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The Patrimonial Logic of the Police in Eastern Europe

2012; Routledge; Volume: 64; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09668136.2012.681244

1465-3427

Stephan Hensell,

Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

Abstract The police in Eastern Europe are often regarded as politicised, poorly trained and corrupt. This article argues that the police follow a patrimonial logic. Neo-patrimonialism is mostly understood as an authoritarian regime with a personal ruler at the top. By contrast, here a concept will be suggested which reformulates patrimonialism as the practice of the acquisition of offices and material resources. Based on this, two case studies analyse the police administration in Albania and Georgia. The findings suggest that patrimonial practices play a central role in the recruiting and financing of law enforcement officers. The result is a hybrid administration, which is significantly subject to special interests. Notes While Weber speaks of patrimonialism in his work on traditional domination, it is neo-patrimonialism that is mostly spoken of in today's comparative research. With the prefix 'neo', the intention is to emphasise that patrimonial elements in modern states always occur mixed with modern elements (Erdmann & Engel Citation2007). I subscribe to this view, but for reasons of simplicity, I continue to speak only of patrimonialism in relationship to my own theoretical concept and the empirical findings presented in this article. When current political or administrative phenomena are characterised as patrimonial here, it is indisputable that these always occur within the framework of modern institutions, where they compete with formal and rational logics. I always use the term neo-patrimonialism when I refer to the current discussions in comparative research. An exception is the work of Kitschelt et al. (Citation1999, p. 39). Generally on practice theories in social sciences see Reckwitz (Citation2002). On the state as a field of action, see the work of the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu (1994). Bourdieu also applied his theory of practice to the genesis of the modern state and analysed the modus of patrimonial reproduction in the dynastic state (Bourdieu 2005). For a concept of the state as a political or bureaucratic field of action with patrimonial practices see also Hensell (2009, pp. 58–69). This distinction is only to be understood analytically. In patrimonial contexts the appropriation of offices is synonymous with the appropriation of material resources. The differentiation here is thought of as a sequence: the question is how actors are recruited into public positions and what they then make of their positions. I use the terms patronage and clientelism as synonyms. According to Weber (Citation1978, p. 233) the sale of offices is specific to patrimonial domination. In the debate this is mostly described as 'corruption'. This term, however, has a normative quality because it implies a transgression of accepted formal–legal rules. Whether we can speak of corruption as deviant behaviour depends on how widespread and commonplace it is. The more common corruption is, the less it can be described as an irregularity. Here, patrimonialism represents a comprehensible and more analytically precise term. This also opens up exciting perspectives for theoretical synthesis with more sociological concepts such as Pierre Bourdieu's practice theory (Hensell Citation2009, pp. 49–70). Interviews in Tirana and Durres with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, April 2004 and September 2005. 'Interior Minister Presents Amendments to Law on Police', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 21 February 2003. Interviews in Tirana, Durres, Gjirokastra and Saranda with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, April 2004 and September 2005. The phenomenon was so obvious that even the communiqués of the ministry admitted nepotism and regionalism in the selection of police officers (Republic of Albania, Ministry of Public Order 2001, p. 36). Interviews in Tirana and Vlora with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, April 2004 and September 2005; see also World Bank (Citation1998, p. 4). Among other things, for the procurement of petrol, uniforms, medication, passports and the renovation of police commissioners' offices (Press Review: Zeri i Popullit: 'Five Tenders of Scandals', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 2 November 2002). Interviews in Tirana and Durres with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, April 2004 and September 2005. For example, on the airport see: 'Rinas Police Chief Arrested', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 22 April 2003; 'Staff Purge in Airport's Police Commissariat', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 6 July 2004; 'Big Forgery Racket Uncovered at Albanian Airport', Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Newsline Southeastern Europe, 11 October 2005. For details see UNODC (2004, pp. 282, 309), Policia e Shtetit (Citation2004), AIIS (2004, p. 39) and the Annual Report of the Italian police, available at: http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/online/antidroga/antidroga.htm, accessed 3 October 2005. In 2001, among the victims of bands of