Balkan Techno-Discourses and the Politics of AI: The Case of Diella, an AI Minister

This study examines how AI governance is framed, contested and re-signified in a Balkan semi-peripheral context, through the case of Diella, Albania's AI-generated minister for public procurement. Combining FCET-based media analysis of 50 articles with 25 semi-structured interviews conducted in Tirana, Vlora and Saranda (October 2025–March 2026), the study reveals a temporal escalation from novelty to skepticism, satire and institutional reckoning. Citizens interpret AI governance through a surplus of political interpretation rather than a deficit of technological understanding. The article develops Balkan Techno-Discourses as a semi-peripheral analytical framework extending eParticipation Ecologies to AI governance.