Environmental Debates in Albania

Abstract

Environmental debates contain as many global characteristics as local characteristics, depending on the country in which they are discussed. As of now, we are aware of how debates on environmental issues have evolved in various parts of the world through protests, discussions, and debates on the issue of climate change; however, the way in which these debates have evolved in a post-communist country is entirely different due to the continued prevalence of political corruption and control.

Classic and digital media and social networks play a role in the configuration of debates on the environment. Actors’ agendas interact in accordance with the problems being contested or disputed. Media not only delivers but also creates the message and can have an impact on finding a potential solution. We see that debates on the environment have a life of their own and last for years. They navigate curves, climbing and descending, until they find a solution. While some environmental concerns generate debates, others pass by without inciting attention from the population or given media attention.

Any environmental conflictual discussion is born out of a wrong decision, thus damaging the society, such as when policymakers ally with businesses, while the pressure groups seek to enter the media agenda. To create a sensation, they employ a variety of symbols and metaphors, while journalists build on them intriguing points of view that must resonate with the popular culture to reach a wide range of audiences and place the issue on other people’s agendas, including those of the public, elite, and politics.