An institutional approach to governance and corruption in Kosovo

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Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the activity of various state bodies which by implementing the law and bylaws protect the rule of law, democracy and human rights, honesty and social justice, and how these bodies are influenced by factors of various aspects of corruption, such as incompatibility between holding public office and carrying out profitable activities for officials, restrictions on the acceptance of gifts related to the performance of official duties, supervision of their assets and persons in close contact with them. Although corruption is widely and publicly discussed, the clearest definition is that corruption constitutes an abuse of office for private gain (The World Bank Group, 1997). To analyze this phenomenon, we will analyze the data published by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), the data published by the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office, the data published by the EU progress report on Kosovo, as well as the published data by the Courts. Data analysis concludes on descriptive statistics, tables, and graphs of criminal reports, processed cases, and court decisions. Given that, corruption is severely damaging the country, we believe that corruption is the main obstacle for Kosovo to move forward in the dialogue on visa liberalization and get a positive response regarding the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) (Transparency International, n.d.). The study concludes that corruption is widespread in the main institutions of the country and its high presence in the judiciary is a very worrying issue. This paper is of great importance for policymakers, officials, scholars as to the processing, publication, and sanctioning will enable this phenomenon that has become a new way of governing to be stopped and the state to be built for society and to belong to society (Bekim, 2017).

Keywords: Law, Legal Institutions, Law Enforcement, Corruption, Republic of Kosovo

Authors’ individual contribution: The Author is responsible for all the contributions to the paper according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) standards.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: K10, K20, K30

Received: 25.02.2021
Accepted: 14.05.2021
Published online: 18.05.2021

How to cite this paper: Ibraimi, X. (2021). An institutional approach to governance and corruption in Kosovo [Special issue]. Journal of Governance & Regulation, 10(2), 238–248. https://doi.org/10.22495/jgrv10i2siart5