The Political Economy of Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina
2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13533310802058927
ISSN1743-906X
Autores Tópico(s)Corruption and Economic Development
ResumoAbstract This article contends that the complex administrative mechanics prescribed in the Dayton Accords presented opportunities for nationalist leaders to abuse public office. At the same time, economic reforms and a high degree of decentralization gave elites and local communities the facility to resist externally induced structural adjustment. The economic paradigm introduced for transition limited any attempt to establish a social contract between individual and the state. Consequently, a degree of social cohesion remains through adherence to local, clientelistic loyalties and informal economic activity. This provides the cultural and structural economic context in which the abuse of public office flourishes. Notes 1. Transparency International (TI), National Integrity Study: Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007, Sarajevo/Banja Luka, 2007. 2. See, Raymond W. Baker, Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Capitalist System, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Britain, the US and Switzerland are among the world's most corrupt countries. See, John Christensen, 'Follow the money – how tax havens facilitate dirty money flows and distort global markets', Economic Geography Research Group, Geographies of Corruption, RGS–IBG Conference, London, Tax Justice Network, 1 Sept. 2006 (at: www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Follow_the_Money_-_RGS-IBG__final_31-AUG-2006.pdf). 3. See especially, David Chandler, Empire in Denial: The Politics of State-building, London: Pluto, 2006. 4. World Bank, 'Bosnia and Herzegovina: Creating an Efficient Decentralized Fiscal System', Washington, DC, 2003. 5. Breakdown of Tuzla Canton budget, 'PREGLED Budžetskih Korisnika Po Organizacionoj Klasifikaciji' (at: www.vladatk.kim.ba) courtesy of Damir Hadzić (Regional Co-ordinator, Governance Accountability Project, Tuzla). 6. World Bank, 'Bosnia and Herzegovina: Addressing Fiscal Challenges and Enhancing Growth Prospects. A Public Expenditure and Institutional Review', Report No. 36156-BiH, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit Europe and Central Asia Region, Sept. 2006, p.iv. General government expenditure reduced from 60 per cent of GDP in the late 1990s to below 50 per cent of GDP in 2006: EBRD, 'Strategy for Economic Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina', 4 Sept. 2007, p.66. 7. Dragoljub Stojanov, 'Bosnia and Herzegovina: a continuing economic and political experiment', unpublished paper, University of Rijeka, 2007. 8. Chris Hedges, 'Leaders in Bosnia are Said to Steal Up to $1 Billion', New York Times, 17 Aug. 1999, p.1; Some of it was exposed in the Sarajevo weekly magazine, Dani, 'Hoće li Bakir Izetbegović odgovarati pred Sudom?' [Will Bakir Izetbegović be put on Trial?], 6 Aug. 1999, p.16; 'Abeceda Korupcije' [The ABC of Corruption], 27 Aug. 1999, pp.16–21. 9. R. Jeffrey Smith, 'In Bosnia, Free Enterprise Has Gotten Way Out of Hand', International Herald Tribune, 27 Dec. 1999, p.5. 10. Elfatih Hassanein, Hasan Čengić, Irfan Ljevaković, Bakir Alispahić and Alija Delimustafić were reportedly named. Ababić was subsequently dismissed by the OHR, Paddy Ashdown, possibly for compromising intelligence (at: www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?entity=irfan_ljevakovic_1). 11. Gearóid Ó Tuathail (Gerard Toal) and Carl Dahlman, 'The Effort to Reverse Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina: The Limits of Returns', Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol.45, No.6, 2004, pp.439–64, citing US General Accounting Office, 2000, p.13. 12. TI (see n.1 above), p.295. 13. See, for example, Raiko Tomaš, 'Efficiency Constraints on the Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina', in Christopher Solioz and Tobias K. Vogler (eds), Dayton and Beyond: Perspectives on the Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2004, pp.99–119; Vesna Bojicić-Dželilović, Fikret Čaušević and Rajko Tomaš, 'Bosnia and Herzegovina – Understanding Reform', Global Development Network Southeast Europe, June 2004; Rajko Tomaš, Živka Pržulj and Ivan Šijaković, Nezaposleni resurs ili Socijalni Problem?, Banja Luka: Gradfid, 2004; Peter Andreas (ed.), Transnational Crime and Conflict in the Balkans, special issue of Problems of Post-Communism, Vol.51, No.3, May/June 2004; Nikolaos Tzifakis and Charalambos Tsardanidis, 'Economic Reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Lost Decade', Ethnopolitics, Vol.5, No.1, 2006, pp.67–84; Fikret Caušević, Foreign Trade Policy and Trade Balance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo: Economic Institute, 2006; Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, 'Material Reproduction and Stateness in Bosnia and Herzegovina', in Michael Pugh, Neil Cooper and Mandy Turner (eds), Whose Peace? Critical Perspectives on War Economies, Basingstoke: Palgrave (forthcoming 2008). 14. Michael Pugh and Neil Cooper with Jonathan Goodhand, War Economies in a Regional Context: Challenges of Transformation, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2004, ch.5. 