period, the Albania European integration has been constantly replete with political and institutional challenges and political processes that must be developed and progressed by the political parties and the Albanian society in general. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that during this transitioning period, Albania has carried over important problematics related to the development of sustainable political institutions, a functional public administration, a free election process with democratic standards, a sustainable financial system, as well as a sustainable social, cultural and intercommunity processes. Therefore, in this context, the present paper will analyse the Albanian perspective and challenges with the focus on the standards and nature of integration in the European Union. In order to comprehend the changes and development in light of this perspective, this paper will also consider the role and the importance of Public Administration integrating dimensions, aiming at understanding the evolution of Albania and its legislation in the European perspective. The analyses of its integration dynamics are to understand the improvement of Albania's image in the world in terms of these aspects, the change of the policy-making concept, the development of political institutions, as well as the evolution of Albanian legislation to align with that of the EU. Moreover, this analysis shall not simply render this paper actual and coherent with the most essential integration politics, legislation and institutional that relate directly with the Albanian European integration process, but it will rather demonstrate that Albania has yet a very long road ahead to become part of the European Union and the achievement reached so far have been positive and promissory.
 
 Received: 05 May 2022 / Accepted: 14 May 2023 / Published: 20 May 2023

Pope Benedict XVI: Joseph Ratzinger on Politics

Modern Western civilization, shaped not least by the Enlightenment, is the ever present background to Ratzinger's project. (1) It is both a stimulus and a partner in dialogue, a source of inspiration and an object of critique. Ratzinger is acutely aware of any change of mood in the world around him and so is capable of assessing the slightest blip in that mood, thanks to what one might call his finely tuned theological seismograph. He is sensitive above all to the cultural changes caused by the shifting of those philosophical and tectonic plates under the surface of day-to-day politics, which invariably lead to earthquakes. This sensitivity is what gave his opening lectures on the university at the beginning of each semester an excitement and a popularity, which attracted the most diverse of students. It is these underlying cultural tectonic plates that grab his attention as a theologian. One of these tectonic plates is the living Christian tradition; another could be given the collective name of the Enlightenment and its aftermath. The influence of the Enlightenment is, in his estimation, both positive and negative. The modern world born of the Enlightenment is both the product of Western Christian civilization and at the same time has become the greatest threat not only to Christianity but to humanity itself. To distinguish the positive contribution of the Enlightenment project from its life-threatening errors (and so to save what is best in the Enlightenment tradition, such as liberal democracy) is one of the primary tasks he set himself in his reflection on politics. It is the main thrust of his contribution to the debate in Munich, January 2004, with Jurgen Habermas, one of Europe's main spokesmen for the Enlightenment today. (2) Ratzinger's Political Science What I want to sketch very briefly are some features of Ratzinger's political science, as it were, or, more precisely, his understanding of life. Foundational for Ratzinger's theology of politics (3) is the distinction between the sphere of faith and that of politics first expressed in the apodictic statement: Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's (Mt 22:21). This, the true Christian revolution, amounted, in effect, to the liberation of politics from the sacral sphere, thus for the first time in history opening politics up to the sphere of human judgement and decision, the sphere of practical reason, personal responsibility--and so of ethics. (4) It implies the separation of state and Church, the former a community of necessity (we are born into it) characterized by compromise, the latter a community of freedom or conviction (we are baptised into it), one characterized by non-negotiable principles. It also defines the limits set to authority: that authority does not extend into the most intimate, personal sphere, that of worship, faith, and morals. Political life is, rather, defined by justice in temporal affairs. In its turn, freedom of worship can be seen as the basis of all human rights and the ultimate barrier to totalitarianism. According to Ratzinger, this was essentially the unique contribution of the martyrs to the progress of civilization. As a religion of the persecuted, and as a universal religion that was wider than any one state or people, it [Christianity] denied the government the right to consider religion as part of the order of the state, thus stating the principle of the liberty of faith. (5) This he maintains was the soil out of which, in the course of history, the Enlightenment sprang. (6) The Enlightenment was born in places where Christianity, contrary to its own nature, had unfortunately become mere tradition and the religion of the state. It is to the credit of the Enlightenment, Ratzinger adds, that it drew attention afresh to basic Christian values and gave reason back its own voice. (7) One of its products is modern, liberal democracy. …