Avdi Smajljaj

Ailing the Process:: Political Parties and Consolidation of Democracy in Kosovo Avdi Smajljaj

System transformation is a process that has its beginning and flow, and gradually arrives at the closing stages, that are likely to bring into being the intended system, though no system is safe from rolling back. Notwithstanding the considerable achievements of Kosovo democracy on system transformation, above all on the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic system, the consolidation phase has so far proved to be overly long and compromised, making the future and end results of the process highly unpredictable. Along with other internal and external multilevel actors determining developments on the consolidation phase within the complexity of the system transformation process, political parties are generally regarded as irreplaceable institutions in a representative democracy. The way and extent to which political parties perform their expected functions have a determining effect on democracy consolidation prospects.