Afrim Krasniqi

Albania constitutes an interesting case for scholars of political transitions.At the end of 1989, while communism had collapsed everywhere else in Eastern Europe, the Stalinist regime in Tirana seemed to be firmly in control.It had no real opposition.The year 1990, however, would see the eruption of popular unrest.The police shot dead and wounded a number of people, but refrained from committing mass bloodshed.At the end of that year, the communist regime decreed political pluralism.How could such a radical change happen so quickly?Why did people suddenly dare to challenge the much-feared regime, and why did the latter give up its monopoly on power without resorting to extreme measures first?So far, commentators have provided some explanations, but historians know only too well that assumptions based on observations might sound perfectly plausible and yet in the light of sources turn out to be too simplistic or even completely wrong.Afrim Krasniqi's monograph Kriza e ambasadave.Shqipëria në vitin 1990 (The Embassies' Crises.Albania in 1990) contributes to the above-mentioned issues by examining the storming of foreign embassies in Tirana in July 1990 by several thousand Albanians.About 5000 of them succeeded in entering the buildings and seeking asylum.After some initial hesitation, the communist regime allowed them to emigrate.The book's focus on this event is particularly welcome, for two reasons.Firstly, it was a genuine turning point, and secondly, it constitutes a blind spot in the research.The very few scholarly studies addressing Albania's transition from communism to political pluralism have granted this event far less space than later developments at the end of 1990 and in 1991.The reviewed monograph is the first study to explore the "embassies' crisis" on the basis of primary sources.Furthermore, the book benefits from the first-hand knowledge of the author, a former participant in the so-called student movement which in 1990-91 decisively contributed to the toppling of the communist regime.Currently, Afrim Krasniqi is among the most active Albanian scholars in the fields of contemporary history and political science.His main research focus is the political transition after the fall of communism, political parties, elections, and civil society

Art · Balkans: History, Politics, Society