Of Knights and Squires: European Union and the Modernization of Albania

Ermal Frasheri ()
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Ermal Frasheri: Center for International Development at Harvard University

No 71, Growth Lab Working Papers from Harvard's Growth Lab

Abstract: In this paper, I question the idea that a country develops and democratizes merely by pursuing a model of deeper regional integration with more prosperous countries. I examine the case of Albania’s integration into the European Union to show that more often than not, transition reproduces hierarchies and inequities that usually underpin relations between a prosperous center and a backward periphery. Instead of being a cure, a solution to the political primitivism and underdevelopment, the story with Europeanization as a model of modernization suggests that despite noble intentions and goals, reforms in the name of the European Union end up foregrounding a security state apparatus, impose an ideological hegemony, and maintain a political culture that inhibits democratization, while discouraging and displacing the need for endogenous growth strategies.

Keywords: Economic Growth; European Union (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-03
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:glh:wpfacu:71

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