Two Dictators of the Western Balkans

As I have mentioned earlier, while I was in Serbia I had the opportunity to learn something about how Tito not only kept the various ethnic groups of that country together, but also did so while following a breakaway policy from the USSR. More recently, on a visit to Albania, I saw firsthand how the policies of the western Balkans' "other" despot, Envir Hoxha, have been truly detrimental to the country.

In many ways the policies of both dectators bear striking similarities. Both of them broke with Stalinist Russia, and followed independent socialist policies. However, Tito seemed to realize that going it alone came along with the need to from alliances with many other countries throughout the world. For this reason, much of his duties revolved around state visits to world leaders. This also had the function of keeping the people in his own country focused on him, whether they really liked him or not, rather than making war on other Yugoslav ethnic groups. The aggressive diplomatic foreign policy of Yugoslavia, considered to be one of the most "liberal" communist regimes, allowed the country to keep in step with the rest of the world as it modernized over the course of the 20th century.

On the other hand, while Hoxha also quickly broke with Russia, he took Albania down a path of isolation. After a short-lived alliance with China, the country found it self alone, without infrastructure, municipal funds or a viable economy. The country was even forced to resort to bulding a number of concrete bunkers as its only means of defense. After the dictator's death the situation went further downhill. Even after the communist regime fell, the economy collapsed multiple times in the 90's as it struggled to change its outdated ways overnight.

On my trip to Albania, the consequences of this isolation were apparent. Even finding transportation to or from the country is difficult. Both coming and going I had to resort to asking people on the street how to cross the border.

The country itself is the least "European" country I have visited in Europe so far. It reminds me more of the poorer parts of Peru. Even transportation within the country is difficult, as the road system has seemingly not been changed to reflect the movement of the country's capital from Dures to Tirana more than 80 years ago. The railway system is practically non-existent, and the tracks do not match up with any of those in the neighboring countires.

It's not that the Albanians don't want to modernize. Most Albanians are great admirers of the West, and of America. When President Bush visited the country in 2007, the Albanians named a rather large street in the capital after him.

When I stopped in to a local barber shop, the proprietor was very polite. When he finished cutting my hair he shook my hand and sincerely thanked me in heavily accented English. I think he was honored to have a customer from the West in his shop.

When leaving the country I was left with no recourse but to pay an elderly Albanian to drive me across the border in his ailing 1980's mercedes. I asked him in Spanish why the border police did not bother to stamp my passport. "You're an American," he informed me in Italian. "You don't need a visa or anything in Albania."