The student protests of 1989-1990 in Tirana, Shkodra and Kavaja, marked the fall of Communism in Albania and the arrival of political pluralism with the creation of the Democratic Party of Albania in 1991. Albania's progress toward democratic reform enabled it to gain membership in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, formally bringing to an end its notorious isolation.
A number of important changes took place subsequently, such as the admission to the Council of Europe in 1995, NATO membership in 2009 and most recently, the opening of accession negotiations to the European Union in 2022.
