Identity in a Post-communist Balkan State

An Albanian Village Study

Douglas Saltmarshe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138719323
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351764094
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This title was first published in 2001. In seeking to better understand post-communist identity change, this book presents an analysis based on the study of everyday life in two villages in northern Albania. The author describes the villages from the perspective of community, economic activity and relations with the state. The book applies theories relating identity and civil society to the social, economic and political realities associated with post-communist transformation. By describing village life in northern Albania at the close of the 20th century, it aims to complement the anthropoligical work undertaken by Edith Durham in the early 1900s and by Margaret Hasluck in the 1930s.

1 Introduction

Background

At their peak, during the latter half of the 20th century, communist regimes controlled a large part of the world’s land surface stretching from Central Europe and the Balkans to the Pacific Ocean. Other communist states existed in south east Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The failure of the Eastern European states and the Soviet Union to maintain viable and competitive centrally planned economies resulted in the collapse of authoritarian social control, the disbanding of central economic planning and widespread interruption of trade relations. This breakdown took place over a period of about two years. By 1991 over 400 million people in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) experienced the collapse of communist rule and a massive decline in the standard of living. These former communist states then embarked on a process of political and economic transformation. At the end of the 20th century only the states of China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba remain controlled by regimes espousing communism. Nevertheless all these states are moving towards political and economic orientations which are distinctively different from that which has been associated with state socialism and central planning.

It was Lenin’s pragmatic interpretation of Marxist philosophy which set the horizons and tone of life for many millions during the 20th century. At the heart of the ideology was the Communist Party whose function was to mobilise public opinion in support of its policies and to hold together the various bureaucratic structures which lay between the leadership and the masses (Hammer, 1986, p.77). This model of Marxism-Leninism was modified by those such as Mao Tse Tung, Tito and Hoxha to meet their particular circumstances. The socialist identity was largely derived from a mixture of the exercising of arbitrary power and personal fear for survival. State security services were responsible for the protection of frontiers, foreign espionage, and ensuring the protection of state secrets. They were the agencies of coercion and terror. The internal security forces, bolstered by large numbers of informers, served to intimidate populations and were the principal mechanism of social control (Eyal, 1991, p.2).

Albania, the site of this study, was one such communist state. It had a number of characteristics which made its situation distinctive from other forms of European communism. Historically it has been isolated and slow to develop. Like North Korea, Albania became almost completely shut off from the rest of the world. For 45 years its people endured one the most extreme forms of authoritarian rule. Its end in 1990–1991 was particularly painful. The country was bankrupt, its industry moribund, the agricultural sector dislocated, there were extreme food shortages and much social disorder.

This study is concerned with examining what has happened in Albania during the period of accelerated change which followed the collapse of its communist regime. It does so by interpreting subjective experiences recorded as a result of time spent in two Albanian villages. It has been structured and implemented so that by means of observing and interacting with people as they conduct their daily affairs, information could be gained which will contribute towards a better qualitative understanding of social and economic transformation in post-communist Albania. To achieve this, the research examines how members of two specific collectivities were reconstructing their lives in the context of novel political, economic and ideological circumstances.

Having embarked upon the project I soon became aware that in order to better understand the process of transition in post-communist Albania there was a need to extend my investigation both qualitatively and longitudinally. This derived firstly from the inadequacy of the notion of transition in providing a satisfactory basis for describing the changes taking place, and secondly from the realisation that a historical perspective was required to give a more informed understanding of how and why people were responding to change as they were.

In order to contribute to the formulation of a more objective account of the Albanian economic transition and its social and political transformation, I have drawn upon the subjective experiences of identifiable individuals. Firstly, to better understand how identity was being renegotiated in the light of the changes associated with the collapse of Albanian state socialism. And secondly, to examine how civil society was being formed in the aftermath of communism in a culture still relatively traditional in character.

A subsidiary, but no less relevant, aspect of this project is to follow on from the two formidable British anthropologists, Edith Durham and Margaret Hasluck, who have provided some of the most detailed studies of this region. In various ways this work continues the stories which they described during the first half of the 20th century. This account seeks to complement these narratives by describing circumstances and events as they have occurred in two north Albanian villages at the end of what has been an eventful century for the country.

To achieve these objectives I will be using empirical data to examine how identity was being renegotiated in circumstances of structural change. The approach used in this study, which was that of interacting with people on an informal basis, is one particularly suitable to examining identity, the principal focus of my attention. It is through interpreting this information that I seek to shed light not just on the ‘transition’ from communism but also on the concomitant transformation of Albanian society.

As the bibliography indicates, I have drawn heavily on the work of others. In particular, historical information has been essential in grounding the study and has helped me understand the significance of oral testimonies. While the material published about Albania since the collapse of communism until the end of 1998 extensively covers macro contexts, a sustained sociologically based description and analysis of how recent changes have impacted upon identifiable groups of people has yet to be published. There has been an absence of information about how individuals and communities have been adapting since the collapse of their communist regime and what this has meant in respect of identity change and social transformation. In addressing these issues I start by questioning whether ‘transition’ is an accurate description of what has been taking place. This subject is discussed extensively elsewhere (for example Bryant and Mokrzycki, 1994; Hann, 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 1996; Verdery, 1996) but has not been widely aired in the literature concerning Albania.

