Albania is a young democratic country that is still learning how to move forward. Albania has lived under regimes not democratically chosen for centuries: the Ottoman Empire before and the Communist regime than. These impositions have not allowed it to create an identity as a nation, this is the reason why they believe into the only code not forced from the high and that dates back to the Middle Age. The Kanun of Lëke Dukagjini is a customary code of laws that has ruled Albanians lives before the Ottoman Empire conquered the country. The Kanun influences everyday life still today. Albania remains tied to old traditions but on the other hand looks at the European Union as a role model. Albania is a country in between, traditions on one hand and progress on the other. The desire to be included in the Union has dramatically increased over the last decade. In these years, the government has been trying to satisfy the applications of Brussels hoping to get the candidacy. In 2014 Albania obtained the candidacy. Through the realization of laws in all fields, the government seems inclined to reach the standards of the European countries. In spite of all these progresses and changes, for Albanian population nothing seems different and everything appear just a way to show improvement to EU and EU countries but in everyday life it seems as same as always. It seems not possible to eradicate the mentality of citizens. Gender inequality and blood feuds are still a reality. The questions that guide this research are: how is it possible that a customary law is still so strongly present in Albanians lives? Is this a possible obstacle towards the European process of inclusion?

This thesis explores how people in mountainous regions of Albania interrelate with large carnivores. For the research, I used a combination of questionnaire survey and ethnographic fieldwork to generate insights into how rural dwellers perceive and interact with bears, wolves and lynx. Research and conservation efforts relating to large carnivores in areas where they live near humans often have a strong focus on human-wildlife conflicts; with the presumption that conflicts are a central part of people’s relationships with predators. I argue that, although conflicts between people and predators do occur, human-predator relationships in highland Albania are complex and diverse, beyond a simple engagement with conflict-causing animals. Large carnivores have rich local cultural profiles; each species being differently perceived, and responded to, by local groups in terms of their beliefs about the behaviours and characteristics of the animals. I argue that large carnivores are constructed, and responded to, as social actors and, as such, they are integrated into the moral community of humans. Customary codes that regulate the social life of people in highland Albania seem to extend into relationships with carnivores. Damages from predators are largely interpreted and evaluated on principles of belonging and moral integrity with little considerations of their financial aspects. Lack of conservation efforts from Albanian institutions for prolonged periods of time, and the remoteness of mountain communities, has brought about a situation in which locals have been largely left uninfluenced in shaping their relationships with large carnivores. I contend that such a situation, albeit seemingly problematic from an outside perspective, is particularly beneficial in maintaining low conflicts with, or over, predators. Recent increases in conservation efforts in Albania may influence relationships between people and predators in the future. Conservation actors will be faced with the challenge of avoiding possible conflict escalation to the detriment of large carnivores and to rural livelihoods.

The Balkans has suffered from quite a few problems as a result of the countless ambitious endeavors for great states of the ethnic groups residing in the Peninsula. The most recent great state idea to have caused troubles in the region is the Serbs’ Great Serbia (i.e. Yugoslvia), which caused a cycle of wars, the latest one being the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s. This thesis attempts to evaluate the rumors of yet another great state in the making – or rather awakening again: the attempt at a Greater Albania, and whether the Albanians in the Balkans are still harboring the idea of any such state. Particular emphasis is placed upon the following questions:   Where does the idea of a Greater Albania stem from? Is a Greater Albania today still on the Albanians’ agenda as a real political plan? What speaks for and against a Greater Albania? Is the idea even feasible?   The findings indicate that none of the Albanian communities residing in the Balkan region wish for a Greater Albania, nor do their leaders. The Serbs nonetheless maintain that an Albanian threat exists and has done so ever since 1878 when the idea of a Greater Albania first arose. However, according to the results of this study, their claims lack credibility. Everything indicates that today, and with Albania striving for membership in the European Union, the idea of a Greater Albania has been left in the past.

