THE OLD POLITICAL CLASS THAT HELD ALBANIA BACK FOR 36 YEARS From the Hope of December to the Need for a New National Chapter By Flamur Buçpapaj

THE OLD POLITICAL CLASS THAT HELD ALBANIA BACK FOR 36 YEARS
From the Hope of December to the Need for a New National Chapter
By Flamur Buçpapaj
Albania has gone through 36 years since December 1990, when Albanian students and citizens took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy, political pluralism, and a European future. It was one of the most important moments in our modern history, because after decades of isolation, fear, and deprivation of fundamental freedoms, Albanian society sought to take its destiny into its own hands. Ramiz Alia was at the head of the state, and the communist system was experiencing its final days. Albanians were demanding genuine separation from isolation, poverty, fear, and the absence of freedom.
But today, 36 years later, we have a moral and national obligation to take an honest look at the balance sheet. We must ask whether the dream of December was fulfilled and whether changing the system also brought about a change in the culture of power. One thing is clear: Albania has changed profoundly, but not as much as the hopes of that December demanded. The one-party system fell, political pluralism was established, borders were opened, a market economy was created, new institutions were built, and Albania became connected with the democratic world. Yet alongside these changes, old mentalities, interests, and methods of exercising power also survived. Thus, over time, a political class of the transition emerged, which for three and a half decades has continued to dominate the country’s political, economic, and institutional life.
The problem is not simply that some individuals have remained in politics for a long time. In any democracy, experienced politicians may have long political careers. The deeper problem is that Albania failed to build strong mechanisms guaranteeing the renewal of political elites, meritocracy, fair competition, and the genuine independence of institutions. Instead of institutions becoming stronger than individuals, in many cases individuals and political parties remained stronger than institutions. Instead of the public administration becoming professional and stable, it was often treated as an instrument of the government in power. Instead of politics being a competition of ideas and programs, it often became a competition for control of power.
This is one of the reasons why, after 36 years, Albania continues to face the same fundamental problems. Corruption is not merely a matter of illegal money. Corruption also exists when citizens believe that without connections they cannot solve a problem. It exists when a young person believes that political support is necessary to obtain a job. It exists when an entrepreneur believes that investment requires relationships with those in power. It exists when the administration changes according to political cycles and professionalism loses out to political loyalty. In a society where these phenomena persist for decades, the damage is not only economic. The greatest damage is the loss of trust in the state.
This is also one of the causes that fuels emigration. Albanians do not leave only because they seek higher wages. Many leave because they seek a system in which work and merit are rewarded, the law is predictable, and the future does not depend on connections. When a young Albanian goes to another country and encounters an administration that functions, clear rules, and institutions that are respected, he or she begins to ask why the same cannot exist in their own country. This is a question that Albanian politics can no longer avoid.
Mass emigration is one of the heaviest costs of the 36-year transition. Albania has lost millions of people, families, professionals, entrepreneurs, and young people. Villages have been emptied, cities have lost part of their vitality, and society is facing a demographic crisis that cannot be solved through statistics alone. A nation that continuously loses its younger generation loses part of its future. Therefore, emigration is not merely an economic issue; it is a national and demographic issue.
Over these 36 years, Albania has also made important achievements, and these should not be denied. We are members of NATO, we are part of the European integration process, we have a more open economy, more modern infrastructure, a growing tourism sector, and a new generation connected with Europe and the wider world. But physical and economic development is not enough if it is not accompanied by the strengthening of the state. We can build roads, hotels, buildings, and major projects, but if citizens do not trust justice, if businesses do not feel secure, and if young people do not believe in meritocracy, then development remains incomplete.
Therefore, today we must change the way we think about Albania. We should not be satisfied with asking who will come to power after the next elections. We must ask what kind of state we are going to build. Governments change, parties change, politicians leave and others arrive, but if the mechanism remains the same, the result will also remain the same. Albania does not need merely political rotation. It needs institutional transformation.
This means that the law must stand above power, not power above the law. The public administration must be professional, not the property of political parties. Institutions must function regardless of who governs. Elections must produce genuine representation, not merely a controlled rotation of elites. Businesses must compete through quality, investment, and hard work, not through connections. Albanian and foreign investors alike must have the certainty that their contracts, property, and investments are protected by the state. This is the foundation of a modern economy.
Albania must also move from an economy that consumes to an economy that produces. It must invest more in industry, agriculture, energy, technology, quality tourism, and human capital. National wealth is not created merely through construction and consumption. It is created through work, production, innovation, and exports. A country that wants to stop emigration must create decent jobs and genuine opportunities for professional development.
This is where the responsibility of the new generation comes in. Albania cannot wait for change to come only from traditional politics. The country has a new generation of professionals, people educated in Albania and abroad, entrepreneurs, engineers, economists, lawyers, doctors, academics, technologists, and intellectuals who must have the opportunity to take on public responsibility. But for this to happen, the doors of politics must be opened. It is not enough to bring in new faces; we must bring in a new way of thinking. The new generation must not inherit the weaknesses of old politics, but build a culture in which public service is regarded as a responsibility rather than a privilege.
Today Albania stands before a historic choice. It can continue for many more years with the same model, in which governments and slogans change but the mentality of power does not. It can continue with polarization, political conflict, clientelism, emigration, and the struggle for control of institutions. Or it can choose another path: the path of a functioning state, strong institutions, a competitive economy, meritocracy, and politics measured by its results.
This does not require a violent revolution. It does not require the overthrow of the state. On the contrary, it requires the strengthening of the state and democracy. Albania needs a democratic revolution of institutions, a profound change in political and administrative standards, and a new culture of public responsibility.
December 1990 must remain a symbol of freedom and hope. But after 36 years, we also need a new December in the political and moral sense: a moment when Albanian society decides that it no longer wishes to remain a hostage of the past. We cannot continue asking new generations to wait. We cannot tell them that democracy will function tomorrow, justice will be strengthened tomorrow, the economy will develop tomorrow, and opportunities will come tomorrow.
The future must begin today.
Thirty-six years are enough to take stock of an era. Albania is no longer the country it was in 1990, and it should not be governed with the mentality of that year. The new generation does not need the conflicts of the past. It needs education, jobs, justice, security, technology, development, and dignity. It needs a state that serves its citizens, not citizens who must serve those in power.
This is why today we must speak about the end of the transition. Not because history should be forgotten, but because history should serve as a lesson. Albania must move away from the politics of the past and enter the politics of the future. It must move away from the personalization of power and build institutions. It must move away from clientelism and establish merit. It must stop losing its young people and create conditions for their return.
Ultimately, the question is no longer who will be in power.
The question is what kind of Albania will we leave to our children.
An Albania in which power continues to pass from one elite to another, or an Albania in which institutions, the law, and citizens stand above every individual and every political party?
The answer must be clear.
Albania cannot remain hostage to 36 years of transition. It must enter a new era in which the state is stronger than politics, the law is stronger than power, and the citizen is more important than any political structure.
December brought freedom. Now Albania must build the state that freedom promised.
The time of transition must end. The time for a new Albania must begin.