Search results

As Albania is accelerating its preparations towards the European Union candidate status, numerous areas of public policy and practices undergo intensive development processes. Regional development policy is a very new area of public policy in Albania, and needs research and development. This study focuses on the process of sustainable development in Albania, by analyzing and comparing the regional development of regions of Tirana, Shkodra and Kukes. The methodology used consists of a literature/desk review; analytical and comparative approach; qualitative interviews; quantitative data collection; analysis. The research is organized in five chapters. First chapter provides an overview of the study framework. The second outlines the theory and scientific framework for sustainable and regional development in relation with geography. The third chapter presents the picture of the regional development in Albania, analyzing the disparities and regional development in the light of EU requirements and NUTS division. Chapter 4 continues by analyzing and comparing the regional development of the regions: Tirana – driver for change, Shkodra – the North in Development and Kukes – the "shrinking" region. Chapter 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations. This research comes to the conclusions that if growth in Albania is to be increased and sustained, a regional development policy needs to be established.

It is increasingly recognized that development success depends not only on a vibrant private sector and an efficient public sector, but also on a vigorous civic sector as well. The link between government and civil society is nowadays crucial for Albania. While government rely on authority to achieve outcomes and private sector firms rely on market mechanisms to provide incentives for mutually beneficial exchanges, civil society actors in comparison, working through NGOs, rely on independent and voluntary efforts to promote their values, to further social and economic development and to influence change.The growth of the third sector in Albania during the transition to a market economy and the role it has played has varied over time. There is general consensus among government officials, donor and international agencies, as well as civil society actors, that both the poorly defined functions of civil society in Albania, and also the lack of clarity in the assignment of responsibilities for specific competencies in political, social and economic arenas, are two of the main obstacles to the realization of a successful government-civil society relationship.In assessing this complex relationship for a period of 20 years, this paper provides a historical background of the development of the third sector in Albania, as well as giving consideration to their current state of development and recommendations for the future.

As Albania is accelerating its preparations towards the European Union candidate status, numerous areas of public policy and practices undergo intensive development processes. Regional development policy is a very new area of public policy in Albania, and needs research and development. This study focuses on the process of sustainable development in Albania, by analyzing and comparing the regional development of regions of Tirana, Shkodra and Kukes. The methodology used consists of a literature/desk review; analytical and comparative approach; qualitative interviews; quantitative data collection; analysis. The research is organized in five chapters. First chapter provides an overview of the study framework. The second outlines the theory and scientific framework for sustainable and regional development in relation with geography. The third chapter presents the picture of the regional development in Albania, analyzing the disparities and regional development in the light of EU requirements and NUTS division. Chapter 4 continues by analyzing and comparing the regional development of the regions: Tirana – driver for change, Shkodra – the North in Development and Kukes – the "shrinking" region. Chapter 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations. This research comes to the conclusions that if growth in Albania is to be increased and sustained, a regional development policy needs to be established.

Think tanks are widely considered to be an important part of political life in mature democracies (McGann, 2019). The aim of the article is to present a preliminary characterisation of the institutional landscape of think tanks in Albania, based on the results of a qualitative and quantitative study conducted at the turn of 2017. The paper starts with presenting the specific features of the Albanian think tank sector and then proceeds to identify two major, yet interlinked, challenges facing Albanian think tanks, namely: (i) the lack of any internal political and institutional market for their research products, which is evidenced by their negligible impact on the policymaking process; (ii) the dependence on financing from external donors, which seriously constricts the autonomy of Albanian think tanks in defining their research agenda. The authors propose that this analysis of Albanian think tanks will aid in understanding how the Albanian political system functions as a whole.

Think tanks are widely considered to be an important part of political life in mature democracies (McGann, 2019). The aim of the article is to present a preliminary characterisation of the institutional landscape of think tanks in Albania, based on the results of a qualitative and quantitative study conducted at the turn of 2017. The paper starts with presenting the specific features of the Albanian think tank sector and then proceeds to identify two major, yet interlinked, challenges facing Albanian think tanks, namely: (i) the lack of any internal political and institutional market for their research products, which is evidenced by their negligible impact on the policymaking process; (ii) the dependence on financing from external donors, which seriously constricts the autonomy of Albanian think tanks in defining their research agenda. The authors propose that this analysis of Albanian think tanks will aid in understanding how the Albanian political system functions as a whole.

Think tanks are widely considered to be an important part of political life in mature democracies (McGann, 2019). The aim of the article is to present a preliminary characterisation of the institutional landscape of think tanks in Albania, based on the results of a qualitative and quantitative study conducted at the turn of 2017. The paper starts with presenting the specific features of the Albanian think tank sector and then proceeds to identify two major, yet interlinked, challenges facing Albanian think tanks, namely: (i) the lack of any internal political and institutional market for their research products, which is evidenced by their negligible impact on the policymaking process; (ii) the dependence on financing from external donors, which seriously constricts the autonomy of Albanian think tanks in defining their research agenda. The authors propose that this analysis of Albanian think tanks will aid in understanding how the Albanian political system functions as a whole.