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Abstract

This article explores the marginalisation of the Albanian state since its founding in 1913.  It is an analysis that embraces the roles of stigmatization and argues how and why Albania has been traditionally viewed through a negative lens in contemporary times.  The article begins by establishing three main points as the under-currents of Albanian marginalisation, and role of stereotyping and simple labeling is a prominent theme throughout.  The idea of pan-Albanianism is contemplated as well as its negative impact on various Western and regional perceptions of Albanians and the Albanian state.  Contextualization is made by shadowing the impacts of the wars in Kosovo and ultimately the impression this leaves on Albania as a threat to Balkan security, peace and stability.

 

Introduction

20th Century history of the Balkans demonstrates a difficulty in community building.  Albania illustrates the difficulty in this theme since its declared independence in 1913.  This paper has set itself one main task.  This is to show that through Albanian history from independence to the present day, Albania is viewed and represented pejoratively, marginalised by the European community, and largely perceived as a ‘backward’ state, and therefore poses a threat to the stability of Balkan security.

To illustrate Albania’s marginalization, I have chosen to focus its representation on the basis of the following three points.  First, my discussion explores the historical misrepresentation or false image that centers on Albania and ethnic Albanians.  In this exploration, I will look at the literary contributions of prominent thinkers and writers on the region including M. Edith Durham and Maria Todorova. 

Second, I will investigate the ‘political dimension’ as related to Europe’s ‘rejection’ of Albania and how this contributes to the country’s negative image.  Within this second part of representation, I have chosen to divide the political influence on Albania’s image among the Western perception, regional perceptions and how Albania is viewed as a Balkan ‘threat.’  Depicting the Albanian ‘threat’ will be substantiated by the idea of pan-Albanianism or Greater Albania.  To further expand on the ‘political dimensions’ of this theme I will give attention to the events of the Kosovo War and its harmful impact on Albanians.

hird, I will survey the unique cultural sphere of Albania as a country that straddles both Western and Eastern sources of cultural foundation, but maintaining attention on the role of religion as a force in the marginalization of Albania and their interrelation.  Throughout my exploration, concern for the role of stereotyping as a decisive influence on public perception is critical.  The role of stereotyping and simple labeling will therefore be repeated and emphasized in some of the themes.

It is important to note that this theme is complex.  It is for the reason that it would be difficult to consider this topic in its entirety so I have chosen to explore the previous key examples as a representation of Albania’s marginalization with an emphasis on the period from the 1990s on.  In turn, this discussion intentionally avoids Albania’s communist era as a political dimension contributing to modern day perspective because it is an issue that is too large for the scope of this paper.  As a result, the reader may notice that a ‘gap’ will naturally exist in the discussion of these themes where the period of the Cold War would normally exist.

Historiography

Often when discussing the geographical location of Albania, mention of the country’s isolation is an important factor.  Geographically, Albania lies on the outskirts of Europe or the “corners” of Europe according to M. Edith Durham, author of High Albania.  Durham was not a prominent scholar when she first visited the Balkans, or this ‘corner’ of Europe in 1900, but she became one of the most prominent travel-writers who made a career out of the Balkans.  In the opening chapter of her book, she states “such backwaters of life exist in many corners of Europe.”1  Whether Durham was speaking directly of Albania or simply of the Balkans in general may be a matter of personal interpretation, but the two are undoubtedly linked and however one may interpret the Balkans, any interpretation likely echoes in one’s image of Albania.

The Land of the Living Past as the first chapter in Durham’s bookis interesting in its suggestions.  The title leaves the reader with impressions that Albania is stuck in stagnation and destined to be shadowed by its past.  But the past is a good starting-point when interpreting the factors that influence Albania’s contemporary image.  Maria Todorova suggests in The Balkans: From Discovery to Invention that scholars of the 18th and 19th Centuries were disappointed to see that Balkan peoples were failing to live-up to an image set by heroic classical figures.2  Other writers like Derek Hall, have written on the force of Islam as a contributor to the falsification of the Albanian state and people as nothing more than backward when compared to the supposed ‘sophistication’ of European Christians.3
            It is difficult and misinforming to continue this exploration without first establishing what the terms ‘Albania’ and ‘Albanians’ refers to in this paper.  For the overwhelming majority of this essay, the terms ‘Albania’ and ‘Albanians’ in orientation refer specifically to the creation of the Albanian national state as the borders were established and agreed upon in 1913 and reconfirmed after the First World War.  The term ‘Albanians’ will not generally refer to the Albanian diaspora of the Balkan region including individuals of Albanian ethnicity living in Kosovo, Serbia or Montenegro.  Rather these terms denote the general inhabitants of Albania proper.  However, the idea of pursuing a policy of Greater ethnic Albania will be discussed separately, where I will make reference to Albanian diaspora and what its role has typically been interpreted as.

