ABSTRACT
Albania has to face to improve its image and international credibility and to come to terms with the practical 'meaning' of future EU membership. It draws on ethnographic material collected in the cities of Durres and Tirana between 1999 and 2007. Anthropologists have long been interested in studying social change and its cultural, economic and political implications. Since the collapse of real Socialism in Europe, many scholars have initially addressed such regime change in terms of 'transition'. In Europe, such regime change, conceived as a process of democratization, began at the same historical time in most Communist countries. Hoxha's new Albania successfully implemented the Marxist view that civil society conceals the collusion of the state with the dominant socio-economic classes and the greedy individualism of capitalism. Civil society is often associated to formally organized groups, such as non-governmental organization (NGo)'s or other institutionally established organizations.
