Deadline: Before 29 March 2012
Open to: All interested scholars and researchers
Venue: Tirana, 29-30 March 2012
Costs: Participation related expenses will be covered by the organizers
Description
Albania has just entered its 100th year of existence as an independent state, since the declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in November of 1912. The century of existence of Albania has had a tremendously rich and diverse history featuring celebratory, contradictable and undisclosed phenomena.
The Albanian state had a strongly precarious birth and first years of existence given the hostile regional environment and the international relations it had at the time. This threatened existence persisted until the end of the World Wars with the establishment of the communist regime. Albania spent the next five decades under one of the most isolated, Stalinist-style regimes with severe consequences on its society and economy. The last 20 years have marked a controversial transition period, which despite Albania entry to the NATO alliance and some steps towards European integration, is agreed by most scholars to be still in the process.
The next ten years will be crucially important to Albania’s future and its prospects to establish democratic governance and to consolidate a functioning state that enjoys full legitimacy and provides basic public goods to its citizens. Similarly, they will be critical to the country’s capacity to build a developed capitalist economy based on free competition. Such a development process is in essence Albania’s Europeanization project.
Therefore, the Albanian Institute for International Studies, the Albanian Media Institute and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Albania) will organize an international symposium: Albania in the next ten years – envisioning the future, which will gather renown scholars, historians, political scientists, economist, civil society figures and a variety of other experts in the related fields.
The first part of the symposium will be dedicated to discussing important historical phases of the existence of the Albanian state.
The second part will focus more on presentations that elaborate future scenarios for Albania, taking into account a range of possibilities. Panellists will be encouraged to treat a rich spectre of variables in determining hypothetic future placements of the Albanian state and society and elaborate on potential challenges that the country is likely to face in the next decade.
- Important historical phases of the existence of the Albanian state, – The objective is discerning patterns of development in Albanian state and society which help to foresee the challenges of the future.
- Future scenarios for Albania, – Panelists will be encouraged to treat a rich spectre of variables in determining hypothetic future placements of the Albanian state and society and elaborate on potential challenges that the country is likely to face.
Eligibility
All interested scholars and researchers are invited to make their contributions in the area of their interest/expertise.
Costs
Participation related expenses will be covered by the organizers. Selected papers will be published in English and Albanian in a dedicated symposium volume.
Venue
The event will take place in Tirana on the 29th and 30th of March, 2012.
