A Brief Evaluation of the History and Legislation of Ethnic Minorities in Albania

• Author: Ksenofon Krisafi
• Pages: 201-211

201

KSENOFON KRISAFI

A BRIEF EVALUATION OF THE HISTORY AND LEGISLATION

OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN ALBANIA

Introduction

Respect for minorities, is a longstanding issue that has been discussed in

different ways in the context of freedom of thought, in Plato’s Republic,

Aristotle’s Politics and many other works through the centuries. Yet, the

relationship between majorities and minorities is a contemporary issue

too, with widespread legal, social and economic implications for many

people and communities.

Main protagonists in the discussions about the respect of minorities

are world famous thinkers like John Locke, Hugo Groci, Chantal Millon-

Delsol 1 etc.

Often the essence of discussions about the rights of minorities is

focused on the dangers of imposing a sort of tyranny on minorities from

the majority that considers such a tyranny as a legal and morally right

activity. According to Tocqueville the majority in democratic states

pretend that they have absolute sovereignty which means that they can do

anything they wish.2

Even the most advanced and democratic ways of governing in a

democratic society have not succeeded in ensuring the levels of

protection desired by the minorities. The reason for this is the principle of

positive discrimination. After all, even positive discrimination is a breach

of the common law because by securing most of the rights and freedoms

for a particular community it is impossible not to breach one of the

parameters of the rights and freedoms of the community as a whole,

including the minorities.

The differentiated treatment of minorities, even in a positive sense, is

likely to challenge the power of the majority and its legitimate right to

free decision making. The majority, when forced to find and implement

specific solutions to benefit the minorities, should limit its powers.

Former president of the United States Thomas Jefferson once said that

although the majority govern and make decisions in a democracy they

should take care that their power has at least a moral limit. Jefferson did

1 MILLION - DELSOL, Chantal. Political ideas of XX century, Onufri, Tirana, 2000,

pg. 286.

2 DE TOKËVIL, Aleksis Democracy in America, Kristalina-KH, Tirana, 2002, pg. 91.