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Albania Is in Real Danger of Lasting Authoritarianism after Coronavirus Crisis
30 DEAD IN ALBANIA FROM COVID
USPA NEWS -
The western world is facing one of the biggest health crises in a generation since the COVID-19 spread rapidly in Europe and the US from Wuhan in China. The speed of transmission of the infection, the immediate and threatening consequences on human wellbeing and implications it is bringing to the economy as well as social life have brought to the attention of commentators, researchers and the public the role of the state in society. This is partly due to the fact that the virus seems to have struck with an unprecedented force the “˜white´, “˜civilized´ and developed world in terms of the political system, knowledge, wealth and technology it possesses, where life is conceived as an absolute privilege.
In unprecedented move since the end of World War II, fashion catwalks and ringing cathedrals in Milan and Rome were closed, museums, subways and buzzing parks in Berlin, Paris, London and New York were locked in a trembling uncertainty about the future. The world plunged into lockdown and is observing how the concepts of almost a century on man´s relationship with nature, with himself and governmentality are crumbling under its feet.
In unprecedented move since the end of World War II, fashion catwalks and ringing cathedrals in Milan and Rome were closed, museums, subways and buzzing parks in Berlin, Paris, London and New York were locked in a trembling uncertainty about the future. The world plunged into lockdown and is observing how the concepts of almost a century on man´s relationship with nature, with himself and governmentality are crumbling under its feet.
First, as a result of a missing civic tradition, foreseeable economic hardships and fear from the unknown, the vast majority of citizens are remaining silent in the face of the daily aggression Prime Minister Edi Rama is exerting through the issuance of normative acts which restrict fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.
Second, the risk of cementing an authoritarian regime becomes even higher in the context of complete absence of any balance and constitutional control of the executive who currently exercises power without any restrictions from parliament or the constitutional court which remains dysfunctional due to the vetting process. The daily “˜bread´ distributed by the government in forms of subsidies can buy the complicity of citizens and the media while power is abused.
Third, despite the complexity of its mission´s track record, the international community has been the last safety net of the Albanian semi-democracy during these three decades. It is likely that in the coming years the international community will be more involved in the long-term battle with the multidimensional consequences the COVID-19 crisis will leave behind.
Second, the risk of cementing an authoritarian regime becomes even higher in the context of complete absence of any balance and constitutional control of the executive who currently exercises power without any restrictions from parliament or the constitutional court which remains dysfunctional due to the vetting process. The daily “˜bread´ distributed by the government in forms of subsidies can buy the complicity of citizens and the media while power is abused.
Third, despite the complexity of its mission´s track record, the international community has been the last safety net of the Albanian semi-democracy during these three decades. It is likely that in the coming years the international community will be more involved in the long-term battle with the multidimensional consequences the COVID-19 crisis will leave behind.
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