False Representation

Through the work of other travelers’ like Edward Lear and Rose Wilder Lane the image of Albania was portrayed to the rest of Europe.4  But these images were reinforced and modified by Western media portrayal into strong images that persist to this day.5  This modified portrayal is a combination of stereotyping or typecasting that focuses on Albanian’s having the lowest standards of living and the lowest level of economic development in Europe, and also relies on the harsh natural environment and a geographic isolation of the country for added weight.6  Accordingly, stereotyping is the landscape that naturally emphasizes the misrepresentation of Albanian history and folklore.
A mainstream perspective on Albania is the focus on Albanian folklore, which largely characterizes the country through strong jocularity.7  Mocking literature connecting the country to the modern-day reifies the idea that stereotypical approaches can contribute to the construction of a ‘false’ image and identity of a country and Albania is certainly a powerful example of this principle.  This approach has followed Albania since its official formation in 1913.  To capture a quality of the Western version of typical Albania and its region, Isa Blumi quotes the American reporter W. Y. Morgen from the Hutchison Daily News in Kansas who in 1913 characterised the coast along the Adriatic as “the No Man’s Land of Europe.”8  Blumi contrasts this 1913 perspective with Richard Basset’s 1990 comment that “The history of Albania is one long chapter of misery and revolt, subjection and savagery.”9  These opinions do not represent Western view in its entirety, but it shows that people are tempted to base their views of the Albanians and the Balkan region in haste and on rigid stereotypes “that are often recycled to help the audience readily digest information that is almost always short on detail and loaded with euphemisms.”10
King Zog I, one-time prime-minister of Albania from 1928 until 1939, is part of the history of the country that has been predominantly focused on as part of the popular history of Albania.11  Derek Hall explains “his enthronement only reinforced Albania’s size, language, majority religion, location and politics as factors condemning the country (and Albanians) at best, to the psychological margins of Europe.”12  No only is the image of Albania traditionally seen as negative from the outside, but these images are strongly seen as being reinforced by a major political player of Albania from the inside.  Though ultimately, it is Albania and the people of this country who will have to deal with the falsifications that have become the framework for their identity.
The margins or corners of Europe are originally seen to have had everything that Western Europe did not, and was therefore a territory convenient for “lazy colonialism,” stated by Vesna Goldsworthy in her 1998 work, Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the Imagination.13  Hers and other literary works showcase some of the typecasting approaches and attitudes towards South Eastern Europe.  The popular attitudes represented by Goldsworthy illustrate ignorance as a force labeling others and is also a powerful double-standard.  
Dubravka Ugresic’s essay echoes these attitudes by focusing on some of its concrete evidence with the mention of the imaginary lands of the Balkans:  Carphatia, Ruritania, Kravonia, Silaria, Moesia, Sel-ovnia, Pottibakia, Evarchia, Erewhon and Slaka.14
Ugresic shows that it has become fair and acceptable, according to public understanding, to assume that the term ‘Albania’ fits this list of ‘countries.’  Yet, public perception and understanding has been built on false, misleading and very simple information, and arguably the public historically ‘understands’ very little about Albania or Albanians but are still quick to believe almost anything anyway.  Has a world of imaginary Balkan states been created that have essentially consumed the identity of some of the real states that exist in the Balkan region?  The myth of Balkan generality creates a quagmire into which Albania and other Balkan nations have definitely sunk.  As a result of this, a determined effort will be required to reify that there is something very real to Albania that indeed sets it apart from the imaginary land of Ruritania.
From Todorova’s explorations in The Balkans: From Discovery to Invention, the rest of Europe has largely come to expect something of Albania that places a heavy onus on its people to live-up to the images of classical heroic figures.  Expectations have combined with strong cultural and social classification to wreck the country’s image.

