Local governance and regional development in albania

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the progress in decentralization reforms in Albania. An in depth study of the local government units (LGUs) has been complemented by an analysis of the regional councils (Qarks) as a second tier government structures. In contrast to generally strong support of the domestic political elites for the local government reform, there was much less enthusiasm for the regional level governance which has received strong backing by the international donors. This chapter makes the argument that the two are inter-linked and that because of the particular organization of the policy process, the resulting institutional framework suffers from many weaknesses which affect how sub-national governance works in Albania. The analysis highlights the existing gaps in the Albanian decentralization policies and its outcomes, and concludes by suggesting potential approaches and interventions that would improve policy making at the local and regional level.