Project Proposal

CORRUPTION RESEARCH CENTRE

Author and coordinator:: Božo Prelević

INTRODUCTION

According to international surveys, conducted over the past years, Yugoslavia falls into the group of European countries with a pronounced corruption factor. Apart from its legal and economic specifics, corruption in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has its traditional psychological and sociological specifics which, during the economic crisis, culminated in a wide spectrum of forms and connections. One of the characteristics is certainly the role of governmental bodies in this process. To preserve the authoritarian system, they have so far tolerated and protected corruption connections instead of engaging themselves in an anti-corruption campaign. Moreover, they have often been the main generator or even a participant in establishment and maintenance of such connections.

From a legal, economic and, in particular, sociological aspect, corruption is a pathological phenomenon that often turns into a pragmatic weapon of political struggle and a substantial source of illegal income of political parties and their leaders. Unfortunately, at some places, after the change of local government, corruption escalated still further.

A transparent analysis of forms and methods of corruption, as well as of its negative effects, will point to significance of struggle against this destructive phenomenon. At the same time it will contribute to improving of a tarnished reputation of democratic institutions.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The short-term objective of this project is to set up a multidisciplinary team of experts in fields of law, economics, sociology, political science, etc. The basic activities of this team will include systematic research, data collection and methodological analysis of causes, forms and extent of corruption, by relying on experiences of both western democratic countries and countries in transition.

Proposals and alternative solutions for prevention and suppression of the most frequent forms of corruption, formulated by the multidisciplinary project team, will be offered to relevant political forces and citizens, and can be used in drafting respective future laws and regulations, and altering administrative procedures.

Analysis will be focussed primarily on work of governmental bodies, ministries, police, judiciary, health care, local self-government, political parties and customs authorities, that is, on corruption cases typical for societies in transition.

In this part, the project should lay groundwork for establishment of a national center for anti-corruption campaign as well as verify its methodology in practice. This way, it can contribute to democratization of the society, to strengthening of democratic institutions and restoring of citizens' confidence in governmental and public administration institutions. The project is also expected to contribute to development of adequate mechanisms for overcoming a very pronounced social stratification.

This part of the project can, under present circumstances, be implemented in local micro communities.

The long-term objective is to create a national center for an anti-corruption campaign as a permanent institution. As a public and impartial control mechanism of government bodies and market economy, the center will enable an efficient civil control of the operation of governmental bodies and will contribute to suppression of crime and reestablishment of disturbed value system.

The center will maintain necessary cooperation with similar centers in its surroundings and especially with civil society organizations and institutions in other countries facing similar problems.

This part of the project can be implemented after the change of the undemocratic regime.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The project should be implemented in two stages.

The first stage includes setting up of a team of experts in fields of law, economics, psychology, political sciences, health care and the like, who will maintain cooperation with practitioners and researchers according to the international institutions methodology, in cooperation with international organizations and regional centers. At the same time it will also rely on experiences of countries in transition.

This stage also includes collection and analysis of data on methods and instruments of corruption, especially in police, public and local administration, health care, judiciary, customs administration, media, education and other sensitive areas, in addition to periodic public surveys.

The multidisciplinary team of experts, set up for implementation of the first stage of the project, also represents a potential nucleus of a permanent center for an anti-corruption campaign, whose establishment is planned in the second stage.

Within the first stage, based upon research of its expert team, LEX will carry out the following activities:

Building of public awareness of the problem, its size, forms and origins;
Building of civil society action awareness of needs to change the current situation;
Development of models methods and model mechanisms for a struggle against corruption and its suppression.

These activities will be performed by:

Launching a public awareness campaign;
Organizing thematic round tables with participation of relevant experts from countries in transition;
Educating the public through public forums and workshops;
Launching a special edition in which relevant papers of international and domestic experts will be published.

The second stage includes establishment of a permanent national center for an anti-corruption campaign. In cooperation with governmental bodies and international institutions, it will conduct research into the forms and methods of corruption, analyze them and put forth proposals for their combat and prevention, educate government employees and, through the media, inform the general public about results as well as educate citizens on this issue.

The country's geopolitical position also requires cooperation with all countries in the region so as to exchange their experiences. This particularly due to the fact that the corruptive process very often takes place in the territory of several countries (customs service, trade, banking transactions, etc.) at the same time.

It is necessary to record all those regulations and solutions currently in place in international practice which provide fertile ground for corruption rise, and to make proposals for their modification, based on comparative experiences.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

This project will be implemented by the non-governmental organization LEX in cooperation with other civil society organizations and independent media.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION TIME FRAMEWORK

The first stage : 12 months upon adoption of the project.

The second stage : establishment of a permanent center for an anti-corruption campaign without any time limit.

EXPECTED RESULTS

Over a short term , the project should contribute to:

Inform citizens about the extent and negative effects of corruption, as well as about the need to carry on a struggle against it;
Encourage democratic forces to take greater part in reconstruction of current legislation and legislative solutions;
Psychologically discourage possible participants in corruption connections;
Induce alteration of the system of values;
Demystify procedures of governmental and public administration bodies and institutions (which often contribute to creation and maintenance of monopoly positions of specified economic agents contrary to the proclaimed market economy principle).

Over a long term , implementation of the first stage will create conditions for a permanent operation of the center for an anti-corruption campaign, as an independent control center oriented, above all, to power holders, administration at all levels and economic transition. The activities of this center will alleviate criminogenic effects of corruption that are especially felt by the poor.

Strengthening of rule of law, through institution building, will be continuously analyzed by the expert team. Based upon that, general local public will be permanently informed about this development, for control of democratic civil society will be one of the basic long-term objectives of the center.

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