The modernization process in Albania: education and the political stability of the country

Abstract

Modernization, as a process involving multidimensional changes in the social, economic and political systems of 
a community, has also had a significant impact in the post-communist Albania. Besides the obvious political 
changes that this country went through following the end of the 80’s and early 90’s, other sectors of the social 
system were also subject to substantial reforms in the framework of democratization. The latter has had a 
determining impact in the whole political system starting by the change of the political regime to the 
reconfiguration of political institutions, the review of political procedures, etc. The success of all this political 
process of change, as well as all the other changes in the social and economic systems of Albania depend 
considerably on the levels of the political stability of the country. That is why, this paper focuses on the study of 
education in Albania, as an aspect which accompanied the modernization process and its impact on the political 
stability.  
Therefore, the rationale that this paper uses considers education as an important indicator closely related to the 
overall political stability. In other words, this means that an educated youth, with much more opportunities to 
attend higher education is more likely to get organized in order to fulfill its aspirations and expectations. It is this 
forms of organization that become determinant to the political stability of a country. 
The paper makes use of quantitative and qualitative data in trying to analyse the role of the education system 
and especially of higher education on the Albanian political stability. These two types of data are used in: first, 
providing a general framework of the modernisation process in education; second, presenting the role that the 
youth has had in Albania during the post-communist period focusing on the different forms of political 
participation and the ways how their expectations and aspirations have been answered by the political system, 
third, analysing the political stability of the country and the relationship between education and the political 
stability.