Review article
Public Administration Reforms in a Fragile Institutional Framework: The Case of Albania
Mihovil Škarica
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Certain specific issues in public administration development and reform during transition period in Albania are analysed. The analysis is theoretically rooted in historical institutionalism, as well as in the models of Europeanization and transition. The transition period was marked by neglect and instrumentalization of public administration, while political institutions were slowly adapting to multiparty system and market economy. Focusing on public administration reform was impeded by political instability and by polarization between two main parties. Formulation and implementation of the main reform strategies happened at the beginning of the new century with intensive involvement of international expert and donor community. Modern administrative reforms are mostly linked to the EU accession process and subjected to the EU conditionality policy. There are several aspects of public administration whose main features are specifically analysed: policy making capacity and horizontal coordination at the central level, civil service system and modernization of human potentials management, decentralization, and the rule of law in administrative procedures and administrative justice. Each aspect has been subjected to extensive reform measures. The main problems are politicization and centralization of public administration as well as incoherence between different reform models that are influenced by divergent donors’ interests. Some improvements are noted in the areas of policy coordination and legislative process, but implementation and internalization of the proclaimed objectives among civil servants and wider range of societal actors remains the main problem. Conclusions are presented for each analysed aspect.
Keywords
public administration reform – Albania; Europeanization; civil service system; policy making; politicization; rule of law; administrative procedures; decentralization
Hrčak ID:
131950
URI
Publication date:
1.6.2012.
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