Political Dimensions:  ‘Western’ Perceptions

The political dimension of Albania’s marginalization is an important aspect of this topic, and it is one that can be divided into three categories of analysis.  The first aspect of the political dimension is the overall Western perception of the country or how the rest of Europe has come to view Albania in a political sense and why.  The second involves the Balkan perception of Albania, how the Balkan community sees the country, and ultimately how this cycles back to impact Western attitudes.  The third aspect of focus extends from the Balkan perception of Albania as a regional ‘threat’ with attention placed on the idea of Pan-Albanianism in the Balkans.
The idea that Albania possesses an historic ‘vulnerability’ is one asserted by Derek Hall in Albania in Europe:  Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?  The centrality of Hall’s article lies in the competition that Albania is up against.  The marginality of Albania’s geographical location is part-in-parcel to the overall marginalization of Albania by Western political perceptions.16  While Albania has been a full-member of the Council of Europe since July 1995, with active participation in NATO’s partnership for peace programme, there has been absolutely no prospect of formal discussion of Albanian European Union membership before 1998, but being considered for membership has become an enormous challenge for Albania as it has for Turkey.17

Europe’s political approach to Albania in turn, may be characterized as cautious, and operating in relatively early stages of their post-communist association.  But Europe continues to look toward the co-ordination of international relations and further confidence-building between the two political entities through supranational frameworks like the Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC) group.18  However, this is arguably a constructive way of deferring Albanian entry into the EU, without necessarily denying Albania completely.

The fundamental challenges to states like Albania are difficult for other European countries to understand says Franck Debie in Greece, Italy and Europe in the face of the Albanian problem where the ‘lead nation approach’ is “liable to marginalise and exasperate the small regional powers, frustrated by the initiative of a few large European countries.”19  Debie reasons “by giving priority, in the name of efficiency, to the ‘lead nation approach’, it is these differences [the difference of geo-political representations among the member states of the EU] that are aggravated by suspicion and rivalry.”20  But for the most part, and as is the case with the Albanian crisis of 1997, the EU sees much of the problems afflicting Albania as part of the process of democratic transition.21  
Gazme Xhubo views Albania as being inherently marginalised in Diplomacy and Crisis Management in the Balkans because Albania has had “the worst starting-line of any country in systemic transition.”22  He states “[this is] a region that is currently manifesting tendencies of violence that in the past led to large levels of violence and warfare.”23  He suggests that maintaining stability as a means of ensuring democratic development necessitates greater American or ‘Western’ involvement.24  Though Xhubo supports the growth of regional democracy the “necessity” of ‘Western’ involvement is a marginalisation not only of Albania, but of the entire Balkan region in that they simply are not capable of changing the current situation on their own to ensure the cultivation of democracy.  But the Balkan and South Eastern European states’ view differs from the rest of Europe’s.

 

Political Dimensions:  Regional Perceptions

For the most part, contempt for Albania within the Balkans and South Eastern Europe has its roots embedded in the final year of the Great War.  Italian soldiers occupying Albania in 1918 kept Greek, Serbian and Montenegrin forces from flowing into the country from the north and the south.25  Italian claim to Vlore and the southern coast was simply thwarted by the European Concert’s creation of Albania in 1913, and consequently Albania’s creation clashed with Italy’s political ambitions.26  While Italy already felt cheated out of specific Entente guarantees, this created a particularly sharp scorn between the Italy and Albania that remains an issue in their relationship in 2006. 

Albanian forces followed the Serbian and Montenegrin retreat of 1915 in face of a powerful Austro-German counter-offensive, but Albanian military organization was seen to have taken place under the auspices of Austrian authority.27  As a result of this, Serbians, Montenegrins and Italians felt betrayed while other Balkan spectators like the Greeks and Macedonians were suspicious, largely distrusting Albanian intentions in the Balkans, and saw them as collaborators of an enemy they fought against.28  Collaboration can undoubtedly be added to list of stereotypes placed on Albania today even though they were born from conflict that consumed the region nearly a century ago.

