Internationals and their legitimacy in the eyes of the public

Abstract

This paper brings an overview of how the international factor has influenced the progress of Albanian state formation and how this factor is seen by Albanian society. The research questions of this study are:

• Does the role of internationals affect the sovereignty of Albania?

• Where is the international element significantly noticed and how has this factor affected?

• How has the international element influenced the democratization of Albania?

This study is divided into three parts where in the first part, the historical context at different stages of the Albanian state and the role of internationals are represented, based on the realistic theory of international relations. The second part examines specific cases of international influence after the 1990s, such as the United States and the European Union, and their role in specific elements of domestic policy: determining elements in the international role in the democratization of the country, justice reform to direct interventions in political entities. In the third part is the opinion of young Albanian people on the role of internationals: a survey was carried out from February to March 2022 involving 300 students enrolled at the Mediterranean University of Albania in order to understand the opinion they carry on the role of internationals and whether their intervention improves policy-making or affects the process of Albanian democratization. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS. Based on the public perception realized according to the questionnaires, the chronology of political history, political reforms during the transition period, intervention in the domestic politics of political entities, the role of empowerment of civil society, give an overview that in the Albanian reality internationals play a very influential role.