IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v11y2023i2p368-379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Evolution of Village (Self)Governance in the Context of Post‐Communist Rural Society

Author

Listed:
  • Edvin Zhllima

    (Faculty of Economy and Agribusiness, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania / Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education—Economics Institute (CERGE‐EI), Czech Republic)

  • Nicolas Hayoz

    (Interfaculty Institute for Central and Eastern Europe, University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

  • Drini Imami

    (Faculty of Economy and Agribusiness, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania / Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education—Economics Institute (CERGE‐EI), Czech Republic)

  • Iliriana Miftari

    (Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary, University of Pristina, Kosovo)

Abstract

The role of the village headman and council of elders is very important in many societies. The focus of this article is to analyse the evolution and the role of the (informal) intermediary institutions and actors in the context of changing society’s patterns and political landscape transformations. This article focuses on Albania and Kosovo, where village self-governing mechanisms played a crucial role in avoiding (often deadly) social conflicts during the post-communism transition. The article relies on in-depth interviews with involved actors at the local level, using the framework of evolutionary governance theory. The study shows that the role of the council of elders and village headman has been strong and important in times of weak central and local governance, while it weakened in times of strong politicization and increasingly patronizing role of the central government, thus not allowing for a right balance between legitimate community representation and accountability toward upper levels of governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Edvin Zhllima & Nicolas Hayoz & Drini Imami & Iliriana Miftari, 2023. "The Evolution of Village (Self)Governance in the Context of Post‐Communist Rural Society," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 368-379.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:2:p:368-379
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v11i2.6495
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/6495
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v11i2.6495?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v11:y:2023:i:2:p:368-379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.