Now in the present day, tension between the Albanian state and its Balkan neighbors continues and in some cases conflict has intensified with memories of violent demonstrations with people shouting “Kosovo – Republica” and “Unification with Albania” that are often connected with Albanian plans of expansionism.29

Regional discourse on expansionism often involves a variety of loosely woven stereotypes, historical memories that play off insecurities and fear, rumors, and talk of plots.  Among many of the elements involved in this regional tension and mistrust are traces of old Catholic/Orthodox-Islamic antagonism, collaboration in both the First World War and Second World War strengthened by memories of the 1930s.  Mutual contempt between Serbia and Albania over Kosovo, political boundaries, ethnology, and fantasies of pan-Albanianism and the creation of a Greater ethnic Albania are mechanisms of Albanian marginalisation from a more recent period.

Paulin Kola introduces a different perspective on where this marginalisation came from and what unique factors are fueling it in The Search for Greater Albania.30  A lot of changes have taken place in the Balkans in the last ten years and the dissolving of Yugoslavia is the biggest change of all.  Kola describes how radical change in Albania in the 1990s was largely a reaction to the political change of Yugoslavia.31  Kola’s perspective describes a domino effect in the region, beginning with the break-up of Yugoslavia, then radical change in Albania and eventually the fate of Kosovo was affected and the fate of Albanians throughout the Balkans.32  Yugoslavia’s break-up meant the beginning of a new era for the Balkans and this new era ushered in a series of rapid political and social changes.  However, these changes only made it easier for people to find new ways to blame Albania for many problems of the Balkan region.

Political Dimensions:  The Balkan ‘Threat’ and pan-Albanianism

The complex issue of Albanian expansionism appears to be an unshakable stigma, not only for people living within Albania, but ethnic Albanians spread throughout the Balkans.  The broad-based characterisation is that all ethnic Albanians are bent on the realisation of a greater Albania or even of a greater Kosovo.33  The significance of this assumption is alleged Albanian desire to territorially unify all ethnic Albanians in South Eastern Europe, which has held far more power and influence as a simple myth as opposed to a practical political agenda.34  Nevertheless, myth has proven to be just as powerful a tool in marginalisation as truth, and pan-Albanianism is still largely seen as a major regional threat by non-Albanians.35  The main reason for this power is that myth combines with fear to create a devastating dichotomy that threatens regional stability while degrading Albanians.

The supposed Balkan ‘threat’ from ethnic Albanians is nothing less of an anomaly according to Robert Austin in his work Great Albania:  The Albanian State and the Question of Kosovo, 1912-2001.36  In part, this label stems from the connectivity between Kosovo and Albania because official Albanian policy has traditionally centers on Realpolitik involving Kosovo.37  This is a more realistic depiction of Albanian policy as opposed to Albania openly pursuing a policy of Greater or Ethnic Albania.38  The reason why these assumptions and fears of ethnic Albanians are so misleading is because there has never been an official Albanian policy to pursue a greater Albania even while the border agreement of 1913 left just as many Albanians outside the state as inside it.39

Scattering Albanians throughout South Eastern Europe deserves attention because it helps to explain where some of the Balkan states’ insecurity and fear stem from.  Of the five states surrounding Albania, the number of ethnic Albanians within each as a percentile of the total population is expressed as seven per-cent in Montenegro, fourteen per-cent in Serbia, ninety per-cent in Kosovo, twenty-two per-cent in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and roughly four per-cent in Greece, with over 400,000 ethnic Albanians living in Athens.40  This information alone provides a sound basis for pan-Albanian claims.

Regional anxiety exists in each state’s respective ethnic Albanian population as either an infiltration of Albanianism or an Albanian pre-text for Greater Albanian expansionism.  With half of Europe’s Muslim Albanians living outside of Albania proper in Slavic and Greek Orthodox countries, the risk of a broader Balkan conflict remains, and so the rhetoric of a Greater Albania becomes a perceived dilemma in regional security.42  But as previously mentioned, no expansionist policy has ever been officially sought or implemented by Albania. 

