IDM Blog

The Albanian military should focus on building its combat readiness   By Alban Dafa, researcher on governance and security   The engagement of Albanian Armed Forces in response to domestic security crises are fostering a distorted view of the military’s core tasks. The impression one gets from such deployments is …

The role of civil society in tackling corruption   Speech by IDM’s Executive Director Sotiraq Hroni at the 2020 Albanian OSCE Chairmanship Conference “Good Governance and the Fight against Corruption in the Digital Era: Strengthening the Principles of Transparency, Integrity and Accountability”. This speech was delivered as a part of …

COVID-19 in Albania: democratic governance put to the test   *This blog is published as part of the regional blogging initiative “Tales from the Region” on the experience of western Balkan countries with the COVID-19 Pandemic, published between 24 June 2020 and 6 July 2020. The initiative is coordinated by …

IDM and Res Publica announce “Tales from the region”   A regional blogging initiative on the experience with the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Western Balkans.   For several months now, the region functions in emergency circumstances caused by COVID-19. To prevent the virus from spreading, governments in the region are …

How prepared is Albania to cope with massive migratory flows? *This is a translated version of the Op-Ed that was originally published in Albanian in Gazeta Shiptare on 18 June 2020. Author: Armela Xhaho Over the past two years, Albania has faced an increased influx of asylum seekers and irregular immigrants …

May 17, the day on which the city of Tirana was to be filled with the rainbow colours of the International LGBTQA Day, was filled with the ashes and the smoke as democratic governance was destroyed through the demolition of the National Theatre.

Western Balkans’ Euro-Atlantic perspective revived *This blog was originally published on ResPublica on 3 April 2020. Authors: Alfonc Rakaj & Leonie Vrugtman Western Balkan’s European integration perspective was severely challenged at the end of last year, when the European Council was unable to open negotiation talks with Albania and North …

The new accession methodology – A peace agreement between EC and Member States? There were a time in western Balkan (WB) countries, maybe some fifteen years ago, when local politicians, media and civil society were carefully reading the European Commission’s (EC) progress reports. It was a time in which the …

Media capture: The defamation package violates human rights and the constitution   “We have the natural right to use our pens and tongues at our own risk and sacrifice.” ‘Freedom of press’ in the Philosophical Dictionary (1764) Author: Rovena Sulstarova The proposed package of amendments to the media legislation has …

Rule of law is not a panacea: Resolving post-war inter-ethnic conflicts is central to Western Balkans stability and cooperation *This article was originally published in Finnish in the fall 2019 edition of foreign affairs magazine Ulkopolitiikka.   Author: Alban Dafa The October 2019 ‘non-decision’ of the European Council on opening accession …