smugglers interviewed, about 10% indicated that the police were directly involved in the smuggling (IOM & ICMC 2001, pp. 5–10). See Miletitch (Citation1998, pp. 164–65); Tabaku (Citation2005, pp. 127–28); 'Prosecutor Says Albania Flooded With Stolen Cars', RFE/RL Newsline Southeastern Europe, 14 January 1999; '"Stolen" Car Scam Revived in Albania', RFE/RL Organized Crime and Terrorism Watch Reports, 2, 11, 21 March 2002; 'Car Dealers in Albania Threatened by Smuggling', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 21 August 2002; 'Car's Legal Distributors Demand Measures Against Informal Market', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 8 April 2004. Interview with an employee of the Interior Ministry, Tirana, April 2004; 'Albanian Investigators Arrest Kukes Police Chief', RFE/RL Balkan Report, 4, 61, 15 August 2000; 'Chief Police of Central City Dismisses 18 Subordinates', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 31 July 2003; '106 Policë me makina kontrabandë', Korrieri, 22 April 2004, p. 4. 'Albanian Police Chiefs Accused of Smuggling', RFE/RL Newsline Southeastern Europe, 7 January 1998; 'Albanian Anti-Corruption Unit Charges 23 Police Employees', RFE/RL Balkan Report, 4, 60, 11 August 2000; 'Albanian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Former Chief Investigator', RFE/RL Balkan Report, 5, 15, 23 February 2001; 'Two Senior Police Officials Expelled from Force', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 22 June 2004. 'Albanian Anti-Corruption Unit Charges 23 Police Employees', RFE/RL Balkan Report, 4, 60, 11 August 2000; 'Police Catch Up with Fugitive Ex-colleague', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 15 March 2001; 'Ex-Police Chief Punished on Bribery Charges', Albanian Daily News (ADN), 14 October 2004; 'Albania: Authorities Rocked by Drugs Scandal', Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) Balkan Crisis Report, 326, 22 March 2002. Interviews in Tbilisi with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, December 2003, March 2004, May–July 2004, April 2005 and September 2006. Interviews in Tbilisi with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, December 2003, April 2005 and September 2006. Interview in Tbilisi, April 2005. Statistics of the General Inspection (1994–2004), Ministry of Interior, Tbilisi, made available to the author. Sakartvelos 2003 ts'lis sakhelmts'ipo biujet'is shesakheb, Tbilisi. Source: Parliament Budget Office (2002, p. 11), World Bank (Citation2002, p. 35), UNDP (1999, p. 38; 2000, pp. 79–80) and GEPLAC (2003, p. 21). Interviews in Tbilisi with young offenders, November 2003, as well as with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, December 2003, April 2005 and September 2006. See 'Primary Detention Breeds Human Rights Abuse', Civil Georgia, 22 July 2002; 'Human Rights Violations Persist in Preliminary Detention', Civil Georgia, 31 December 2001; Liberty Institute (Citation2004, pp. 5–28). Interview in Tbilisi, April 2005. Interviews in Tbilisi with taxi and bus drivers as well as with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, April 2005 and September 2006. See also Papuashvili (Citation2003), Gordadzé (Citation2003, pp. 226–27) and Kupatadze et al. (Citation2007, p. 97). 'Red Bridge: Bent Mirror of the Georgian Economy', Civil Georgia, 13 August 2003; 'Georgia's Red Bridge Ordeal', IWPR Caucasus Report, 147, 20 September 2002; 'Georgia's Dodgy Traders', IWPR Caucasus Reporting Service, 189, 31 July 2003. Interviews in Tbilisi with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, April 2005 and September 2006. See also EIU (1997, p. 10; 1999, p. 7), Targamadze (Citation2000, pp. 81–82), Wheatley (Citation2005, pp. 115–19), Gordadzé (Citation2003, pp. 220–11) and Darchiashvili (2003b, p. 8); also, '"Aldagi"—Limited Insurance Market: Few Choices because of Regulations', The Georgian Times, 105, 669, 30 May 2000, p. 3. For the criminal groups in Georgia see Glonti and Lobjanidze (Citation2004) and Shelley (Citation2007). For the smuggling business see Kukhianidze et al. (Citation2004, pp. 31–49), Gotsiridze (Citation2003) and Wheatley (Citation2005, pp. 115–16, 122–23). 'Police Collude in Georgian Drug Trade', IWPR Caucasus Report, 130, 23 May 2002; 'Traffic Control', IWPR Caucasus Report, 95, 24 August 2001; Wheatley (Citation2005, p. 125, fn. 67); interviews with youth offenders as well as with police officers and staff of the Interior Ministry, Tbilisi, April 2005 and September 2006. See Demetriou (Citation2002, pp. 36–39), Kupatadze et al. (Citation2007, pp. 94–95) and Kukhianidze et al. (Citation2004). Also, see 'The Police Cooperates with Criminals in the Pankisi Valley', Civil Georgia, 19 July 2001; 'Georgia's Pankisi Dilemma', IWPR Caucasus Reporting Service, 113, 25 January 2002; 'Kidnapping of British Businessman in Georgia Focuses Attention on Law-Enforcement Corruption', EurasiaNet, Eurasia Insight, 10 July 2002. For elements of patrimonial domination in democratic regimes see Pitcher et al. (Citation2009, pp. 144–49). Additional informationNotes on contributorsStephan Hensell Research for this article was conducted under the project 'Privatisation of the security sector in post-socialist states' at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), Germany. The author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the IFSH for this project.