By no means has revisionist or extreme national policy been completely absent from modern history of the Albanian state.  But during the course of the 20th Century, not a single serious political leader of Albania could be called pan-Albanian.43  Often the very forces that have called for a more open revisionist policy were more often than not opposed by policies of the Albanian state itself.44  But why is this, especially when Albania’s neighbors have consistently portrayed Albania as a state bent on border revision at the expense of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece?45

Political Dimensions:  The Kosovo Conflict

The relationship between Kosovo and Albania has its roots in the Albanian national awakening, but the issues that afflicted both Kosovo and Albania back then still influence the political atmosphere of the present day.  According to Robert C. Austin there’s was “an incomplete national awakening” and “until 1992, Albania’s official policy toward Kosovo derived from a legacy of state weakness, [and] political survival…”46  Examining the Kosovo conflict from 1996 to 1999 is an important part in understanding how Albania is perceived and marginalised in the Balkan region, especially by Serbia.  The Kosovo war is arguably an extension of the Serbian-Albanian conflict lasting through the 20th Century, most notably in the First World War and the Second World War, characterised by episodes of repeated fighting.  More importantly, the war in Kosovo is seen as an extension of pan-Albanianism.

The conflict involves a combination of attitude, suspicion, aggression and fear and inevitably destabilised Balkan security but Albania was ultimately linked to the conflict in a negative way.  The Kosovo Liberation Army as an Albanian guerilla group seeking independence for the province did not represent official Albanian policy or the ideas of pan-Albanian politicians but was largely seen as a extension of Albania anyway.47  Kola examines how certain countries like Croatia and Bosnia considered the Albanian crisis and disintegration of 1997 was a blessing because of the plentiful opportunities it created for the arming of Kosovo Albanians.48  But while it is seen as a blessing to some, it is a reinforcement of Albanian marginalisation in two ways:  first the disintegration of Albania strengthens the idea that Albania is backward, and second the subsequent arming of Kosovo Albanians supports allegations of the creation of a Greater Albanian state.49

If the final status of Kosovo is not resolved in the near future, then the Southern Balkans will inevitably see the resumption of conflict and if this occurs, it could mean a resumption of suspicion, blame, and increased marginalisation of all Albanians.50  This resumption will always be linked with Albania and a plan for the establishment of a Greater Albania as part of the core of Albanian marginalisation in the Balkan region according to the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch.51  Throughout the world however, the crisis that took place in Kosovo in 1998 has been depicted as “verbal snapshots,” described by Isa Blumi, which possess the power to communicate simple representations of complex issues.52  Simple representations are always easily and more readily accepted than complex issue.

Cultural Spheres and Religious Currents

If Albania is seen as lying in the margins of Europe, then the country may also be perceived as lying in the margins of the socio-cultural sphere of Turkey.  The Ottoman regional presence in Albania lasted for over 400 years, and among the many impacts of Turkish regional presence is the comparative perspective or a sharp contrast between the ‘sophisticated’ or ‘advanced’ West and the ‘archaic’ or backward East. 

Derek Hall states this perception “precluded access to the agrarian and industrial revolutions of the West.53  If according to Goldsworthy, the West exploited this region, then so did the Ottomans.  But residues of Turkish exploitation and regional presence have seemed to leave something with Albania that outlasted Turkish rule itself. 

Seemingly Albanian-Turkish association as a bi-product of outside rule has tainted Albania’s image.  Albania’s tainted image can be characterized accordingly:  the idea that Turkey had enforced backwardness in this European country is not as important as the idea that Albania had ‘allowed’ itself to be ruled by such a ‘backward’ culture.  Moreover, if the West traditionally marginalised Turkey, then likely any association with Turkey is also likely to be marginalisation.

Negative impacts of Albania’s cultural connectivity with the East can be seen in action today, with Turkey and a number of Gulf states providing development assistance for Albania alongside the EU, World Bank and other ‘Western’ supporters since 1991.54  Questions concerning the course of Albania’s development path have been raised after loans were secured from the Islamic Development Bank with other significant levels of Middle Eastern support.55  But when looking at this in terms of cultural spheres, the source of aid is now being viewed by some as a potential barrier to the country’s acceptance by Western supranational institutions and ultimately the acceptance of the country by the EU.56  Again, the course of Albanian history is being echoed in its present day cultural and political relationships.  Albania’s oriental relations are seen a nothing less than ‘incompatible’ with the country’s wish to be seen by both the West and the East as an acceptable member of the common European community.57

