Neo-Albanianism: a product of historical factors of the 20s and 30s in the early twentieth century

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue III, March 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Neo-Albanianism: a product of historical factors of the 20s and 30s in the early twentieth century

Ali Mysliu, PhD Student^1*, Christopher Leazer, MSc²
1Department of Civic Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Elbasan, Albania
2 Department of Literature and Journalism, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Elbasan, Albania
*Corresponding Author

Abstract: This article analyzes a series of historical, economic, cultural, religious, and political factors of the period of the early twentieth century in which Albania of this period was located. The period between the two world wars is analyzed as the most difficult period in the political plan for Albania and the Albanian state as the period when the independence gained in 1912 begins to consolidate. This is also the period of connection and development of one of the most important directions in socio-political thought of the 30s in the XX century. This article shows that neo-Albanianism was as much a continuation of the Albanian Renaissance, as it was a novelty and new historical conditions of that period. We have tried to show that neo-Albanianism is a product of Albanianism in the new historical conditions.

Keywords: Historical conditions, neo-Albanianism, European tendency, orientalism, Albanianism

I. INTRODUCTION

Was Albania ‘made’? An analysis of the historical conditions and the situation in which Albania was in the period between the two world wars is important to understand the spiritual constitution of Albanians in general and the place and role of social elites and in particular Neo-Albanianism. Are we still living in the period of Albanianism or neo-Albanianism? Neo-Albanianism as a mental and intellectual movement is preceded by a period which, from the point of view of many authors, is considered the period of triumph and failure of nation-states (History of the Balkans Georges Castellan p. 418).

The people of the Balkans generally emerged from the long seven-year period of World War I exhausted. Economically weak, politically perturbed, and disappointed by the so-called Treaty of Versailles, according to which, certain territories were cut and attached together according to the appetite of the former sovereigns. The Balkans, in their greed for expansion and territory, nourished nationalism instead of orientation based on the free self-determination of Anglo-Saxon-type peoples and democracies. George Castellan describes this situation quite clearly in his book “History of the Balkans” when he says: “Old ethnic contradictions had already been transformed into hatred and the affirmation of national identity had taken aggressive and xenophobic forms.” George Castellan, “History of the Balkans”, p. 418.

Read More