INTRODUCTION thing. And it is sad, because they fail to understand that it is for their benefit. I think it’s the syndrome of abandonment of everything that is past, of the old re­gime, coupled with a bit of institutional instability. There is a reason why data are not revealed – and that is fear of failure.’ Respondents felt unable to influence the institutional cooperation. ‘So many times we have tried to emphasise the role of coordination in pro­ducing reliable data and effective policies, but the answer has been that they can not afford it. I think they will eventually see that they can not afford not to cooper­ate instead’ ‘Co-operation? – Not that I know of. The Ministries work with their local of­fices. The Ministry of Health deals with health issues and the Ministry of Education with education issues, as the names themselves suggested. I suppose Governmental meetings where each Minister reports on their institution could be considered as Co-operation. But can you really see the Minister of Education or his staff spend­ing time getting involved with health policies? They are too preoccupied with is­sues in their own sector, especially when they don’t know for how long they will be there.’(chuckles) Other Actors – Co-operation and Competition in NGO-space While the role that NGO’s play, or are expected to play, in informing social policy and delivery is well known, the origins of post-communist civil society de­serve careful investigation. How NGO-ism differs to that precursor is a moot point. Comparison may illuminate to what degree the communist regime had achieved 83 that‘appeal to a status, identity, legitimacy or community’ which marks the‘inte­grative aspect of social policy’(Boulding, 1967:9). On this basis, the success of social policy could be‘measured by the degree to which individuals are persuaded to make unilateral transfers in the interest of some larger group’(ibid.). If people at that time contributed voluntarily,‘transitional voluntarism’ came to Albania with very different mores and motivations. ‘We had no idea what NGO’s were to be honest, until I started working in the Ministry of Labour, where foreign consultants came to advise us.’ ‘I was involved in the Government at that time and was among the first to hear about the NGO’s- and their money... So, I called my friends and three or four of us got together and registered our organisation. It was a chance to grab some money and I used my knowledge and contacts to get funding for projects. When I was fired from my Government job, I moved into it full-time and I have been there ever since.’ ‘As long as they have money on education, the mission statement of my NGO is on education. We are flexible(smiling). You have money on agriculture? Then, 83 Initially, whether by persuasion or force, and later by habit. 209