ABSTRACT

The smallest of the Balkan countries, Albania encompasses an area of 28,748 square kilometers, with a maximum length from north to south of about 340 kilometers and a maximum width of about 150 kilometers. Albania has one of the highest birth rates in Europe. Ironically, more Albanians live outside than inside Albania. Along almost all its borders with Yugoslavia and Macedonia are Albanian-speaking regions, which in the opinion of most Albanians, should have been incorporated within the Albanian state when the Great Powers delimited its borders in 1913. The Albanians are divided into two subgroups, the Gegs and the Tosks, the Shkumbin River serving as a natural border between them. The Communist state took over all industrial and commercial enterprises, asserting a monopoly in both domestic and foreign trade. Social mobility had declined dramatically, social malaise had become pervasive, and adverse social trends had reached critical proportions, reflecting the waning hold of the regime’s communist ideology.