Ethnic Interest Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy

In 1999, Albanian-American community leaders sat with President Bill Clinton in the White House, discussing NATO’s intervention in Yugoslavia―a moment that played a pivotal role in Kosovo’s path to independence. How did a small ethnic community of roughly 250,000 people gain such remarkable political influence in the United States? Ethnic Interest Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Albanian-American Movements offers a front-row seat to the evolution of Albanian-American political activism, uncovering the strategies, movements, and relationships that helped shape U.S. foreign policy.

Drawing from exclusive interviews, firsthand observations, and declassified documents, it traces the three defining political movements of Albanian Americans, from an early 20th-century struggle for Albanian statehood to the grassroots movement’s political access and influence at the highest levels today. With deep analysis and untold stories, Ethnic Interest Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Albanian-American Movements reveals how a determined diaspora transformed its influence from the fringes of U.S. politics to the heart of American foreign policy.
The book is essential reading for scholars and students studying the impact of interest groups on American foreign policy, Balkan history and contemporary issues, diaspora movements, and immigration and ethnic identity development generally.

Fron Nahzi is one of the leading experts on the Western Balkans and on the Albanian-American Community. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he played a pivotal role in mobilizing Albanian-American organizations in support of Kosovo and Albania’s democratic movements. Since 1991, he has led numerous democratic development programs across the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. His work has been supported by major institutions, including the British Council, European Commission, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation, and the governments of Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States. During the Yugoslav wars, Nahzi was the senior editor of the award-winning Institute for War and Peace Reporting. He has served as a guest analyst for CNN, BBC, PBS, and NPR, and his commentary has appeared in leading international outlets such as The Guardian, The Independent, Le Courrier, Politico, The Hill, European Voice, Project Syndicate, Newsday, and Huffington Post. He is also a regular contributor to BalkanInsight. Nahzi has presented on international development and Balkan affairs at forums organized by the United Nations, OSCE, EU, the Austrian and Dutch foreign ministries, and universities including Columbia, Georgetown, Tufts, the New School, Albany, and Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil). He is currently an Adjunct Faculty Instructor at American University’s School of Public Affairs, USA.