rT ansitional Justice and Democratic Consolidation in post-communist aE stern uE rope: Romania and Albania. ABSTRACT The existing literature in how transitional justice measures affects democratization trajectory of former communist regimes in Eastern Europe is rather scarce and underdeveloped. The present comparative study seeks to fill that gap by focusing specifically on the cases of Romania and Albania but also it gives an overview of the other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In the kaleidoscope of CEE countries some have had a quick implementation of transitional justice measures as well as successful and rapid democratization. Yet others, despite adopting early mechanism of transitional justice did not necessarily had any particular success in their democratic endeavor. While additional states have had democratic consolidation despite not doing a particular great job in adopting rapid such measures (for example Estonia) and others failed to do both the adoption of transitional justice mechanisms as well as to democratize at all (i.e. Belarus). The present paper offers a theoretical model that seeks to capture and explain such dynamics and by referring specifically to the telling cases of Romania and Albania, to explain what role and impact do transitional justice measures have in democratic transitions. INTRODUCTION This paper starts with the puzzle of how the implementation of various transitional justice measures impacts democratic consolidation. The initial hypothesis is that successful implementation in an early post-dictatorship stage of transitional justice measures should result in a fast and successful transition and rapid democratic consolidation. There is a very extensive literature about democratization in general, as well as discussion of transition processes of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the aftermath of communism in particular. The speed and nature of transitions also has varied greatly and there is already an abundance of studies that deal with their trajectories. Simultaneously, we have a growing but significant scholarship in transitional justice in former communist countries, focusing on how these countries are coping with authoritarian pasts and what has been done to address it in the post-communist period. This is still an emergent field of study and much has to be done to uncover stories, collect data and develop analytical tools to help us understand critically the effects of individual and collective trauma and of measures to address it. What remains under-researched is the link between the two phenomena. In effect, we need to know more about how success or failure to implement early on and adequately transitional justice measures affect the degree of success and the shape of democracy. The present study seeks to address this missing link and, after an overview of the state of affairs in CEE countries, it focuses particularly on Romania and Albania. Therein, the paper investigates and seeks to provide an answer as to how a lack of full accountability for totalitarian regime crimes has resulted in a problematic democratization and weak political culture for Albania in the post-communist period. The Albanian case will be analyzed vis-à-vis the Romanian one, which, despite sharing many similarities with Albania, differs in the crucial aspect of the role played by transitional justice measures that were successfully implemented and led to a faster democratization than Albania. The study is important in several ways. Theoretically, it provides a model to understand the role and effect of transitional justice measures in post-communist CEE countries and how these measures have affected the speed and success of transition toward democratic consolidation. Empirically, by focusing upon the examples of Romania and Albania, we can better grasp the 55