Transition or transformation?

At the outset I believe it is important to examine what ‘the transition from communism’ might signify. Firstly let us clarify the term transition. Transition in a literal sense means the passing from one location to another. Within the context of post-communism, the meaning of transition is concerned with the movement from central economic planning to the market. Transition is thus prescriptive in nature and has been challenged as a term which accurately captures what is taking place in former communist states.

Some commentators suggest that since it implies the changing of form or character, the notion of transformation is a more appropriate term. Transformation is concerned with fundamental change, a change in the nature of structures. Unlike transition, it is less concerned with an end state. It is an open-ended analytical concept which in this context allows for the substantial differences which exist between former communist countries. While transition is concerned with moving between two known points, transformation can be characterised as a negotiated approach to the unknown, the emphasis being on means rather than ends.

Western assistance to post-communist states has been primarily focused on economic reform and to a lesser extent on the development of democratic systems of accountability. While there has been a measure of hard won success in liberalising the economies of the handful of states being considered for accession to the European Union (EU), elsewhere in the former communist world sustainable political and economic development seems far away (see Lawson, 2001). The term ‘transition’ is loosely and freely used to describe the structural reform taking place in the aftermath of communism whereas the less frequently used term ‘transformation’ is often commingled with transition. I wish to explore the relevance of these terms to the study of post-communism and what they signify in respect of developmental approaches.

The tendency to periodise history, while understandable and convenient for certain didactic or polemical approaches, can obscure the fact that ‘events’ derive from, and are an integral part of ongoing interactions. Periodicisation can all too easily lead to the assumption of history being a process where significant ‘events’ cause or spur an accelerated or intensified process of change. Such an assumption is neither accurate nor useful. Social change is rarely, if ever, abrupt. Given this, the question arises as to whether the collapse of communism, and the change to alternative forms of economic and political management, represents a sufficiently deep and rapid set of discontinuities to justify being called a ‘transition’. Policy formulation and the delivery of assistance to post-communist state has been based on the assumption that this is the case. The transition discourse which has evolved therefore reflects certain beliefs and attitudes towards communism and about the value of neo-classical economics.

The World Bank uses the phrase ‘From Plan to Market’ to describe its position towards what it terms as ‘the transition of centrally planned economies to a market orientation’ (World Bank Development Report, 1996, p.iii). It states the ‘utter necessity of both liberalising economies through opening trade and market opportunities and stabilising them through reducing inflation and practising fiscal discipline’ (ibid., p.1). The Bank sees the long term goal of these states as being to build a thriving market economy capable of giving long-term growth. It defines the types of reform as being ‘all out’ (the big bang approach) or partial and phased. It defines the key components of reform as being liberalisation and stabilisation. The latter consists of containing inflation and imposing hard budget restraints; instituting property rights and enterprise reform. It recognises that these measures will bring about increased inequality and poverty and advocates appropriate support for those so disadvantaged. The components intrinsic to transition are therefore ‘liberalisation, stabilisation, privatisation and poverty relief’ (ibid., p.85) (WB emphases). Subsidiary to, but supporting these objectives, the Bank assists with the development of legal institutions and the creation of legal frameworks so as to permit private sector development, foreign investment, bankruptcy regulation and the constraint of state power. The WB seeks to assist in the establishment of financial systems including the creation of central banks responsible for monetary policy. It seeks to promote better but leaner government while ensuring that health and education are adequately addressed. Issues of democratic consolidation are not directly within the Bank’s purview since it claims its brief does not cover politics.

The reforming agenda for the transition to a market orientated economy is governed and funded by OECD states, either bilaterally or through proxies such as IMF/WB, the EBRD or UN. The interpretation of this policy and the administering of transitional aid is dominated by economists. Their technical task is to effect the implementation of stabilisation and restructuring programmes. In practical terms this includes assisting with the following issues: the development of measures to encourage private savings; the privatisation of state assets, wage inflation and unemployment; the improvement of financial, tax and legal systems so as to maximise incentives to work, invest and save; and finally, the establishment of social safety nets to care for those who cannot compete. For a more general account of the economist’s technical task see Thiessen (1994). For an example of the application of this technical approach see Mancellari et al. (1995) who have undertaken a study concerned with the economic modelling of job flows and unemployment in Albania.

The final dimension to the market orientated vision of transition is the integration, or prospect of integration, of the former communist states into the world economy. Some claim this will be brought about by increasing convergence resulting from states adopting liberal democratic institutions and moving towards market orientated economies. Such views are expressed by Fukuyama (1992) who envisages the broad evolution of human societies towards a final goal brought about by the convergence of institutions around the model of democratic capitalism.

