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7 E. Eur. Const. Rev. 37 (1998)
Corruption, Clientelism, and the Future of the Constitutional State in Eastern Europe

handle is hein.journals/eeurcr7 and id is 137 raw text is: .Special Reports How the ride of law can faciltate the sprea of sioue Corruption, Clientelism, and the Future of the Constitutional State in Eastern Europe Andras Sajo hat are the principal preconditions of an effective anticorruption policy? Corruption in Eastern Europe is decidedly mis- understood and is, to some extent, enveloped in myths. An elementary failure of understanding helps explain the preponderance of misdirected policies in the region. An inquiry into the potential for, and problems of, the efficient enforcement of the laws against corruption in Eastern Europe, as well as the dangers that official policies toward constitutionalism pose, is therefore in order. In particular, four key issues merit discussion. (1) Designing a feasible anticorruption policy first requires an understanding of the particular nature of corruption in postcommunist societies. Corruption in Eastern Europe is structural in the sense that it is part and parcel of the region's emerging clientelistic social structures. An analysis of corruption cannot be divorced from an understanding of cientelism. (2) Clientelistic structures in Eastern Europe are related to the previous communist nomenklatura. But the way actual socioeconomic developments are currently unfolding creates levels and forms of state- centered clientelism distinct from those of earlier regimes. The nature of Eastern Europe's cientelism has a direct impact on the kinds of anticorruption policies adopted in the region and their potential for success. (3) Anticorruption policies are, in part, a response to characterizations of the region by those outside the region. Postcommunist states are often said to be satu- rated with corruption, steeped in cientelism. This view is a frequently recycled theme of the Western press and is dutifully amplified by the East European press, which mostly uses it in partisan struggles. Exaggerating the problem and exploiting it for political purposes has triggered inappropriate legal reactions and moral crusades. The ritual affirmation that corruption charac- terizes the postcommunist state has dwindled into a stereotype, and it fosters a spiraling delegitimation of the new democracies. The public's misperceptions about corruption and government sleaze are partly the conse- quence of this simplification, which has direct consequences on anticorruption policies. Such conse- quences range from hysterical short-term police actions to social hopelessness and resignation. That the public's understanding of corruption is warped by Western categories does not mean that no corruption exists in Eastern Europe, only that how it is perceived is not always the result of genuine endogenous factors. Were it not for the drumbeat of external criticism, corruption would not be construed as an acute social problem, at least not in East Central Europe. (4) The success of constitutional democracy in Eastern Europe depends in large measure on society's values, such as meritocracy, Political morality requires transparency to be effective. But morality and trans- parency depict, perhaps somewhat misleadingly, a cor- ruption and cientelism that undermine the faith of an increasing number of citizens in the promises of a demo- cratic state based on the rule of law. The rule of law and the fight against corruption and favoritism have an inherently problematic relationship. The public's belief in, and allegiance to, the rule of law is fragile, for the whole concept was parachuted into Eastern Europe. It is alien to most of the local cultures, acquainted as they are with only the primacy of surviving by mutual social favors. Those seeking to combat corruption and favoritism with the rule of law, moreover, have been profoundly disappointed. The rule of law inhibits swift SPRING 1998 37

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