Deficiencies in the Rule of Law in Slovenia in the Context of Central and Eastern Europe (original) (raw)
prizren social science journal, 2018
A lot has been written about corruption, especially regarding the corruption in post-communist countries, and Slovenia is not an exception. The forms of corruption are similar to those in other countries in transition, the reasons for corruption in Slovenia well known and the typology well processed. Most of the corruption in Slovenia occurs in the area where public and private spheres come together, with strong networks remaining, and where also systemic corruption occurs. However, there has not been any progress in corruption fighting. Opinion surveys show that the perception of corruption is high (the personal experience with corruption proved very high during the conducted research), however, people are not very familiar with the it (all its forms and consequences) and therefore, in order to successfully fight corruption, actions should be taken in the form of education and in the sense of raising public awareness of the harmfulness of corruption. At the same time the politica...
Informal relations from democratic representation to corruption. Case studies from Central and Eastern Europe, 2011
BOOK PRESENTATION: Informal relations have been one of the major research topics of the social sciences since the 1990s. In order to allow for meaningful comparisons between different combinations of the positive and negative effects of informal relations on democratic representation, all the articles in this book focus on post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe as a particular region where formal democratic rules have been established but competing informal rules are still strong. The first section discusses a broad spectrum of related analytical concepts from different perspectives and from different academic disciplines. The second part then goes on to analyse empirical cases of the relationship between informal relations and democratic representation. The contributions span the whole continuum, as we perceive it, from civil society networks seen as supporting democratic representation to the perversion of democratic representation through political corruption. The final part of the book then takes a closer look at corruption through four case studies from Russia. OTHER INFO: This book presents a selection of the papers discussed at the Changing Europe Summer School on "Informal Networks, Clientelism and Corruption. Case Studies from Central and Eastern Europe" held in Prague at the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in August 2010.
Toothless but Forceful: Slovenia's Anti-Corruption Watchdog Exposes Systemic Graft, 2004-2013
When Slovenia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991, the Central European country rapidly transitioned to free-market democracy, with strong institutions and low levels of graft. In 2004, the government established the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption to demonstrate its commitment to good governance during the application process for European Union membership. However, the new watchdog body, which had no official enforcement powers, soon faced deeper challenges than it was equipped to handle. It found that political and business leaders had colluded to profit from Slovenia’s prolonged and underregulated privatization process, undermining the economy and diminishing public trust. Leveraging its moral authority and limited powers, the commission undertook investigations and released advisory opinions that spotlighted public corruption and the systemic flaws that enabled it. By outfoxing political opposition and developing innovative uses for its investigative powers, the commission and its partner institutions helped spark a nationwide anti-corruption movement. In early 2013, public protests toppled a prime minister the commission found had been in violation of campaign finance rules, and Slovenia’s struggle against corruption reached a turning point.
Corruption in a Culture of Stela: Understanding Informal Transactions in Bosnia and Hercegovina
2016
The focus of this thesis is to explore why petty corruption dominates and persists in Bosnian society despite the major anti-corruption efforts of Bosnian government and international organisations. By approaching corruption from a social-legal perspective, this thesis aims to explore the local experiences, social norms and morality of informal transactions in Bosnian society. To investigate these questions, a qualitative ethnographic approach is applied providing detailed in-depth findings regarding petty corruption in Bosnia, specifically the experiences and interpretations of ordinary citizens involved in the informal activities are explored. The thesis is based on participant observations and informal interviews which were carried out during a period of ethnographic field research in 2016 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina. The study applies Ehrlich's concept of 'living law' and Marcel Mauss's gift-giving analytic framework in which the special focus analyzes the gap between state laws and the informal laws followed by citizens. Throughout the thesis it is argued that informal transactions in Bosnian society reveal different cultural and practical meanings from most of the Western world. International anti-corruption organisations often overlook the fact that Bosnia has not experienced only a transition in politics and its economy such as other ex-communist states but has also undergone a transition from war to peace. Thus, this has led to a non-functional welfare system and a socioeconomic divide between the political 'elite' and ordinary citizens. The findings of this study show that due to a collapsed welfare system Bosnian citizens without traditional informal connections must turn to corruption, ranging from receiving healthcare to entering into employment. Although ordinary people in Bosnia condemn bribery they are left with no choice but to engage in corrupt practices as they serve as 'coping' strategies. The findings of this research study indicate the need for an approach that considers the socioeconomic and moral factors within the local context in order to understand the relevance of international legal definitions of corruption. In failing to acknowledge these issues, Bosnia remains and will remain one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. Moreover, the current socioeconomic situation not only reinforces corrupt behaviour but creates a greater segregation between the 'elite' and ordinary citizens in Bosnia.
