Discusses improper conduct of the May 1996 elections by the government of President Sali Berisha, violation of the human rights of opposition party members, and weakening of the democratic system under his regime; 1990s; Albania. Some focus on lack of improvement in economic conditions.
The transition of industrial society to risk society is examined. Modernization has produced real, physical riskiness, particularly in the form of large scale nuclear & chemical technologies that can no longer be contained by modernist systems of prediction & control. A risk society is emerging in two phases: (1) systematic production of self-endangerment without public debate or political conflict; & (2) the domination of the hazards of industrial society in public, private, & political debates. Within such a risk society, epistemic authority for decision making about environmental concerns is fragmented across a huge range of social groups. That dispersal of authority carries the potential of raising society to a qualitatively new level of self-critique. Variants of risk societies are discussed. D. Generoli