15. Interview with EU Customs and Fiscal Assistance official, Sarajevo, 13 Dec. 2002. 16. Interview with Banja Luka official, 17 June 2005. 17. Transparency International BiH, BiH Corruption Perception Study 2004, Sarajevo/Banja Luka, 2004, ch. on local governments. 18. Although there have been no successful judicial prosecutions, the OHR has over the years dismissed a range officials and politicians on corruption-related charges. However, these do not amount to a systematic response to the problem of corruption. 19. Boris Divjak, 'Corruption in post-conflict reconstruction Bosnia and Herzegovina case study', Transparency International BiH, Sarajevo, 2005, p.5. 20. See examples in Transparency International (see n.1 above), p.166. 21. Jeremy Pope, Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System (TI Source Book 2000), Berlin, 2000, p.162. 22. Christopher Cramer, Civil War is not a Stupid Thing: Accounting for Violence in Developing Countries, London: Hurst, 2006, pp.124–37. 23. Michael Pugh, 'Postwar Political Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Spoils of Peace', Global Governance, Vol.8, No.4, 2002, pp.467–82. 24. David Harvey, The New Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.134–5. 25. World Bank, Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Recovery to Sustainable Growth, Washington, DC: World Bank Publications, 1997, pp.39ff; 'Priorities for Recovery to Sustainable Growth', 1995; 'Bosnia and Herzegovina: Toward Economic Recovery', 1996. 26. International Commission on the Balkans, The Balkans in Europe's Future, April 2005, pp.10–11, 40 (at: www.balkan-commission.org/activities/Report.pdf). 27. UNDP, Early Warning System Fourth Quarterly Report, Oct.–Dec. 2006, annex graph 1, p.77. 28. Stojanov (see n.7 above). 29. World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report for 2007/08, Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007. 30. Interview with Fikret Čaušević, Director, Economic Institute, Sarajevo, 5 Sept. 2006. 31. Stojanov (see n.7 above). 32. Ibid. See also Čaušević (see n.13 above), p.31. 33. Interviews with Zlatko Hurtić (Economic Adviser, BiH Prime Minister), Sarajevo, 4 June 2006, and Professor Rajko Tomaš, Banja Luka, 8 Sept. 2006. Labour Force Survey, Sept. 2007. A World Bank estimate for 2001 claimed that about 36 per cent of the employed were working informally. See World Bank, 'Bosnia and Herzegovina, Labor Market in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina: How to Encourage Businesses to Create Jobs and Increase Worker Mobility', Human Development Unit, South-East Europe Country Unit, Europe and Central Asia region, World Bank Report No. 24889-BIH, 4 Nov. 2002. Particularly shocking is the estimated 57 per cent of the active labour force that has simply given up and withdrawn from the market. See UNDP, Social Inclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina, National Human Development Report, 2007, Sarajevo, 2007, p.75. 34. BiH Agency for Statistics, Living in BiH, panel study final report, wave 4, 2005, p.50. The Gini coefficient in 2004 was 0.43 according to the Living Standards Measurement Survey. Using a household budget survey for 2004, the UNDP report, Social Inclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007, calculated the Gini coefficient as 0.40 (indicator 14, p.189). For further discussion of the Gini estimate, see Malte Lierl, 'Transfer Payments, Individual Income Composition and Inequality in Bosnia and Herzegovina', Journal of Development and Social Transformation, Vol.3, 2007, p.39. 35. UNDP, Early Warning System Quarterly Report, January–March 2006, p.77. Household status perceptions indicate that about 20 per cent (67.7 per cent in Brčko District) claimed to be barely subsisting, ibid., p.86. 36. The ETU website can be found at: www.ohr.int/ohr-dept/econ (accessed 20 March 2006). 37. In the last quarter of 2006, about 20 per cent of those currently employed throughout the country expected to lose their job within three months. UNDP (see n.35 above), table XI, p.76. Unpalatable they might be, but informal economies help to sustain resistance to the socially alienating neo-liberal economic paradigm. 38. Interview with Amir Hadziomeragić, Head of Economic Research and Statistics Unit, BiH Central Bank, Sarajevo, 5 Sept. 2006; Mechthild Schrooten, 'Bringing Home the Money – What Determines Workers' Remittances to Transition Countries?', Discussion Paper Series A, No. 466, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan, Sept. 2005. 39. Stojanov (see n.7 above). 40. Information on benefits to women rape victims from Michaelina Jakala, Grabavica, 18 Feb. 2007. 41. Based on interviews in Zenica in June and September 2006. 42. Fikret Čaušević (see n.13 above). 43. See, Larisa Jašarević, 'Everyday Work: Subsistence Economy, Social Belonging and Moralities of Exchange at a Bosnian (Black) Market', in Xavier Bougarel, Elissa Helms and Ger Duijzings (eds) The New Bosnian Mosaic: Identities, Memories and Moral Claims in a Post-war Society, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp.274–84. 44. Morris Szeftel, 'Misunderstanding African Politics: Corruption & the Governance Agenda', Review of African Political Economy, Vol.25, No.76, 1998, p.233.
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