The role of the enquiry commission in the decision-making at the League of Nations regarding the Albanian Issue

Abstract

This article aims to focus on the activity of the Commission of Enquiry of the League of Nations in Albania during 1921-1923. It helps to better understand the progress of the relations of this organization with Albania. How much did the work of this Commission influence the decisions of the League of Nations regarding the Albanian issue during these years? The topic is interesting because it has to do with some issues of historiography that need elucidation. The existing corpus mainly focuses on the foreign commissions in Albania and in the majority of the cases investigates the commission for the delimitation of borders and refers to the activity of Commission of Enquiry in Albania. The existing literature is limited to the accont of its presence and visits made in different cities in Albania. The article analyzes the reports that this Commission sent to the League of Nations and also the decisions that the latter took on the basis of the reports and advice of Commission members in order to better Albania's relations with the League of Nations in the economic and political sphere. In the economic field it is related to the assignment of economic counsellors whilst in the political one with the decisions that the League of Nations took based on Commission reports for the country, and not on the international press. The decisions taken by the League of Nations during this time are an indicator of the efficiency of the activity of this Commission.