Down with Politics

The Crisis of Representation in Post-Communist Albania

Bibliographic Data

ID12149114
AuthorsBlendi Kajsiu (0000-0002-6256-2995, University of Essex, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume24
Issue2
Pages229-253
Publication date2010-04-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEast European Politics and Societies and Cultures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0888-3254 • E-ISSN: 1533-8371
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0888325409354354
OpenAlexW2163061898
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited14

Dissatisfaction with politics and political parties has given rise to a strong antipolitics discourse in Albania. Growing numbers feel unrepresented and see politics and political parties as the source of, rather than the solution to, the country’s problems. In this article the author argues that the crisis of representation in Albania does not result simply from the inability of political parties to represent different social groups but from their inability to articulate and constitute them politically. The two major political parties have articulated “the people” against an external threat usually represented by their political opponent. Under these conditions, different social categories such as farmers, urban, rural, rich, and poor were increasingly reduced to moments within “the people” as a whole rather than the starting point from which “the people” were constituted. Therefore, the political process became both conflictual and unrepresentative of different social groups. The less representative political parties became, the more society as a whole and different groups within it defined themselves against political parties and politicians, hence the antipolitics discourse

Adversary · Political economy · Political process · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Irish and British Studies · Law · Turkey's Politics and Society

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