THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN ALBANIA (TWENTY YEARS IN FOCUS: FROM 1990 TILL 2010)

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that development success depends not only on a vibrant private sector and an efficient public sector, but also on a vigorous civic sector as well. The link between government and civil society is nowadays crucial for Albania. While government rely on authority to achieve outcomes and private sector firms rely on market mechanisms to provide incentives for mutually beneficial exchanges, civil society actors in comparison, working through NGOs, rely on independent and voluntary efforts to promote their values, to further social and economic development and to influence change.
The growth of the third sector in Albania during the transition to a market economy and the role it has played has varied over time. There is general consensus among government officials, donor and international agencies, as well as civil society actors, that both the poorly defined functions of civil society in Albania, and also the lack of clarity in the assignment of responsibilities for specific competencies in political, social and economic arenas, are two of the main obstacles to the realization of a successful government-civil society relationship.
In assessing this complex relationship for a period of 20 years, this paper provides a historical background of the development of the third sector in Albania, as well as giving consideration to their current state of development and recommendations for the future.