CRIMINAL-LEGAL ASPECTS OF CORRUPTION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Sociological discourse, 2023
The subject of this paper is the criminal-legal aspects of corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author's intention is to divert your attention and point out the legal and social specifics of corruption as legal and social phenomenon that under special attention of scientific, expert and general public for a reason. Respectfully, there is no area of human action or interaction that is immune to corruption. However, the institutional reaction of state to this criminality must be adequate and proportional to the needs of research and evidence in order to achieve desired results of criminal judiciary. Special attention is directed to the problem of definition and understanding corruption with all its complex dimensions and the inability to coordinate one universal and comprehensive definition of this term. Also, this essay emphasizes problems of complexity of revealing the existence of these criminal acts and the aspect of verifying, i.e. proving the existence of these corruptive actions, while appreciating restrictive law conditions, materials and process.
Prevention of Corruption: Slovenian Perspective
Organized Crime, Corruption and Crime Prevention, 2013
The paper presents integrity plans, a new preventative measure against corruption in the public sector, introduced by the recent Slovenian anticorruption legislation. The authors discuss the importance of these plans for promoting integrity and increasing the level professionalism in public institutions while preventing corrupt practices.
Europe-asia Studies, 2006
This article considers the role of the informal economy in Central and Eastern European post-communist countries. The informal economy is defined as the ‘black’ economy, which is monetised but outside the law (often illegal) on the one hand and the ‘household’ and ‘social’ economies which are non-monetised and non-legal in the sense that they are outside of legislation. The article shows that in some countries the black economy is very important for supporting household incomes (Serbia and Croatia) and in other countries the household or social economies are predominant (especially Romania and Ukraine). In a third group of countries the formal economy predominates over other economies (especially the Czech Republic and Hungary). The article goes on to look at what kinds of people participate in these different economies and concludes that whilst the household and social economies are a social safety net for the poor, the elderly and those in rural areas, the black economy is more likely to be an option for those who are already better off to improve their incomes. The article considers the implications of this for attitudes to the legitimacy of the public realm and finds that greater participation in the informal economy is associated with both loss of trust in public institutions and increased perception of corruption. Therefore it is hypothesised that economic activities that take place ‘outside the law’ could lead to a decline in confidence in the state, although there are important variations between countries.
Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform, 2007
The relation between quality of governance (including effective control of corruption) and economic growth is asymmetric. High-quality governance with little corruption contributes to economic growth, but economic growth by itself does not necessarily improve governance and limit corruption. Improvements in quality of governance are the result of a deliberate strategic effort by policymakers and civil society. The article illustrates this idea by focusing on the current quality of governance and control of corruption in Slovenia compared with the other 24 members of the recently expanded European Union. We rely on the most recent quality-of-governance cluster indicators compiled by Kaufmann et al. in 2005 and complement them with findings from a recent domestic survey. The findings appear to support the asymmetry thesis. Long EU membership does not automatically bring about a high quality of governance, nor does the quality of governance improve automatically with economic development. In the case of Slovenia, the quality-of-governance indicators fall considerably behind the top-ranking »old« EU member states. Now that it is a member state, Slovenia is under considerably less outside pressure to address its problem of corruption and quality of governance than during the pre-accession negotiations. It is doubtful whether the domestic policymaking elite is prepared to commit itself in the absence of effective external and internal pressures. Thus, Slovenia may well end up as a living example for the asymmetry thesis: on the one hand, an economically highly developed EU member state, with, on the other hand, a second-rate quality of governance and weak control of corruption.
Impact of Corruption in Governance of the Western Balkan Countries
Abstract Corruption as an impediment to good governance and to economic development nowadays has developed in a very large scale, influencing all the major public fields of politics, economics, administration and judiciary. Western Balkan countries and Albania in particular could not avoid this phenomenon since the level of the informal economy has been very high and it has made possible to increase the level of corruption, despite the numerous measures taken to combat and to control it. This study analyzes the impact of corruption on the informal economy, and the inefficiencies of the public sector for revenue collection. It studies the impact of corruption on budget as well as the unfulfilling of needs and coping measures against corruption as well as the decline of the public confidence in state institution. The vicious circle of corruption, informal economy, the reductions of formal economy, the financial inability to address public needs and the inefficient governance are the main issues analyzed in this study. It also focuses on last measures voted to combat corruption such as the efficient implementation of the monitoring systems included in the government reform. Keywords: Corruption, Informal Economy, Albania, Proceeds Of Crimes, Anti-Corruption Policies.
On certain criminal-legal specific characteristics of corruption in Republic of Serbia
Pravo - teorija i praksa
Corruption is a negative social phenomenon being present in all societies and states, and which can be found in all layers and relationships within a society. Corrupt practice, as an ubiquitous negative social phenomenon, certainly has its political, sociological, criminological, legal and other aspects. Bearing in mind the fact that the widespread corrupt practice significantly erodes the foundation of society, the allowance of its both survival and deepening necessarily results in the abandonment of democracy, democratic values, legal certainty and the rule of law. Therefore, every legislator, including the legislator in Republic of Serbia, prescribes various material and procedural legal measures trying to suppress corruption in the country. This paper looks at certain criminal law specific features of the incrimination of corruption at both the international and national level, but also at certain procedural aspects of prosecuting corruption crimes. In this sense, there is invol...