IDM Blog

The EU and the Western Balkans – Serving the purpose of enlargement Author: Gjergji Vurmo *This blog was originally published in www.biepag.eu on September 21, 2021. Seven years ago, BiEPAG colleagues produced an important policy paper entitled “The unfulfilled promise – Completing the Balkan enlargement”. It analysed the prospects for …

Partitë politike po kërcënojnë sigurinë kombëtare dhe duhet të reformohen tërësisht Autor: Alban Dafa, Publikuar për herë të parë në www.reporter.al 26 Prill 2021- Fushata për zgjedhjet parlamentare të 25 prillit u zhvillua në mënyrë të turpshme. Blerja e votës, shantazhi dhe vrasjet elektorale duhet të dënohen fuqimisht e kurdoherë. …

Public media challenges on reporting on the security sector in Albania Author: Redion Qirjazi April 2021 – Media plays a critical role in informing the public and building trust in the democratic institutions of a country. Similarly, the security sector is an important institutional domain encompassing a wide range of …

Next generation Turkey and its foreign policy in the Western Balkans Author: Romario Shehu *This blog was originally published on www.eastern-focus.eu  on 25 March 2021. The end of the Cold War, the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the fall of the one-party system in Albania were turning points in Turkey’s engagement …

Albania: “high” risk of corruption in security and defense institutions Author: Redion Qirjazi December 2020 – On the international day against corruption, on 9 December 2020, Transparency International published its report on Government Defense Integrity Index (GDI), for Central and Eastern Europe, in which Albania is also included.   The …

The bad habits of a hybrid regime – When everything else fails, blame the EU! Author: Gjergji Vurmo *This Op-Ed that was originally published in www.europeanwesternbalkans.com on 10 December 2020. The EU summit will likely skip the topic of enlargement in the German Presidency’s Conclusions later this week. As North …

Albania’s progress on EU conditions is telling of the government’s European ambitions   By Fiona Papajani, IDM Autumn Intern 2020   The European Commission’s 2020 Report on Albania continues to echo concerns on the overall scope of democratic deficit and polarized political environment; those same concerns shared by the European …

The Integrity Plan: A new perspective in the fight against corruption In December 2019, the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) developed the Integrity Risk Assessment Methodology for the Central Government[1]. This is a mandatory anti-corruption instrument which is implemented by central institutions aiming to draft an integrity plan. A …

Does the Albanian political leadership value a professional and competent military?   By Alban Dafa, researcher on governance and security   There is a worrying trend in the Albanian defence establishment whereby professional competency is becoming increasingly irrelevant for top leadership positions in the Albanian military. On 29 July 2020, …

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 …