June 27th 2011

Institute for Democracy and Mediation organized the National Conference “Social trust and Institutional Authority in the Albanian Democracy”. During this conference a publication with the same title was launched, prepared by IDM with the support of U.S Embassy in Tirana.

The conference was attended by high officials from public institutions, academics, members of parliament as well as high representatives from international institutions.The opening remarks were conducted by IDM Executive Director, Mr. Sotiraq Hroni followed by Head of European Union Delegation Mr.  Ettore Sequi, Vice Ambassador of the U.S, Mrs. Deborah Jones and Deputy Head of OSCE Presence in Albania. Prof. Dr. Adem Tamo provided a brief presentation of the methodology, objectives and main findings of the study.

The following session was dedicated to three main issues concerning the development of the social trust in the Albanian democracy that the study has revealed. The first topic was conducted by Prof.

Dr. Fatos Tarifa who presented some insights in regards to the impact of the communist heritage and democratic transition on social trust. The second topic was lead by Dr. Luan Hajdaraga who briefed the audience on his reflections about the study in general and social/political engagement during the transition, focusing in the family ties, participation in political/non political organizations. The third topic was moderated by Mr. Fatbardh Kadilli (MP) who gave analyzed an important part of the study dealing with rule of law and its impact in the social trust. Constructive discussions and comments were provided from the participants who shared their points of view on such sensitive issue surrounding the decreasing social capital and social trust.

The research study that IDM team conducted and finalized, aims to expose the relations between social trust and law enforcement institutions.

It pretends to transfer the discourse on this issue from the informal debate into academic, political and social forums as well as to draw the attention of policy makers, academics and qualified social forces on this important issue. By doing so, the study contributes to the strengthening of the rule of law in the Albanian transition to democracy. The research was conducted during the period September 2010 – June 2011 and was financially supported by the Commission for Democracy Small Grants programme 2010 of the United States Embassy in Albania.