border security.
The People's Police were the local or municipal police, with the typical
routines and local interests of such forces.

It is difficult to ascertain the overall effectiveness of the various
police and security forces in the maintenance of public order because no
official crime statistics are published. Official statements in the
press provide little or no information on the extent of crime other than
the inordinate coverage of those crimes that are political in nature and
considered threatening to the Party or the state. Statements by the rare
Western visitors to the country concerning the police state atmosphere
have led to the assumption that public order is rigidly maintained.

Although military and security forces were small in proportion to the
size of the military age male population, they were nearly double the
per capita average maintained by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) or by Warsaw Pact nations. Whether or not the people recognized
the armed forces as a burden, the country has never had the industrial
or economic base to maintain them. Since World War II it has relied, in
turn, on Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and Communist China for aid.
Chinese assistance since 1961 has been sufficient to maintain equipment
previously furnished by the Soviet Union and to replace some of the
older weapons as they became obsolete.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The free-spirited and hardy Albanian mountaineers have had excellent
reputations as individual fighters. The Romans recruited some of their
best soldiers from the regions that later became Albania. In succeeding
periods many Albanians became famous in the military service of the
Ottomans.

Nationalism was rarely necessary to motivate these men. Before 1912 the
country had independence for only one brief period. It was gained then
by the national hero, Skanderbeg, and freedom evaporated almost
immediately upon his death in 1468. The history and legends attached to
him make up a large part of the national military tradition. Other than
in his day, freedom was rarely fought for except in the context of
defense of tribal areas against the incursions of marauding neighbors.
There were few occasions when Albanians rose up against occupying
foreign powers. Conquerors generally left the people alone in their
isolated mountain homelands and, as a feudal tribal society persisted,
there was little if any feeling of national unity in the country (se