| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines strategies used in coping with domestic legitimacy crises in Albania. In these crises, blending national with international governance became a resource for governance interventions. Although prevailing approaches to state building and to judiciary governance have continued to follow Westphalian or Weberian paradigms, which characterize the state by its monopoly over judicial authority, Albania has faced difficulties in implementing even modest programs of justice reform, let alone significant transformations in judiciary governance. For this purpose, it has chosen to bring in “international” actors with a constitutional role in the judiciary apparatus. The constitutionally established operation composed by internationals has been “subcontracted” to manage and oversee the process of appointment and dismissal of judges and prosecutors. Based on fieldwork and using an adapted model of hybridization, the article examines the complex mix of national and international dynamics that were combined to produce a hybrid or composite regime in the judiciary of Albania.
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