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The Myth of Greater Albania

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When Kosovar Albanians came to Albania after the fall of Communism, they were surprised to find an impoverished motherland whose people were consumed with questions of basic survival. Albania's citizens, for their part, were dumbstruck by the relatively opulent lifestyles of the Kosovars. Yet despite their profound differences, the myth of a "Greater Albania" persists. In this timely book, Paulin Kola challenges this myth, arguing that there is not widespread support for a "Greater Albania" among the Albanian-speaking peoples. He shows that Albanians do not wish to join a single, politically recognized entity and demonstrates how the Albanians are marked by ideological, religious, and other divisions. While a "Greater Kosovo" remains a remote possibility, there is little chance of the Albanians of either Albania or the diaspora supporting moves to dissolve the present international borders in pursuit of an "Albanian homeland." Albanians appear content to retain their discrete political entities, while traveling and trading freely. Accessible and urgent, this book effectively puts to rest the cherished myths of Albanian nationalism.
After founding Albania's first oppositional party in 1990, Paulin Kola served as an Albanian diplomat. He has a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and is now with the BBC World Service.
"A comprehensive, complex, and coherent narrative history of the Albanian-inhabited lands of today's Kosovo and Albania from ancient times until today." -Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers,University of London "An interesting, in-depth, descriptive survey of the Albanian nation." -Choice "Carefully crafted. unusual, and interesting...in addition to the account of Albanian diplomacy in the early 1990s, The Myth of Greater Albania provides particularly perceptive reports on Kosovo politics during the same period, as well on the origins and development of armed Albanian groups. A talented author, Kola has provided a valuable addition to the literature on nationalism and the Balkans." -Slavic Review "Kola has contributed an interesting, in-depth, descriptive survey of the Albanian nation." -Choice
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