ABSTRACT
In the decade since 1989 the former communist Balkan states were tragic victims of their own and other peoples' histories. The majority of the domestic problems they faced derived from the unnatural processes of rapid and illogical industrialization and enforced collectivization which the communists had imposed. Without them Balkan agriculture would have been in a much more healthy state and the industries created would have been better adapted to local resources and markets; whatever the ideological compulsions there was no economic logic in building steel mills in Albania.
