By Ben Andoni
This has nothing to do with “If”, Kipling’s famous poem, nor with the many doubts our politicians bring us these days when they promise us an impossible future, but rather with the way we would be governed, IF we were not a democratic country of responsible politicians.
The argument is troubling on the eve of the new political season, which foresees major clashes and tensions—from PD’s refusal to recognize the elections, Berisha’s promises, and the large-scale reformatting and campaigning of the Socialist Party, which in fact has only one initiator: Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Beyond this, what remains troubling for the public is the future, accompanied by prices that never fall and by poverty. According to the latest Eurostat data: Albania leads Europe with the highest percentage of population—around 42%—at risk of poverty due to severe social exclusion in 2024 (European data 2024, Albanian data 2023). The figures indicate that more than 1 million Albanians suffer from a severe form of poverty (Monitor, 2025).
Are these realities even seen and judged? Is it possible that Albania can generate a ruling class that is more careful (using an euphemism here not to say “irresponsible”)?! Apparently not. The frightening level of grand corruption at every level, the many arrests of bureaucrats and wrongdoers, and the injustices show that in the last quarter century, Albanians have faced one of the most irresponsible governments of their modern history. Yet, appearances aside, Albania, if it adapts to European conjunctures by 2030, might become an integral part of the EU! A long-awaited step, though few in Albania believe we deserve it. One only needs to look at environmental management, tourism, or how we are treating agriculture, among other things, to understand how far we are from the European road.
The biggest investment and national sacrifice—Justice—is day by day becoming one of the biggest public disappointments, with verdicts and endless delays leaving entire case files waiting in line. Property (the biggest unsolved problem) is almost one of the greatest gangrenes of the country—just thinking about the victims of the 1990s because of it sends shivers down the spine. Meanwhile, those to whom we entrust governance and who hold the threads of developments in the country are, and often remain, disappointing. Every legislature becomes ever more unqualified, weaker each time, while parliament hosts incompetent people who in the end become frighteningly rich. The influence of their power, transmitted through personal gain, rarely produces positive differences for the progress of the country’s political and social life. The country’s development happens more as a dynamic of time and the spirit of Albanians themselves, and very little, if at all, thanks to the contributions of this political class.
How do they manage to represent us? The answer is now well-known: Albania is in the hands of party chairmanship-ocracies (kryetarokracia), which decide our fate. And here comes the “difficult” question: what kind of person must one be to truly play a role in Albania’s historical challenges?!
Weber once posed a big question before the public about the model of a politician, tying it to the sense of power: “Even in modest posts, the professional politician enjoys having an influence on people, having power over them, but above all: to hold in their hands a bundle of nerves of important historical events, to rise above the everyday.” Then Weber went to the important question: with what qualities can the politician hope to be worthy of this power, and of the responsibility it entails?
But our reality provides its own answer: IF our politicians were normal, it would not happen that so many of our main parties have not held internal elections for years. PD, PS, PR, PL (LSI), PSD, PBDNJ, PAA, PDIU, and others have had the same chairmen for decades (and without shame)!!! IF our politicians had a sense of measure, they would resign at some point—when electoral objectives were not achieved, or when the party’s expectations from him/her were left unfulfilled. IF politicians cared more about the clear canons of politics, the country would have normal elections, not ones where Rama mobilizes the entire administration, while Berisha only accuses and never knows how to say mea culpa. Parties would have internal institutions and accountability mechanisms, and anyone could build a career based on performance and ability.
Weber, to whom we refer, sets three attributes for the model of a politician: Passion, Sense of Responsibility, and Sense of Proportion. Of course, his equation was drawn more than 100 years ago, but it still holds many truths—especially the interconnection of these attributes in a political democracy. IF this were respected in our times, especially in new democracies like Albania, we would not have slipped into Rama’s absolute power, Berisha’s pathetic monologues, or the declamations of smaller party leaders. Here comes in the ethical dimension, the one that openly shows us the confrontation of good and evil and the position of truth.
The famous German sociologist, even in his cultivated political environment, raised great ethical dilemmas: how could passion and sense of proportion condition each other?! But in our time, there is no ethical dimension left—because power, on both sides, is often corrupted by dishonesty, by two-faced politics, lack of measure, and above all by the greed of banality. You understand this in the news, where the links of politics with the underworld clash openly, and from the endless maneuvers to win, often as a result of unjust laws.
“Every day and every hour, the politician within himself must overcome an enemy—seemingly ordinary and very human: a rather vulgar vanity,” Weber said, teaching us the great lesson of self-distance. IF that were the case! But in truth, our politicians live with vanity, are nourished by it, and exercise power through the tools that people usually entrust to them to uphold the state—even one like ours, worn down to the marrow.
(Homo Albanicus)
By Ben Andoni