The fall of the Communist regimes in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and their commitment to social, political and economic reform, represent two aspects of a deep process of social transformation. As in all socio-political transformation which overturns the previous political and economic order, this process needed to develop an ideology and a concrete image of the future in order to mobilize their populations, to invent that certain political rationality which is indispensable for bringing reform to (...) a successful conclusion, and to produce a certain coherence in the changes which occurred in the various fields of life in society. Unlike the preceding revolutions which had gradually nourished hopes for a better life and had expanded the horizons of human possibility with difficulty, movements towards democracy in the former Communist countries found an almost ready-made model. (shrink)

The author undertakes the job of analysing the real situation of the media in Albania from the viewpoint of the complex relations being set up between the spheres of religion and communications in the post-communist period. In the course of his argument he shows how religion is adopting a form in which events and stories of a communications order are being confused. These basic dimensions are assuming a particularly noteworthy aspect because Albanian society has the specific features of a multi-faith (...) environment where Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, etc. practices and rites can be found. The author also stresses the respect for norms and values of a secular model that precisely distinguishes the various spaces for discourse and intervention by actors. He notes how recent democratization has managed to facilitate a renaissance of religious usage, even though some priests may express a harsh view of the forms of expression of modernity. Churches and mosques are elaborating their own particular narratives of Albanian history, creating in this way the features of an interpretative multi-stranded story. (shrink)

Résumé L’auteur entreprend d’analyser la réalité des médias en Albanie du point de vue des rapports complexes qui s’établissent entre les sphères religieuse et communicationnelle durant la période postcommuniste. Il montre dans son argumentation comment le fait religieux adopte une forme où se croisent événements et récits d’ordre communicationnel. Ces dimensions essentielles revêtent un aspect d’autant plus digne d’intérêt que la société albanaise se présente sous les traits spécifiques d’un environnement multiconfessionnel où l’on rencontre des pratiques et des rites musulmans, (...) catholiques, orthodoxes, protestants, etc. L’auteur insiste aussi sur le respect fidèle des normes et des valeurs d’un modèle laïque qui distingue avec précision les divers espaces de discours et d’intervention des acteurs. On relève comment la démocratisation récente a pu rendre possible une renaissance des usages du religieux, même si certains ecclésiastiques peuvent porter un jugement sévère sur les formes d’expression de la modernité. Églises et mosquées développent des récits particuliers sur l’histoire albanaise en fondant de la sorte les traits d’une multi-historicié interprétative. (shrink)