ABSTRACT
The aim of this article is to briefly examine the post-communist geopolitical position, perception, self-perception and representation of Albania and the Albanians in a rapidly changing Europe. The article first evaluates image components of Albania and Albanians as Balkan Other’, a perception rooted deeply in historical evolution, the reports of earlier travellers and the reinforcement of hostile neighbours. Such images have tended to be reinforced by the Albanian post-communist experience. However, despite continuing media representation of Albania as a land of not so ‘noble savages’ and of Otherness’, regional circumstances have dictated that the potentially crucial geopolitical position of Albania be acknowledged, notably by the EU, albeit largely retroactively in response to factors threatening Western stability. This acknowledgement has been most explicitly expressed through the stability pact for south-east Europe, the EU’s declared attitude towards the Balkans in terms of its future enlargement, and in the plans for Albania’s potentially focal role in regional transport developments. The article concludes with questions concerning Albania’s role in Europe, EU enlargement and the Balkan condition.
