Albinot Shaqiri

The Political Participation of Albanian Americans Albinot Shaqiri

Starting with earliest studies in the theme of political participation, there have been questions about how citizens take part in their democracies and the ways that individuals choose to influence their governments. Though there has been one issue which has puzzled scholars and politicians alike for quite some time now. The question is: why some people participate in the political processes while others stay on the margins of the society and abstain from such activities? Considering the levels of political apathy in societies around the world, a great deal of energy in social science is spent in explaining why we have such cleavages in participation rates and what seems to be the factors that affect the levels of engagement. In this book I concentrate on the notion of political participation in regards to the Albanian-American community and analyze issues relating to the levels of political engagement of Albanians in the United States of America. Furthermore, the key question that this book seeks to answers is: what are the main factors and issues that affect the levels of political participation of Albanian Americans?