Teresa Protas, The socio-economic system of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, 1945–1985

Abstract

The article is devoted to an analysis of Albania’s socio-economic system during the period of communist rule from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1980s. The research problem concerns the mechanisms involved in building and operating the Albanian model of socialism and the influence of the policy of the Albanian Party of Labour on the economic and social development of the state. The aim of the study is to present the constitutional foundations of the state, economic reforms, and the evolution of Albania’s socio-economic policy. The author employs a historical-institutional method, analyzing constitutions, legal acts, economic data, and literature concerning socialist states. The article demonstrates that the Albanian system was based on extreme centralization of the economy, the dominance of state ownership, and the subordination of social life to Marxist-Leninist ideology. The article discusses agrarian reform, the nationalization of industry, the collectivization of agriculture, the state monopoly on foreign trade, and the development of an autarkic economic model under Enver Hoxha. The author emphasizes that Albania’s political isolation and successive breaks in cooperation with Yugoslavia, the USSR, and China deepened the country’s economic backwardness. The results of the analysis indicate that the Albanian model of socialism was characterized by extreme ideological dogmatism, political authoritarianism, and economic isolation, which led to a lasting socio-economic crisis of the state.