Governance

This experience has been my first real exposure to a parliamentary government, and all of the specific difficulties that accompany this form  of government. As part of my summer work, I am able to sit in on Croatian political and economic news briefs and have been able to witness a tiny part of what has been a long transition from the former socialist Yugoslavia. While Croatia has made great strides in its goal of an efficient and ethical democracy, the country still struggles with corruption, a large and unwieldy bureaucracy, and it’s reputation with the Croatian people.  Additionally, there are a host of other issues that have come with Croatia’s accession to the European Union, which will discussed in detail in a separate post.

Croatia’s Parliament, known as the Sabor

According to Croatia.eu, the current Croatian government dates back to December 22, 1990, when the current constitution, known as the Christmas Constitution, was adopted by the Sabor. As detailed by the CIA World Fact Book, this marked the beginning of Croatia as a parliamentary democracy and the end of a former Croatian national socialist republic. Additional amendments were added to the constitution in 1997, 2000, 2001, 201o, and most recently in 2013.  As a parliamentary democracy, Croatian legislative power lies with a colorful variety of political parties currently allied with each other in two main coalitions. The most preeminent forces in the Sabor are the left leaning Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) with it’s coalition ( called the Kukoriku coalition) and the right leaning Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and it’s allied parties.

I think the biggest political difference between the US and Croatia is the fact that there seem to be two bastions of significant power within Croatia, the president and the prime minister. As mentioned in Croatia.eu, The president has more of a ceremonial role within the executive branch of the Croatian government, and is head of state, commander-in-chief, and a sort of “chief consultant” for the formation of foreign and domestic policy. This position, currently held by the popular Ivo Josipović, also has the power to grant pardons and formally selects the Prime Minister per the outcome of a simple majority vote of confidence by the Sabor. It seems that his value lies within his 5 year terms, which provide for continuity between the different governments.

It is important to note that the President does not hold much of the power of the Executive office. Unlike the US, the authority of the Executive branch lies with the government, through the Prime Minister, his cabinet, and a bevy of under ministers. Collectively known as “the Government,” this branch actively forms foreign and domestic policy, proposes budgets, guides the bureaucracy,  administers the implementation of law passed by the Sabor, and oversees public services. The other two branches of government, the Legislative and the Judicial and the Judicial branch, operate similarly to the US System. Interesting note on the parliament been in existence since 1273, though the official language was Latin until 1847.

Unfortunately, the Croatian government has made an international name for itself with a few major flaws, namely the over-sized be  and the rampant corruption.  Many Croatians I talk to express an almost resigned aggravation and disappointment with the government. Even in conversations when I am praising Croatia, they are quickly to point out the country’s flaws, and almost always focus on the corruption and bureaucracy. It seems that these two problems are the issues that stick out the most in the minds of the Croatians. In conversations that I have had, the adjectives used have been words like “medieval,” “socialist,” “backward,” “inefficient,” and in more than one instance “hopeless.” Even during the press briefings with my job, accounts of government corruption, outlandish behavior of politicians, and government deficiency is met with sarcastic, eye-rolling, resigned laughter. It’s as if the culture of corruption is so ingrained it is accepted as a part of life here in Croatia.

According to one woman I talked to, the growth of the bureaucracy hails from the Yugoslavian and Socialist Croatian, where the government responded to rampant unemployment by simply increasing the size of the public sector. I found this really interesting report conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that details the pervasive corruption within the Croatian government. The report opens with data that highlights how Croatians rank corruption as the most important issue in their country after unemployment and government effectiveness. Apparently, roughly 18% of Croatians are affected by corruption in some way, which seems to be most prevalent in the lower levels of government. This issue mainly affects administration, and bribery is seen in Croatian as an accepted, even normalized, means of dealing with bureaucratic inefficiency and lag. From hospital check ups to speeding tickets to job promotions, The UN report states that 17% of Croatians view bribes are yet another tool used to improve and/or preserve one’s station. Apparently, this is a phenomenon not uncommon in former socialist countries, as outlined in this fascinating report conducted by Paul Stephen with UVA Law school. The paper agrees with the UN report on several major point, namely that Croatians  have major trust issues with their government, and have a difficult time believing that government services or procedures can be performed in a perfunctory way without the incentive of “kickbacks” or other compensation.

Firstly, let’s examine what our friends at the UNODC in Vienna had to say. First of all, this institutional practice of bribery has a big impact, as 9 out of 10 Croatians will end up needing the services of an public administration or public official in their lifetime.  Interestingly enough, corruption in Croatian seems to have a slightly lesser impact on women then men, who also are much more likely to make bribe payments in the form of food or other non-monetary items. However, this may be related to another finding of the UN report, which found that Croatians were highly unlikely to report a bribery incident, or even discuss the event with close friends or family. The survey results reported in the UN publication indicated that less than 2% of Croatians report incidences of bribery to authorities. This may be due to the fact that over half (58%) of the occurrences of bribery are instigated by citizens themselves, either to speed up an administrative process (35%) or to improve their treatment (18%).

Additionally, Croatians offer other reasons explaining their failure to report bribery, which provide an insight into the post-socialist public psyche. Apparently, 24% of Croatians view bribes as a natural expression of gratitude for a positive experience with government services. Ultimately, 26% of Croatians surveyed believe that bribery is a practice that is beneficial to the payer, which is coupled with the 24% of those surveyed that believe reporting a bribery event would be of no consequence. An aspect of this report that really struck me was that a large percentage of bribes go to medical professionals, namely doctors (56%) and nurses (36%), with the last third going to law enforcement.

This saddens me, as I have made several friends, close to my age, who are currently study in or have recently graduated from medical school. I ask myself now if they view bribes as incentives, however small, to enter the medical field. Is institutionalized corruption a tantalizing career prospect for them? I understand that these payments are viewed as voluntary on the part of the bribe-payer, but is it really? If the bribe really does make a difference in the quality of care received, then how is that different from your run-of-the-mill coercion? The very act of accepting the bribe is more than enough affirmation of its importance. I wonder if maybe my generation will be different. Maybe my friends, with their jaded view of their government, will be the first generation to take steps away from this practice. I certainly hope so. However, as Stephen discusses in his paper, the population must be convinced that the change in government is permanent, or at least long term, before corrupt practices such as bribery are viewed as unreasonable.

Thus, strange as it seems, victims of corruption seem to be the ones most responsible for perpetuating it’s practice. The UNODC states that 58% of bribes are initiated or offered by Croatian citizens, while only 8% of bribes result from a specified request. Additionally, those who report bribes usually pays a bribe every three months, on average. Of Croatians who even DO report cases of bribery, 29% of them are first time reporters, indicating that they had not even spoken of the instance to loved ones. Their secrecy, however, glosses over the impact that this low-level corruption and bribery has on Croatian society. 44% of all bribes in Croatian are paid in cash, with the average amount being HRK 2,050 , or EU 280. This is no small amount in a country where the average annual net income is HKR 5447, or EU 718.

Bribery is not only drains an income, but an income determinant as well. Republic of Croatia is the country’s largest employer, with ______of it’s citizens working for the government, enjoying not only high wages and the best job security in the nation.