Much of Albania’s religious influence has been an obstacle to its ‘Western’ acceptance in the cultural sense because most of its religious influence came from the ruling Ottomans.58  As Albania was incorporated into the Islamic world, it simultaneously became a religious and cultural alien to the predominantly Roman Catholic and Orthodox Europe whether it consciously made the choice or not.59

As some Albanians embraced Islam as a means of advancement within the Ottoman Empire, Europeans remained largely hostile to everything Islamic.  Even as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated in the early 20th Century, Albania was becoming a nation in its wake.60  Albania has been viewed as a religious infiltration of the spheres of Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy in the modern period.  This reinforces how Albania is seen as a religious hostility just as it is seen as a cultural one, or at the very least, ‘incompatible’ with the religious values of Christianity.61

The Islamic nature of Albania and its people became a mechanism for the ‘backward’ portrayal of Albania.  This idea is reinforced by Derek Hall as he explains that “The image of Albania and Albanians as Islamic has been manipulated by less friendly ‘Christian’ neighbours…”62  But this is not the only image that is being manipulated by Christians.  The Orthodox Church is shown by Nikolaos Stavrou in Albania’s Rocky Road to Democracy and Its Impact on Regional Stability as battling members of Islam within the country to regain possession of seized property or be allowed to restore ancient Christian monasteries during Sali Berisha’s Presidency.63

Strong Christian and Islamic elements within Albanian society have still not come together in a positive way.  Because both Religions, as naturally contradicting ideologies, are firmly embedded in Albanian society, hostility between the two continues.64  These two religions have a strong history of debasing one-another and the image of Albania and Albanians are caught in the middle, ultimately making them the greatest victims of all.

Conclusions

Foundations for the Albanian image have been built over a long period of time.  The central components of this image incorporate a wide spectrum of issues that exist between Albania and members of the European community but also are of issues involving Albania indirectly or see Albania caught in the middle. 

The way in which Albania has not been directly involved in portraying itself will be one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome in creating a better representation of this country.  This is because other countries form impressions based on simple representations of complex issues because simple representation take little understanding to accept.

We have explored how a Western perception of Albania in 1913 describes the region as the ‘No Man’s Land of Europe’ while a present day Western perception sees a history of Albania as one long chapter of misery and revolt, subjection and savagery.  The large majority of these negative interpretations of Albania are built on rigid and often recycled stereotypes that attempt to simplify Albania’s international and regional relations.66

From Western to regional representation, religious ideologies, cultural elements and the example of the conflict in Kosovo, Albania has a strong and recurrent history of marginalisation within by members of the European Community.  Their marginalisation and pejorative treatment largely comes from the previously discussed factors and the idea of pan-Albanianism or of a Greater Albania strengthens the false image of this European state to the present day.

 

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ENDNOTES

 

1 Mary Durham, High Albania, (New York: Arno Press Inc., 1971), 1-2.

2 See Maria Todorova, Imagining the Balkans, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).

3 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 109.

4 Ibid., 109.

5 Ibid., 109.

6 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 109.

7 Derek Hall, Albania and the Albanians, (London:  Pinter Publishers Ltd., 1994), xix.

8 Isa Blumi, “The Commodification of Otherness and the Ethnic Unit in the Balkans:  How to Think About Albanians,” East European Politics and Societies, vol. 12, issue 3 (Fall 1998): 529.

9 Ibid., 529.

10 Ibid., 530 and 531.

11 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 107 and 108.

12 Ibid., 108.

13 See Vesna Goldsworthy, Inventing Ruritania: the Imperialism of the Imagination, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998).

14 Dubravka Ugresic. 2006. Balkans, My Balkans. Context, Centre for Book Culture 3, no. 14, http://www.centerforbookculture.org/context/no14/ugresicnew.html (accessed 29 October 2006) 

15 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 107.

16 Ibid., 114.

17/u>, 114.

18 Ibid., 108.

19 Debie Frank, “Greece, Italy and Europe in the face of the Albanian Problem.” Geopolitics, vol. 5, issue 2 (Summer 2001): 187.

20 Ibid., 187.

21 Ibid., 187.

22 Gazmen Xhubo, Diplomacy and Crisis Management in the Balkans, A US Foreign Policy Perspective, (London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1996), 146 and 147.

