Volume 17 (2022): Edizione 1 (June 2022)

This study analyzes the domestic political, economic, and social conditions in the Western Balkans that provide fertile ground for hostile and maligned actors to manipulate and exploit governments and societies with hybrid war measures, namely cyberattacks and cyber intrusions and disinformation and fake news. It begins with a review and assessment of the prevailing empirical and theoretical literature on hybrid warfare. It then describes two leading empirical indices that measure degrees of permeability and structural vulnerability that elevate or reduce the risks associated with maligned and hostile interventions. The article also examines leading indicators measuring resilience levels in cybersecurity and media/information literacy, highlighting political, social, and economic vulnerabilities. It concludes by suggesting that domestic conditions in the region encourage maligned and hostile actors, especially Russia and for different reasons and to a lesser extent China and Turkey, to use hybrid measures to exploit the region. The article proposes that in addition to strengthening institutions and trust, membership in NATO and the E.U. are directly related to mitigating structural vulnerability and reducing uncertainty and insecurity in the Western Balkans.

This study aims to determine the demographic characteristics influencing the performance of Academic staff at the Southeast European University (SEEU). This study employs data from the student evaluation carried out by the students for their respective professors and courses for the Fall and Spring semesters during the academic year 20/21.

A lot of research has been done on demographics and its effect on the professor’s performance, and they point out that demographic attributes can change the rating evaluations, therefore these factors need to be analyzed at SEEU to come to our conclusion.

We assume that middle aged professors, females and single professors receive higher evaluation scores.

In order to analyze the demographic characteristics of the academic staff of SEEU and how they influence student evaluations, quantitative research methodology was used including calculation of frequencies, percentages, means and cross tabulations.

The results of the study show that students generally evaluate with high grades their professors, where the average of the whole questions asked resulted above 4.5, as per Likert scale, 1-5. Furthermore, the general results of the academic staff according to the demographic characteristics such as age, experience in teaching, academic title, gender and marital status for each academic staff do really show differences in student evaluation values. This is an important thing to know when recruiting and retaining academic staff that appear to be highly appreciated by students especially because that results from higher teaching quality.

Collecting data using an appropriate sampling technique is a challenging task for a researcher to do. The researchers will be unable to collect data from all possible situations, which will preclude them from answering the study’s research questions in their current form. In light of the enormous number and variety of sampling techniques/methods available, the researcher must be knowledgeable about the differences to select the most appropriate sampling technique/method for the specific study under consideration. In this context, this study also looks into the basic concepts in probability sampling, kinds of probability sampling techniques with their advantages and disadvantages. Social science researchers will benefit from this study since it will assist them in choosing the most suitable probability sampling technique(s) for completing their research smoothly and successfully.

States in the context of foreign policy apply specific strategies that relate with strengthening their international position, especially in relation to the promotion of attributes and values that make changing the perceptions of citizens of other states, and consequently of decision makers. Small states find it difficult to impose on the large international system knowing that their power and potential is little measurable.

Kosovo since its proclamation as a state, is facing this dilemma, as crises, political instability and the inability to conclude the problem of recognition have cost it in external perception as a country with unsolvable political problems, while from within as the place where opportunities for work and well-being are seen as difficult to achieve, while interethnic cooperation remains dependent on the fate of the Brussels Talks or reconciliation and forgiveness, which are also linked to political talks. The need to affirm the truth of Kosovo, found it without concrete strategies, while the application of some marketing on foreign television, was not followed by any concrete plan.

Kosovo had launched a campaign entitled “Young Europeans”, while only a few years later, 200,000 young people left the country, producing paradigmatic upheavals, in “young European immigrants”. Applying a series of methods, such as content analysis, statistics and interviews, the paper concludes that Kosovo has not had a national strategy for creating a national brand, while there are some sporadic efforts, which are not accompanied by concrete strategies, while political instability did not allow the functioning of foreign policy and consequently increased impatience of the citizens towards the institutions which was reflected in the efforts for their mass departure from the country.

This article aims to elaborate on the relationships between Georges Castriota Scanderbeg and noble families from Drivasto. Drivasto was an Albanian medieval city located in the Northern Albania, about 12 km away from Shkodra. Its origin dates to antiquity but it has achieved its cultural, economic, and political peak during the Middle Age. Drivasto had its schools, church, and social life. The city elite consisted of noble families, such as Engjelli, Spani, Suma, Moneta, and Dushmani. The city elite played an important role in the resistance against the establishment of Ottoman rule in Albanian lands, so many figures deriving from that elite closely cooperated with Georges Castriota Scanderbeg. They used their diplomatic and military background to transmit Scanderbeg’s claims abroad or to fight against the Ottomans.

