“Contemporary political systems” –The book represents a modest contribution to the study of a scientific field that is indispensable for students of the social sciences. I started from the fact that in the Albanian language, there is a lack of university literacy in this field. On the other hand, in many faculties and universities with literacy in the Albanian language, the following subjects are taught: Political systems, Comparative political systems, Comparative politics, etc.
Lecturers meet the needs of students from books by foreign authors, or from the little literature in the Albanian language from the sphere of comparative constitutional law, parliamentary law, history of the state and law, etc. The reasons why Albanian authors do not deal so much with this issue are numerous, but they don’t miss the ability to write university books from the sphere of political systems, which in terms of quality would not differ at all from the non-Albanian authors who do with this issue.
Even though I am now a retired professor, after many conversations with younger colleagues, I took passion to write this book in the hope that it will help students and the wider public gain basic knowledge about contemporary political systems. Although I have experience, from the beginning I was aware of the difficulties I would face when writing the book. However, my difficulties present only an internal incentive, a positive provocation, and nothing more.
Contemporary political systems as a scientific discipline present an “ocean” with depth and wide that is difficult to measure. It is a very dynamic matter! Every constitutional change affects more or less the physiognomy of the political systems that are the subject of study. A good example is the political system of the Russian Federation and the political systems of the former communist states in Europe.
In the book that is now in front of my readers, several types of contemporary political systems have been analyzed: parliamentary systems, semi-parliamentary systems, presidential systems, parliamentary systems, and, political systems based on Islamic law. More precisely, after many analyses I determined the political systems as follows: United Kingdom (parliamentary monarchy); Germany (parliamentary republic); USA (presidential republic); France and Russia (mixed political systems, presidential-parliamentary or parliamentary-presidential); China (communist system); Belgium (consociation democracy); Switzerland (system with consensual democracy); Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of North Macedonia (consensual democratic systems in development); Saudi Arabia (absolute monarchy based on sharia) and Iran (republic based on sharia). According to the methodological approach, the book is divided into eight chapters: The introduction part; Parliamentary political systems; Presidential political systems; Mixed political systems; Political systems with consensual democracy and consociate democracy; Political systems with consensual elements that emerged with the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; Sharia-based political systems; and Communist Political Systems.
As an author, I am very aware that this book is neither complete nor perfect. As I pointed out, the books left by the hand of man are neither the Qur’an nor the Bible. They are full of loopholes and shortcomings. Maybe that’s where their value lies. Gaps and deficiencies challenge the book’s author or other authors to continue searching and writing more complete and better quality content.
During the writing of the book, at every moment I had the attitude of Tocqueville in my head, who after half a year in the United Kingdom was asked why he did not write a book about the political system of Great Britain. His answer was roughly like this: “One must be philosophically stupid to feel capable of making such a decision after such a short period of stay in Britain.”
Therefore, all authors who intend to write books about political systems should bear in mind this attitude of Tocqueville, not to write but to bear in mind all kinds of difficulties they will face while writing books and the criticisms, sometimes with good intentions and sometimes with bad intentions, that will follow after the books are published.
Starting from what was said above, I, as the author, will be grateful to all those people who, after reading the book, will give suggestions and make constructive criticisms that will help make the book much better. Quality in the case of eventual reprinting, because as authors I will authorize my colleagues who are in regular employment at the University of Southeast Europe in Tetovo, without any problem, to complete and reprint this university book.
The book “Contemporary political systems” is written in an understandable language. My goal is this book to serve not only for students but also all those readers who want to get basic knowledge from the political systems that are dealt with in this case. This book can serve as basic literature for students who are attending lectures on the subjects: Contemporary political systems, Comparative political systems, and Comparative politics; and as reference literature for students who study constitutional law, history of the state and law, introduction to public policies, etc., as an academic discipline.
I hope that the book “Contemporary political systems” will exceed the borders of SEEU and become part of the libraries and lovers of literature of this nature, wherever Albanians live. First of all, to become part of the libraries of universities in the Albanian language in North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania.
I take the opportunity to thank my childhood friends Mr.Taip Qazim Kodra and Mr.Vebi Halil Kodra for their modest financial assistance in publishing this book. And finally, I express my heartfelt thanks to the reviewers Prof. Dr. Jeton Shasivari, Prof. Dr. Ylber Sela, Prof. Dr. Adnan Jashar, and the lecturer Mr. Lulzim Dalipi; the owner of Focus Print Mr. Imer Goxhufi; and to all the colleagues and students of SEEU who intellectually and technically helped to finish up with ideas and publish the book.
Prof. Dr. Etem Aziri
April 29, 2023