It would be inaccurate to describe this transition agenda as representing an entirely market-orientated approach to change. Donors such as the WB and the EU, have been concerned with assisting with restructuring government departments and legal reform. A small proportion of aid budgets has also been allocated for the promotion of pluralism and civil society. Most often this has been linked to support for NGO development. While NGOs have provided some valuable contributions towards the development of civil society, they have had significant drawbacks. Certainly this was so in Albania where, not atypically, they were concentrated in the metropolitan zone and had localised and weak penetration in the regions. As will be illustrated, they were unfamiliar organisations to the villagers of this study who looked upon them with caution, if not suspicion. Indeed, development processes and the role of aid is hazily understood by large sections of the public in post-communist states who remain deprived of knowledge and balanced information.

The collapse of employment and welfare provision in formerly communist states has caused widespread poverty and distress. Politicians in these states, unwilling to lose the benefits of their position and conscious of the need for re-election, have been tardy and reluctant to fully implement reform programmes. Nevertheless pushing through stabilisation packages has been at the heart of western assistance to former communist states. The term ‘transition’ thus represents a set of attitudes which see change almost exclusively in terms of market orientated reform. It is associated with the assumption that once that reform is complete then everything else will fall into place. Those who have advocated such an approach have ignored the fact that markets are neither rational nor equitable. As a consequence of the emphasis placed on economic reform, issues of governance and equity have received relatively little attention.

In fairness to the WB they have admitted some of the failings associated with their approach. Speaking ahead of the 2000 WB and IMF annual meeting in Prague, the WB vice-president Johannes Linn, is reported to have stated that the Bank was sensitive to accusations of its policies having caused a widening of the gap between rich and poor. He acknowledged that the Bank had committed several errors in its recommendations to countries making the transition from central planning to market economics. One mistake was to underestimate the scope of corruption and criminal influence on governments. In the most severe cases, the state has been captured by vested interests. Most crucially, he noted that the Bank had not properly emphasised the importance of maintaining social security programmes when the transition process began 10 years ago (Synovitz, 2000). While such public hand wringing is no doubt admirable, it is simply shutting the door after the horse has bolted. For these highly paid individuals to admit to such fundamental errors of policy after having been given so many clear and persistent warnings (e.g. Bryant (1994) below), does not shift culpability and does little to raise the credibility of such international institutions.

Be this as it may, the notion of transformation permits the parameters of the post-communist discourse to be both widened and deepened. Assisting in transformation by no means precludes providing support to post-communist states in becoming market-orientated polities, rather, transformation implies more flexible, less dogmatic approaches. It requires respect for cultures and for the caution of people (often interpreted as conservatism). It is a far less certain enterprise in respect of outcomes. Transformation implies adaptation and rearrangement leading to the development of permutations and reconfigurations of already existing institutional forms. In bringing our attention to these dimensions Stark (1992, p.22) notes how such seemingly descriptive terms as ‘the transition to a market economy’ or ‘the transition to capitalism’ are in fact ‘teleological constructs in which concepts are driven by hypothesised end states’.

Rather than interpret transition through general models there is a need to take into account the highly diverse nature of those states which have experienced communism. This points to a further problem in the imposition of transition policies in that they have been insufficiently sensitive to their impact on institutions, particularly informal institutions. Indeed if there had been a wholesale and undiluted implementation of the neo-liberal prescription then it would have created what Polanyi has termed a stark utopia ‘which could not exist without annihilating the human and natural substance of society and the environment’ (Polanyi, 1957, p.3). This extreme of self regulation and efficient management of industrial life is inevitably diluted by measures taken to protect society. The reality is that to varying degrees political and social imperatives temper the market one way or another (cf. Granovetter, 1992). The crucial issue is how they do so.

Under communism economic order and redistributive practices were constructed in such a way as to reinforce the power of the centre. As Verdery comments (1996, p.10) ‘what was rational in socialism differed from capitalist rationality. Both are stupid in their own way, but differently so’. The study of post-communism involves acknowledging that such phenomena as privatisation, markets, and civil society are objects of investigation saturated with ideological significance (ibid., p.26). Time is also an important factor. To create a consensus around a new political order which reflects the moral imperatives of a national community takes time. The way in which the market is mediated changes with each society. The nature of participation, the means of accountability, welfare provision and issues of redistribution can only be decided by continuous and evolving interactions rooted in the culture of individual states.

The problems of post-communism are therefore not simply technical ones concerned with effecting an economic transition from one state to another, but rather relate to a larger and more complex process of transformation of which the economic dimension is just a part. What he calls ‘cookbook capitalism’ is viewed sceptically by Stark (1992, p.8) who notes how change in post-communist states is often asynchronous and unharmoniously articulated. In part this is due to a considerable overhang from the communist period in political attitudes, social relations and economic management. Furthermore there has been a sense in which the former communist state...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and Diagrams
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Methodological Considerations
• 3 The Theoretical Setting
• 4 Albania – Background
• 5 The Villages and their Administrative Context
• 6 Community
• 7 Economy
• 8 State
• 9 In Conclusion
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Bibliography