Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the way the Holocaust is taught in pre-university education in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. It analyses the context in which references to the Holocaust occur in curricula and examines different approaches adopted by teachers based on data collected in a survey. The research reveals that most teachers concentrate on perpetrator narratives, give priority to moral lessons derived from the Holocaust at the expense of a historical narrative, and find it difficult to effectively manage the limited time available for history lessons. However, some progress has been made regarding teachers' perceptions of and approaches to teaching about the Holocaust in line with guidelines published by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Education Working Group.

This article examines the extent to and the ways in which the Holocaust is presented in Albanian secondary school history textbooks. It offers a quantitative analysis of the space devoted to the Holocaust in proportion to the textbooks' overall content and a qualitative content analysis based on the narrative patterns outlined in the UNESCO report The International Status of Education about the Holocaust: A Global Mapping of Textbooks and Curricula. It demonstrates that Albanian textbooks offer scant coverage of the Holocaust, but that some changes regarding the conceptualization, contextualization, and narrative of the Holocaust have been implemented since the curricular reform of 2004.

This paper aims to analyse the political system change in Albania, in the early '90s, as presented in the history textbooks for primary and secondary school. In regard to the chronological criteria, as the main principle of historicism, the overthrow of the communist regime and the establishment of democracy appear as a symbiosis of the internal situation and the pressure of the international community. The Albanian government due to the economic hardship, the social backwardness and the political tensions was gradually losing its ruling legitimacy on the basis of Marxist-Leninist ideology. The fallacy of the party-state propaganda caused a general dissatisfaction that led to the organization of anti-communist demonstrations, which culminated with the Student Movement of December 1990 and the institutionalisation of political pluralism, with the formation of the first opposition political party, the Democratic Party. The successive democratic transformations up to the creation of Aleksander Meksi's government, after the elections of 22 March 1992, were as a result of the effect domino, too. The democratic revolutions in the Eastern countries and the influence of the international actors favoured the democratic changes in Albania. The theoretical and empirical analysis of the process of political transition in the history textbooks of elementary and secondary education in Albania, based on the historical discourse analysis, it is important not only for the political turnaround that marks this period of history in the way of building democratic institutions, creating a market economy and the functioning of civil society, but in particular for the challenge of educating young people as worthy citizens of a society that aspires to integrate into the European family. DOI:10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3s1p511

This paper aims to analyze the political situation in the Balkan and the influence of the European Great Powers to guarantee peace and stability in the region. It is focused on the diplomacy of the neighboring countries towards Albania concerning its participation in the Balkan Pact, signed in Athens, on February 9, 1934. At first, Italy put under pressure the Balkan states, particularly Greece, that in case of Albania admission to the Pact, their relations undermined. Rome insisted on maintaining its dominance on Albania considering it an Italian protectorate. Secondly, the Balkan neighbors refused to invite the Albanian delegation sign the Pact of the Balkan Agreement due to its sine quo non condition on the solution of minority's issues. The Balkan Entente between Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey intended to foster cooperation and their economic and political integration. Also its purpose was to ensure the territorial integrity and the political independence of the Balkan countries, thus the geopolitical status quo in the region. DOI:10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n3p535

This paper aims to analyze the diplomacy of Italy based on its economic and political interests during the monarchical system of governing in Albania. The Italian government strongly supported the intention of Ahmet Zogu to transition from Presidential Republic to Monarchy, in order to ensure the domestic political stability and the reduction of the continuous confrontations caused by neighbors' intrigues. It approved the proclamation of Zogu as "King of Albanians", who would strengthen the bilateral relations and attend a common policy in accordance with the Treaty of the Defensive Alliance, signed on November 22, 1927. The Italian government competed with Yugoslavia to control the Adriatic Sea and to establish the economic hegemony in Albania and elsewhere in the Balkans. Rome used the difficult economic and financial situation of Albania in the circumstances of the Great Depression to provide a loan of 100 million gold francs for ten years without interest. But, it was cancelled due to non-renewal by the Albanian government of the Friendship and Security Pact with Italy in November 1931. Thus, Italy demanded the repayment of the loan provided by SVEA (Società per lo Sviluppo Economico dell'Albania) and customs union with Albania, which were rejected by King Zogu I because its country was turned simply into an Italian colony. The signing of a series of bilateral economic agreements not only extended the Italian control in Albania, but also contributed to the development of the Albanian economy during the monarchy. Moreover, Italy with the support of Britain aimed at strengthening the political domination in the Balkans against the Franco-Yugoslav alliance that organized the Balkan Conferences (1930-1934). It opposed King Zogu I efforts for an independent foreign policy and put under pressure the Balkan countries not to accept Albania in the Balkan Pact signed on February 9, 1934. The Italian diplomacy intended to establish a protectorate in Albania and Count Ciano sent King Zogu I successive proposals that included: 1) the control of the means of communication in the case of threat to the independence of the Albania; 2) an Italian consultant in each ministry; 3) the recognition of civil and political rights for the Italians living in Albania and 4) the respective legacies turned into embassies. King Zogu I refused such an agreement because it violated the independence and the territorial integrity of Albania. He alerted the Great Powers to the Italian threat, but faced with the Western indifference. On April 7, 1939, Italy invaded Albania in violation of the deal with Britain to maintain the status quo in the Mediterranean. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n11p258