Fatos Tarifa

Fatos Tarifa (born 1954) is a social scientist and a former diplomat from Albania. He served as Albanian ambassador to the Netherlands (1998-2001) and to the United States (2001-2005). He has "already earned the title of father of Albanian sociology, a moniker he has generally resisted" (2). Tarifa is a university professor. He has authored, co-authored and edited more than 20 books and numerous articles on political science, sociology, and international relations. His books and articles have covered topics ranging from democratic transition and social issues in Eastern Europe to human development, and current international affairs. From 1998 to 1999, Tarifa was the Editor in Chief of Sociological Analysis, an international quarterly journal published in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He serves as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Social Sciences and the Journal of Applied Social Science. From 1993 to 1998, he served as the founding director of the New Sociological Research Center in Tirana. Prior to that, he was the founding chair of the Sociological Research Center (1991-1993) and the founding Dean of the School of Philosophoy and Sociology (1991-1992) at the University of Tirana. He has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities such as Duke University, Stanford University, New York University, Harvard University, Brown University, University of California at Berkeley, Tufts University, University of Essex, and University of Amsterdam.

Education

Tarifa has a double doctorate, with a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Tirana. He has been, inter alia, a lectuerer, a researcher and a distinguished visiting fellow since 1981, when he joined the School of Political Science and Law at the University of Tirana. In 1992 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship at the Department of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Main Publications

• The First Decade and After (2000) – ISBN 9064900442;
• The Breakdown of State Socialism and the Emerging Post-Socialist Order (2001) – ISBN 9064900450;
• Culture, Ideology, and Society (2001) – ISBN 9080617822;
• The Quest for Legitimacy and the Withering Away of Utopia (2001) – ISBN 9080617830;
• The Balkans: A Mission neither Accomplished nor Impossible (2002) – ISBN 9080617814;
• To Albania, with Love (2007) – ISBN 0761835903;
• Acrimonies of Transition (2007) – ISBN 1933377232;
• Europe Adrift on the Wine-Dark Sea (2007) - ISBN 9780977666287;

Sources

(1) Lucas, Peter (2007), "Foreword", in Tarifa, Fatos (ed.), To Albania, with Love, Hamilton Books, ISBN 978-0-7618-3590-5.

(2) Heyns, Barbara (2003), "Introduction", in Tarifa, Fatos (ed.), Social Problems of Transition, Smiet, ISBN 90-806178-5-7.