La thèse explore les spatialités et les temporalités des projets de maisons chez les Albanais pendant les transformations postcommunistes de longue durée, libellés localement comme « tranzicion ». Elle apporte une contribution au domaine des études postcommunistes en examinant comment les processus de la construction matérielle, sociale et affective des maisons et du chez-soi au micro-niveau, se sont liés aux processus qui ont lieu aux niveaux plus larges des sociétés. Les résultats sont basés sur un travail de terrain mené dans un quartier suburbain d'une ville d’Albanie centrale, et sur une ethnographie multi-située en retraçant les réseaux familiaux dans la ville albanaise, les villages d'origine respectifs, et dans une ville de destination migratoire : Athènes.La thèse essaye d'expliquer pourquoi les Albanais faisaient référence à leurs maisons construites pendant la période postcommuniste, comme « les maisons de la transition ». D'un côté, le projet de la maison est entrepris au nom de la réussite individuelle, du progrès et du développement. Les significations locales de ces trois facteurs viennent des attentes utopiques de la transformation postcommuniste et de l’expérience migratoire « réussie » vers les pays considérés comme des « paradis capitalistes ». D'autre part, ces constructions sont profondément motivées par des raisons intimes et par des idéaux de ce que la « shtëpi » (maison) devrait fournir: la stabilité, la sécurité, le confort, la confiance, la protection, l'ordre, la continuité et la mémoire, l’effort de s’ancrer, un sens de l’ensemble familial et de l'appartenance aux lieux. / This thesis explores the spatialities and temporalities of home making projects of Albanians during the long-lasting post-communist transformations, locally denominated as 'tranzicion' (transition). The thesis contributes to the field of post-socialist /postcommunist studies by showing how the micro-level intimacies which construct a house and a home, are connected with and challenged by processes which take place at higher and wider levels of societies. The results are based on extensive fieldwork primarily concentrated in a newly inhabited suburban quarter of a town in central Albania. Additional data was drawn from a multi-sited ethnography tracing family networks in the Albanian town, the respective villages of origin, and one emigration destination, Athens. The thesis investigates the lived experience of home construction in post-communist Albania. It aims to explain why Albanians were referring to their houses built during post-communist period, as 'the houses of transition'. On the one hand the process of home-making is undertaken in the name of individual achievement, progress and development. The local meanings of the later derive from utopian expectations of postcommunist transformations and of individual ‘successful' emigration experiences towards countries seen as ‘capitalist paradises'. On the other hand, home-making processes are deeply motivated by intimate and ideal qualities of what a 'shtëpi' (house, home) should provide: stability, security, comfort, trust, protection, order, continuance and memory, root and anchor, a sense of family togetherness and belonging.

The history of the Albania Settlement of Griqualand West is examined from its beginnings in 1866 to its demise in 1878. Albania was very much a product of its time. Nineteenth century British colonial policy was basically expansionist, despite minor fluctuations caused by the various influences affecting it, such as the Free Trade and Mercantilist doctrines, social factors within Britain and events within the colonies themselves. From 1815 colonial settlements were fairly common in British territory, especially after Wakefield had provided a convincing theoretical framework for them. Within South Africa itself there are differing interpretations of what motivated British policy and of the role of the missionaries, while the changing political and economic landscape markedly affected Britain's decisions. British Government settlement schemes were undertaken mainly for social or military reasons, but there were also many settlements founded by land speculators. The economically depressed 1860s hit the Eastern Cape hard and this, combined with the transition to sheep farming, which created considerable land hunger, made the Albania scheme attractive to Eastern Cape farmers. The Griqua people led by Andries Waterboer had made a great effort to establish hegemony north of the Orange River, over the Sotho-Tswana and other Griqua chiefs. By 1866 the attempt had failed and Free State farmers were encroaching onto Nicholas Waterboer's lands. When Waterboer's agent, David Arnot, proposed the establishment of a settlement of Albany men to act as a "Wall of Flesh", Waterboer accepted the idea. Arnot's motivation was also land speculation in an area where diamonds were likely to push up land values. From its inception the settlement was dogged by quarrels, mainly over land, amongst the parties involved - the Griqua, brutally removed to make way for the settlers; the settlers, dissatisfied with the land tenure system and their administration; Arnot; the British and the encroaching Boer farmers . After the 1871 annexation of Griqualand West, into which Albania was absorbed, it took seven years, two Land Commissions, a Land Court and a special Land Claims Commissioner to sort out the tangled claims and bring order to the area and Albania's history to a close.

