European Union and the Modernization of Albania

Of Knights and Squires: European Union and the Modernization of Albania

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Citation Frasheri, Ermal. “Of Knights and Squires: European Union and the Modernization of Albania.” CID Research Fellow and Graduate Student Working Paper Series 2016.81, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, March 2016.

Published Version https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/publications/fellow- graduate-student-working-papers

Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37366601

Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Of Knights and Squires: European Union and the Modernization of Albania

Ermal Frasheri

CID Research Fellow and Graduate Student Working Paper No. 81 March 2016

Working Papers Center for International Development at Harvard University Of Knights and Squires: European Union and the Modernization of Albania

Ermal Frasheri†

I. Introduction ...... 2 II. The Entanglement of the Periphery: European Integration as a Development Strategy? ...... 8 A. How it all Began ...... 12 B. The Knight Enters: European Union and the Politics of Integration and Economic Development ...... 18 C. The Aftermath ...... 25 III. Taming the Beast: The Politics of "Rule of Law" Reforms ...... 29 A. From Europe’s Tiger to Europe’s Bandit ...... 31 B. Agents of Reforms ...... 36 IV. From Communism to Europeanization: A Political Culture of Transition ...... 43

† Fellow, Center for International Development, at Harvard University; Adjunct Professor, Sturm College of Law, at Denver University. I would like to thank my mentors, Professors David Kennedy and Duncan Kennedy for teaching me! Words are not enough to express the depth of gratitude I feel towards them. In my European integration studies, I have benefited greatly from the advice and discussions with Professors Daniela Caruso, Glyn Morgan, Hans Helmut Kotz, Philip Genschel, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank them. Professors Joel Trachtman and Robert Lawrence have been generous with their advice and guidance on international trade law and policy, and I am much obliged to them. This paper brings together various arguments that I have explored in my S.J.D. dissertation, and I am very grateful to the S.J.D. community at Harvard Law School—my intellectual milieu, and particularly to professor William Alford, as well as to Graduate Program Director, Jeanne Tai, for creating the space which I call home. My colleagues and classmates, Francesca Strumia, Noah Weisboard, Jennifer Langlais, Ziad Azar, Namita Wahi, Nkatha Kabira, Anna Su, Aphordite Giovanopoulou, Gloria Benedikt, Pieter- Augustijn van Mallenghem, and Lydia Hwang have stimulated and inspired me. I have benefited from comments and discussions with the research community at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. Last, but not least, I would like to thank Kathleen Cusack, Amanda Dizon, Bethany Boring, and the team of editors of the North Carolina Journal of International Law for their tireless work in editing and making this article better; as well as Joni Hagigeorges, for her valuable comments and edits. All mistakes in this paper are mine. 2 N.C. J. INT'L L. [Vol. XLII

A. From One to Many: Politicization and Fragmentation in Albania ...... 45 B. Power Entrepreneurs: Leaders and Parties ...... 51 C. Mystification of Europe ...... 53 V. Carrots and Sticks: The Long Road to the European Union ...... 57 A. One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: The Mirage of Europe ...... 59 B. When Reforms Work ...... 64 VI. Conclusion ...... 71

I. Introduction This paper is pertinent to the relationship between the European Union (“EU”) and Albania. Membership in the European Union, to candidate countries such Albania, is presented and received as promising a state of prosperity and security. It is conceptualized and propagated as the ultimate modernization project. 1 The prospect of membership in the club is, as goes the Europeanization rhetoric,2 the main driver and justification for democratization and

1 See, e.g., Othon Anastasakis, The Europeanization of the Balkans, 12 BROWN J. WORLD AFF. 77, 78 (2005). In this paper, I claim that Albania has undergone three modernization projects since its establishment as an independent state in 1912––i.e., the first modernization project between 1912–1945; the second modernization project between 1945–1991; and the third modernization project from 1991 to present day. I use the term “modernization” in order to refer to a process that aims to overhaul the social, political and economic values, institutions, and norms of a country with the purpose of bringing it to a next, more advanced form of civilization. 2 Thomas Risse and Tanja Börzel define Europeanization as a process of institution- building at the European level which affects Member States. Tanja A. Börzel & Thomas Risse, When Europe Hits Home: Europeanization and Domestic Change, 4 EIOP 1, 3 (2000). In a seminal work on the effects of Europeanization on domestic politics, Risse, Cowles and Caporaso define Europeanization as “the emergence and development at the European level of distinct structures of governance, that is, of political, legal, and social institutions associated with political problem solving that formalize interactions among the actors, and of policy networks specializing in the creation of authoritative European rules. Europeanization involves the evolution of new layers of politics that interact with older ones.” THOMAS RISSE ET AL., TRANSFORMING EUROPE: EUROPEANIZATION AND DOMESTIC CHANGE 3 (Thomas Risse et al. eds., 2001). Radaelli defines Europeanization as “[p]rocesses of (a) construction (b) diffusion and (c) institutionalization of formal and informal rules, procedures, policy paradigms, styles, ‘ways of doing things’ and shared beliefs and norms which are first defined and consolidated in the making of EU decisions and then incorporated in the logic of domestic discourse, identities, political structures and public policies.” Claudio Radaelli, Wither Europeanization? Concept Stretching and Substantive Change, 4 EIOP 1, 3–4 (2000). However, I stand closer to Othon 2016 OF KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES 3 economic development reforms. 3 Therefore, the European integration process is one in which values and norms emanate from the center and are received by the periphery4 in a great effort to achieve transformation. 5 This modernization project bears a resemblance to the mythical story of knights and squires, whereby squires used to enter into subservient relationships with knights in order to elevate themselves to knighthood one day. In this narrative, the European Union epitomizes the knights, and Albania, on the other hand, symbolizes the dreams of a squire. However, rather than accepting the proposition that integration into the European Union results in prosperity and democratization for the periphery, I argue that this process of regional integration

Anastasakis’s definition of Europeanization, according to which: “Europeanization, Southern style’ has also been identified with a process of deep transformation and modernization of economies, polities, and societies. . . . For the Balkans, Europeanization means adjustment to advanced western models as well as security and prosperity for the future. Yet it is also a complicated and controversial struggle. For those countries[—]late developers on the post-communist transition scene still recovering from ethnic wars and extreme nationalism[—]it is a much more traumatic experience than earlier experiences of Europeanization in Central and Easte