Clans in Albania

Chapter 6 Clans in Albania In this chapter the position of the clan in Albanian society and politics is ana- lysed. An important question is what influence the clan has had on national politics. Ethnic Albanians live in Albania as well as across the border in neighbouring states, which means that there is an ethnic spill over of culture, but also an incentive for neighbouring states to favour regional stability. The same holds for Albania, which saw violent ethnic conflicts across its border in Koso- vo in the 1990s, with a danger of spill over. Throughout Albanian history, for- eign powers have been interested in the territory. Albania has been part of the Ottoman Empire, and during the 20th century, a German Prince was declared the sovereign by outside powers. Italy had political influence in Albania just before the First World War and during the Second World War. After the fall of the Communist regime there were many international organisations, which wanted to support Albania’s transition towards democracy, such as the UN, osce and the Council of Europe. nato has employed preventive forces. This shows that there is a permanent international interest in the Albanian state and its state building activities. It is also important that those organisations that intervene understand the clan society that still exists in parts of Albania. The position of clan society in Albanian society will be described in this chapter, as well as the position of traditional – kanun – law. Often, tradition and traditional law was prevalent in Albanian politics, and sometimes several legal systems, traditional law and positive law, existed parallel of each other. This chapter will investigate why this is the case. The research includes how aspects such as corruption have a link with the clan society. One of the central questions is whether incorporating aspects of the clan society in the new state, or whether tolerating parallel systems in the institutional design of the country will strengthen Albania as a state. 1 Clans and Tribal Structures, the Role of Religion Albania has a population where 83% is Albanian. Minorities comprise Greeks, Roma and Macedonians.1 The Albanians can be divided in two major 1 cia Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/al.html, (accessed July 29, 2019). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, �� | doi:10.1163/9789004415485_009 300845 Clans in Albania 127 subgroups, the Ghegs, who make up 49% of the Albanians and live north of the Shkumbin river in the more isolated mountainous north of the country, and the Tosks who live in the plains and in the south of Albania along the coast, south of the river. The Albanian language belongs to the Indo-European language family. The Ghegs and Tosks speak different Albanian dialects. The Gheg dialect of Albanian belongs to the Slavic languages, while the Tosk dialect of the Albanian language belongs to the Greek language group. Albania has a long tradition of extended families, which support the individual members in different ways, both morally and economically.2 Albanian society has a traditional patriarchal system where the basis of the clan structure is formed by the houses. These individual houses could comprise up to 100 extended family members, though in the 20th century the amount of people living in one house went down to often not more than 20. The head of the house was traditionally the oldest male member. A group of houses, under the leadership of a hereditary leader, the krue, was called a mehola. Several clusters of houses formed a clan, called fis. Several clans formed a tribe, led by a hereditary chief, called a bajraktar. It was also not unusual for a tribe or a group of tribes to be led by a prince.3 At the village level, the head was called the kryeplak. His duties comprised taking care of public order, access to drinking water and irrigation, and the use of lands for pasture. Also, the kryeplak often heard complaints and demands.4 There are also aspects that consider the matrilineal origins of the family. According to the Kanun, the traditional law of Albania, there can be no inter- marriage between members of the fis (male ancestral line) and the gjini ( female ancestral line). Even if clans have godparents, who are not blood related, they cannot intermarry. The degree to which members of the same tribe could marry was not fixed but varied according to region. People who were fifth cousins could marry in southern Albania, but not necessarily in mid- dle or northern Albania.5 Before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire, the territory we now call Al- bania was religiously divided; the southern part, where the Tosks lived, was mainly Christian Orthodox and belonged to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, 2 Clarissa de Waal. Albania Today, A Portrait of Post-Communist Turbulence (London: I.B. Tau- rus, 2005), 90. 3 J. Fischer Bernd. “Albanian Highland Tribal Society and Family Structure in the Process of the Twentieth Century Transformation”, East European Quarterly 33 No. 3 (1999), 281. 4 Clarissa de Waal. Albania Today, A Portrait of Post-Communist Turbulence, 84. 5 Ines A. Murcaku and Zyhdi Dervishi. “Albanian’s First Post-Communist Decade. Values in Transition: Traditional or Liberal?”, East European Quarterly 37 No. 2 (2003), 231–234. 300845.

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