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Albania
Political Control
The Albanian Party of Labor (APL) had an active and dominant
organization within the armed forces until it lost its monopoly
on political power in 1991. The postcommunist political complexion
of the military was only beginning to evolve in early 1992. The
great majority of officers in the armed services were still party
members in early 1992 (the party was renamed in June 1991 as the
Socialist Party of Albania).
The communist-dominated coalition government, which emerged from
the spring 1991 elections, promised a sweeping military reform
that included the depoliticization of the armed forces. The Political
Directorate of the People's Army, however, continued to exist
as part of the Ministry of Defense. The Political Directorate
controlled political officers within all services and units of
the armed forces. The communist leadership considered the directorate
essential to ensure that the armed forces conformed with ideology
as interpreted by the party.
The reliability of senior military leaders was assured by their
membership in the party. All students over eighteen years of age
in military schools were also party members. Younger students
were members of the Union of Albanian Working Youth and were organized
into the party's youth committee in the army. Political officers
indoctrinated conscripts with communist ideology and the party
line. Reinforcing the actions of officers and military courts,
they helped ensure discipline in military units. They had authority
to take action against soldiers whose attitudes or conduct was
considered contrary to the efficiency or good order of the armed
forces. Probably only a very few of the conscripts were party
members, but nearly all were members of the youth organization.
In 1966 Hoxha abolished rank designations and uniforms, condemning
them as unhealthy bourgeois class distinctions, in keeping with
a similar Chinese move. This measure was intended to make the
military more egalitarian by bringing officers closer to the soldiers
under their command. It also reinforced party control over the
military by reducing the prestige and independence of its leadership
as well as its potential to become a political power center rivaling
the party. Military professionalism became a secondary consideration
to political reliability in determining promotions.
Since World War II, the abrupt shifts in Albanian foreign policy
resulted in purges of the officer corps. Those officers trained
in or closely linked with Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, or China
were purged from the ranks and even executed as traitors when
alliances with these countries came to an end.
Fearing a decline in his authority and party control over the
People's Army, Hoxha also conducted a major purge of its senior
officers during 1974. He dismissed and later executed his longtime
ally and minister of defense Beqir Balluku as well as the chief
of staff and chief of the political directorate. He replaced Balluku
with Mehmet Shehu, who was prime minister, another close associate
of many years who had established the military and security forces
in the late 1940s. Shehu was a founder of the guerrilla movement
during World War II who attained the rank of lieutenant general.
He was its most capable military leader, but he apparently committed
suicide after he and party officials tied closely to him were
purged in 1981. Prokop Murra, a relatively junior candidate member
of the Politburo, succeeded Shehu as minister of defense and became
a full member of the Politburo in 1986. Kico Mustaqi became chief
of the general staff and first deputy minister of defense, as
well as a candidate member of the Politburo, in 1986.
Military influence in politics was restored to its earlier level
when Mustaqi became minister of defense and a full member of the
Politburo in 1990. This closer integration of the military into
the political leadership may have been an effort to ensure its
loyalty at a time of social unrest at home and communist disintegration
in Eastern Europe. In early 1991, however, President Alia replaced
Mustaqi with Muhamet Karakaci, a young former officer and deputy
chief of the general staff. Alia reportedly feared that Mustaqi
was planning a military coup d'état.
In November 1991, the communist-dominated coalition government
reintroduced military ranks and Western-style uniforms in place
of plain Chinese fatigues. It pledged to emphasize military professionalism,
training, and discipline and to eliminate political indoctrination
from the military. The Albanian Democratic Party called for reforms
in the armed forces to include reductions in military spending,
military units, and conscription and the reorganization of unit
structures. It proposed and initiated an effort to establish contacts
and cooperation with Western military establishments, particularly
Turkey's, and to send Albanian officers to study and train in
foreign military academies. The chief of staff of the People's
Army attended the East-West Seminar on Military Doctrines in Vienna
for the first time in 1991.
Data as of April 1992
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