23 Ibid., 146 and 147.

24 Ibid., 147.

25 John R. Lampe, Balkans into Southeastern Europe, (New York: Pelgrave Macmillan, 2006), 51.

26 Ibid., 51.

27 Ibid., 51.

28 Ibid., 51.

29 Noel Malcolm, Kosovo, A Short History, (London: Papermac, 1998), 334-356

30 See Paulin Kola, The Search for Greater Albania, (London: Hurst and Company Publishers, 2003).

31 Paulin Kola, The Search for Greater Albania, (London: Hurst and Company Publishers, 2003), 220 and 221.

32 Ibid., 220 and 221.

33 “Pan-Albanianism:  How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?” International Crisis Group Europe Report, No. 53, (February 2004): 1-6, 10-15, 19-20, 27, 33 and 35.

34 Ibid., 31.

35 Ibid., 31.

36 Robert C. Austin. “Greater Albania: The Albanian State and the Question of Kosovo,” in Ideologies and National Identities, John Lampe and Mark Mazower, 235-248. New York: Central European University Press, 2004), 235.

37 Ibid., 235.

38 Ibid., 235.

39 Robert C. Austin. “Greater Albania: The Albanian State and the Question of Kosovo,” in Ideologies and National Identities, John Lampe and Mark Mazower, 235-248. New York: Central European University Press, 2004), 235.

40 “Pan-Albanianism:  How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?” International Crisis Group Europe Report, No. 53, (February 2004): 1-6, 10-15, 19-20, 27, 33 and 35.

41 See Victoria Gray, “The Albanian Diaspora and Security in the Balkans,” European Security, vol. 8, issue 3 (Autumn 1999).

42 See Victoria Gray, “The Albanian Diaspora and Security in the Balkans,” European Security, vol. 8, issue 3 (Autumn 1999).

43 Robert C. Austin. “Greater Albania: The Albanian State and the Question of Kosovo,” in Ideologies and National Identities, John Lampe and Mark Mazower, 235-248. New York: Central European University Press, 2004), 235.

44 Ibid., 235 and 236.

45 Ibid., 236.

46 Ibid., 244 and 247.

47 Robert C. Austin. “Greater Albania: The Albanian State and the Question of Kosovo,” in Ideologies and National Identities, John Lampe and Mark Mazower, 235-248. New York: Central European University Press, 2004), 244. and Paulin Kola, The Search for Greater Albania, (London: Hurst and Company Publishers, 2003), 314-320.

48 Paulin Kola, The Search for Greater Albania, (London: Hurst and Company Publishers, 2003), 329 and 330.

49 Ibid., 329 and 330.

50 “Pan-Albanianism:  How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?” International Crisis Group Europe Report, No. 53, (February 2004): 31.

51 “Pan-Albanianism:  How Big a Threat to Balkan Stability?” International Crisis Group Europe Report, No. 53, (February 2004): 31.

52 Isa Blumi, “The Commodification of Otherness and the Ethnic Unit in the Balkans:  How to Think About Albanians,” East European Politics and Societies, vol. 12, issue 3 (Fall 1998): 520-531.

53 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 108.

54 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 108.

55 Ibid., 108.

56 Ibid., 108.

57 Ibid., 108.

58 Ibid., 107.

59 See Stephan Lipsius, “Politik und Islam in Albanien - Instrumentalisierung und Abhangigkeiten,” Sudost-Europa, vol. 47, issue 3-4 (2006).

60 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 107.

61 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 108. and Hugh Poulton, Balkans, Minorities and States in Conflict, (London: Minority Rights Publications, 1994), 193-195.

62 Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 108.

63 Nicolaos A. Stavrou, “Albania’s Rocky Road to Democracy and its Impact on Regional Stability,” Mediterranean Quarterly, vol. 9, issue 4 (Fall 1998): 45 and 46.
Derek Hall, “Albania in Europe: Condemned to the Periphery or Beyond?,” Geopolitics, vol. 6, issue 1 (Summer 2001): 108.

64 Hugh Pouton, Balkans, Minorities and States in Conflict, (London: Minority Rights Publications, 1994), 196-198.

65 See Ailish M. Johnson, “Albania’s Relations with the EU: On the Road to Europe?,” Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, vol. 3, issue 2 (November 2001).