Therefore, this article aims also to elaborate on the social aspects of the society of Drivasto and its role in political circumstances, aiming thus to present to the audience some historical and social features and international relations during the Middle Age. The first part of this scientific research provides a brief presentation about the city of Drivasto during the Middle Age, continues with noble families and their role and cooperation with Scanderbeg; lastly summarises circumstances that derived from the return of Scanderbeg until the year 1478 when Drivasto fell under the Ottoman rule. The work “The nobility of Drivasto and Scanderbeg” derived of intensive scientific research. The comparative and synthetic methodologies have been used to draft this article.

The beginnings of the practical implementation of the right on access to public documents, also known as the freedom of information in Kosova date fifteen years back from now, when the first law on access to public documents was adopted (Official Gazette of RKS, 2007).

The freedom of information was attained with difficulties by journalists in relation with public institutions until two years ago. This was because of the oversight body of this law’s implementation was a coordinating office within Prime Minister’s Office, without a specific binding mechanism to public institutions, whilst the Ombudsperson served as a second instance, also without an executive mandate to empower achievement of this right.

The content of this paper’s body entails, among others, aims to highlight the degree of difficulty journalists faced to provide information in the absence of an appellant authority in the country during a ten years’ period, which is the subject matter of this writing.

Notwithstanding difficulties to freely access public documents, provided by law to be open for the public, as well as the people’s lost trust for public institutions in this regard, since 2019 when the oversight mission of the Law on Access to Public Documents was entrusted to the Information and Privacy Agency, the general perception began to change positively.

The current situation in terms of the respect for the freedom of information may be considered to be relatively satisfactory, because public institutions are made aware of the existence of the oversight authority, which acts as an appellate authority for citizens.

This small-scale research paper analyses both teachers’ and students’ perceptions and their roles towards the use of Project Based Learning (PBL) in a research context in the Republic of Kosovo. The study was completed by sixty students of three lower-secondary private schools in Kosovo and eight English language teachers who work there. The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ perspectives on using PBL in their classes, the challenges they face while applying PBL, the most common benefits PBL implementation, the materials used with this method, and the impact of PBL on students’ motivation to learn English as a Foreign Language. The data obtained from interviews with teachers highlight that teachers use PBL to a certain extent, though it works much effectively with lower-secondary and upper-secondary education. Teachers preferred to use Project Based Learning in their classrooms in general, although there appears to be some uncertainty between doing projects and Project Based Learning as a strategy. English language instructors have only seen themselves as facilitators of initiatives carried out in the classroom, resulting in a student-centered environment. In contrast to the past, it appears that teachers make extensive use of technology and involve students in a variety of activities to boost their learning and keep them engaged in PBL. Students on the other hand, through a very small number, highlighted that PBL is a better teaching approach in comparison to the traditional textbook teaching and learning.

The aim is to investigate the Information Communication Technology (ICT) on GDP growth in Western Balkan countries from 2000 - 2019. Different econometric techniques were used such as pooled OLS, fixed effects, random effects, and the Hausman Taylor model with instrumental variables (IV). The findings indicate that fixed telephone subscriptions and individuals using the internet have a positive effect on GDP growth, while the fixed broadband subscriptions and mobile cellular subscriptions have a negative effect on GDP growth. The results also show general government final consumption has a negative effect on GDP growth, whereas foreign direct investment has a positive effect on GDP growth, but the coefficient is statistically insignificant. The study will serve for policy makers to invest more in ICT since this will contribute to the economic growth and welfare benefits. There is no study that has been analyzed about ICT in Western Balkan countries, thus findings will be valuable to the government.

Managing a company or organization in today’s market is a challenge that each leader has to face. Companies have to adapt and embrace challenges, or they will be left behind by the competitors in the market. The leadership of a company has to be creative in order to fulfill the needs of the customers, the market, and its employees.

The same rules apply for language teaching organizations, which have to follow the rapid changes in the field of education, technology and marketing all the same. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to acquire knowledge of key aspects of instructional leadership in private and public schools, to find the parameters that make an organization successful, and to compare key management decisions taken by organizations over the years. In focus of this paper is a case study with two primary schools in Kosovo, one public and one private, how they operate, how are they managed and the possible ways of further development. Interviews with the leaders of the schools have been conducted, and the findings have been compared and supported with contemporary literature review. The paper starts provides an introduction, the literature review, the framework used, an interpretation and critical discussion of the data collected, and it ends with the conclusion on instructional leadership.