The thesis analyzes the banking sectors in selected countries of CEE region, in particular in Albania, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and compares their development with the Czech Republic as it is CEE country with one of the most advanced banking sectors in the region. Three parts of the paper analyzing separately each of the countries are supplemented by country comparison and final conclusions. General development, development of banking sector as well as banking market and financial performance of banks are examined. As a conclusion, all the countries develop in a different way and with different starting conditions. Albania relies more on qualitative development with low absolute figures but high relative indicators with respect to the utilization of available resources. The development in Serbia is rather quantitative, in contrary to the situation in Albania. Bosnia and Herzegovina is progressing quite ambiguously also due to uncertain political situation in the country. It can be also concluded that all the three countries still have to go a long way to reach comparable level of their banking systems with the Czech Republic.

The final thesis deals with the sustainable tourism development in the destination of Albania. First chapter tries to explain the most important definitions such as sustainable development in its general conception and the sustainable tourism development as the specific form. Second chapter describes Albania as a country with basic information, history or economic situation. Third chapter follows describing Albania as a tourist destination. Last chapter represents the key part of the whole document. It analyses the sustainability in the development of tourism in the country with the final creation of SWOT analysis and recommendations.

This thesis explores the components of the MCSs in use by two Albanian Mobile Operators AMC and Eagle. The methodology used is that of multiple case studies; the study is interpretative, analyzing qualitative data, and has an inductive approach. There are three MCS frameworks used the Object of Control (Merchant and Van der Stede 2007), Control Package (Malmi and Brown 2008) and Performance Management Systems (Otley and Ferreira 2009). The empirical findings were gathered by using semi-structured interviews. Both managerial and non-managerial staff were interviewed according to their areas of expertise in MCSs. The findings suggest that the MCSs used by the two operators are highly structured as per the three frameworks, that AMC does not use any well known model (such as BSC, Tableau de Bord, Performance Prism etc.), whereas Eagle uses a customized BSC, and that the strategies of each of the companies are translated into action through the respective MCSs.

Master Thesis by Christian K. Vinther, Charles University, Prague (77110981) 21/05/2015 Between Liberal Policies and Conservative Values: The Role of the EU in Improving Sexual Minority Rights in Albania Abstract In 2009 the People's Advocate in Albania announced their suggestion that Albania should become the first Balkan country to legalize gay marriage, a suggestion backed by the country's Prime Minister Sali Berisha. The odd thing is that this suggestion was presented in the same country voted the "most homophobic in Europe" according to a recent study, and simultaneously the suggestion came at a time when Albania did not even have an anti-discrimination law, and, assumingly, at a time when LGBT activist groups seemed more or less nonexistent. Since 2009, Albania has progressed severely in relation to LGBT matters, and the small Balkan country has adopted noteworthy liberal sexual minority policies. Yet, as stated above, this appears as a rather paradoxical fact, since homophobia in Albania appears widespread, and since it could be questioned why a country would even need to legalize gay marriage, since the gay population are unlikely to benefit from this kind of legislation, due to the harassment and marginalization of this particular minority group. The mismatch between the conservative values in...

Modern methods of contraception are freely available in Albania, yet contraceptive prevalence among Albanians is relatively low (11%). Abortion on the other hand has long been the mainstay of family planning in the country. Emergency contraception is not very popular in Albania either, even though two different levonorgestrel-only EC pills (NorLevo® and Postinor®) are widely available in Albanian pharmacies. This study aimed to investigate potential factors that influence women’s choices of contraception. In 2016, we conducted a multi-method qualitative study with women and service providers in Albania. Women were invited to report their knowledge of, attitudes toward, and practices surrounding contraception in an online survey. Also, we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants to better understand the current reproductive health landscape in the country. Additionally, we conducted structured interviews with pharmacists in Tirana to assess their training and practices with regard to different available contraceptive methods. Misinformation, lack of awareness, fear of judgement and embarrassment, and lack of infrastructure are the strongest influencers of women’s choice of contraception in Albania. Training of health service providers, as well as development of materials for distribution are warranted to improve knowledge and uptake of contraception among women.