The Common Experience of Western Balkan by Ogerta Lala

I grew up in a post-communist Albania where the words we and corruption were very
present. We all wanted the European life. I remember the slogans of the Democratic Party in
Albania in the 1996 election campaign; We want Albania like the rest of Europe. But I also
remember that because of corruption we had a lot of work to do in order to be like Europe.
Almost 20 years later we still have work to do. The high rates of corruption are stopping
Albanias transition process and development. According to Transparency International, Albania
is followed by other ex-communist countries that also are not doing well. Countries such Serbia,
Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo are suffering from high rates of corruption
too. Eventually a question arises Except the high rates of corruption what do these countries
have in common? The answer is: an almost similar past.
We the people of ex-communist countries have a common experience. 1 Whoever has
read Caf Europa written by Slavenka Drakulic knows that by the common experience the
writer meant the big desire of being like Europe, like Western Europe. When the Wall of Berlin
came down the Eastern Europeans thought that finally they would be welcomed in the West;
finally Europe would be a whole, undivided continent. Eastern Europeans believed that they
would live like the people in the West, with the same guaranteed standard of living. It did not
happen how they thought and wished. The West does not feel the need to belong (it just is) or to
allow the countries standing at its threshold to enter. It waits to pick the lucky ones who will
meet its standards and join the European Council, NATO or some other of its institutions.2
Democracy brought to ex-communist countries the plural political system, free market, massive
privatization and made the transition from give me a favor society into give me a bribe
society3 . The disturbing high level of corruption can be traced back to the political economy in
the transition process which is characterized by massive rapid privatization and weak Rule of
Law.
The privatization process began shortly after the creation of the first democratic governments.
When almost everything used to be state owned the new leaders of democratic governments
rushed and speed up the privatization process
without informing the society about the
process itself. The implementation of capitalism in countries where there was no capital after the
fall of communism resulted to be a total failure. The Western Balkans societies because of
history have always lacked information about capital, private property and individual initiatives.
So, when privatization begins there was very little competition for the privatization of public
services, industries or even houses. The redistribution of state owned property was not based on
1 Draculic, Slavenka. Caf Europa: Life after Communism. Penguin Books, 1999. p.1.
2 Ibid. p12
3 Krastev, Ivan. Shifting Obsessions Three Essays on the Politics of Anticorruption. Budapest:
Central European University Press, 2004. p.17

privatization methods such as: employee management buy-outs, free distribution of vouchers,
sale to domestic and foreign investors. The implementation of such methods was driven by the
preferences of government, their political parties and by the scheming self-interest specifically to
the political and economic fields of those governments.
The major challenge of the first democratic governments was putting into practice the
right legislation. Several studies have shown that there is a connection between the extent of
corruption and the inadequate legislation characterized by weak rule of law and the absence of
civil society activism. In Western Balkan countries there was a prevalence of incriminated
governing institution, weak judiciary system, poorly controlled borders, oppressed freedom of
press and all this combined with highly unemployment rates. Also distrust was spread between
citizens and the government. According to Wolfgang Koeth the region is plagued by a culture
of conspiracy, which served as survival tactics in a hostile environment characterized by poor
relations with the authorities. These authorities were perceived as oppressive and repressive
foreign colonial overlords, against whom the extended family, the clan and the wider ethnic
group served as protection.4 The institution of a strong rule of law would mean implementing
institutional devices and programs that would fight downsides of the democratic system.
It is known that the issue of corruption has become a global phenomenon but when it
comes to post-communist societys corruption it is argued to be an endemic phenomenon. If such
phenomenon is not going to be stopped it will hinder democracy, damage economic growth,
increase social inequality and promote organized crime.

4 Van Ham, Peter. "Gridlock, Corruption and Crime in the Western Balkans: Why the EU Must
Acknowledge Its Limits." http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Gridlock Corruption and
Crime in the Western Balkans.pdf.