Why the “European System” is Better
Op-Ed
Iremember my childhood very vividly: Those long rides back into war-torn Bosnia sitting next to my father, who explained his country in a mystical way to me. My age prevented me from seeing Bosnia before the Yugoslavian War catapulted my fatherland into disdain and destruction.
Victim to the failure of international powers and the UN, Bosnia, in the middle of the Balkans, is one of the forgotten places in Europe. The state apparatus is split into two as a renegade region called Republika Srpska vehemently attempts year after year to spread disorder throughout the bureaucracy of the remaining parts of the nation. Their goal to split away from Bosnia, as a region with a Serbian-orthodox majority, is founded in their refusal to engage in a state-building process with other areas inhabited by Catholic and Muslim majorities. The problem is that this religious hatred fuels the inefficiency of the bureaucracy.
As ordinary citizens gave up on their hope to advance the Bosnian state, egoism and nepotism spread into every sector of society. The lost faith in a fair and unbiased government forces people to look after their families and their lives with self-administrated justice. People’s behavior is not directed towards the common good, but towards Darwin’s evolutionary theory of the survival of the fittest. From funding for education to pension funds, the government’s preoccupation with fighting internal battles fuels their increasing failure to take care of their citizens. When motoring down from functioning Austria to enter an almost failed state, I ubiquitously experienced this selfish behavior, especially when encountering police checkpoints. Arbitrary traffic violations allows policemen to pocket additional salary to provide better for their families. For me, it was always obvious: corruption is a product of a failed state!
However, talking extensively with Georgian policemen, I was shocked to hear their defense of a bribe’s mechanism, what they call the “Russian System”. As if there are two schools of thought, they say their desire to receive bribes is merely founded on a different idea of redistributive government measures. Almost academia-like, corruption is neglected by arguing for private citizens to cover for the policemen’s family. “It is better to give the money directly to me, rather to the state,” noted one policeman. “Now I have an average-fixed salary, but before I was able to offer my family much more,” reiterated a second.
I am unsure if their arguments arose from an earnest conviction that policemen are top-earners of society, or if they simply longed for an outdated communist system in which they violated all ethical principles of communism. However, it outraged me for multiple reasons. Firstly, the audacity to cover up corruption as a different school of thought: the “Russian System;” secondly, the refusal to advocate a strong distributive state; and third, their self-perception as policemen running their own company, funded by traffic violations.
Looking at European soft power in the Caucasus, I am often critical of the tiptoe approach by the EU to promulgate a possible EU membership, without uttering their adamant belief that Georgia won’t become a member in the near future. Bosnia and Georgia both benefit from EU funds, but the difference is that the leaders of Georgia channel them into something meaningful. I spent every summer in a little mountain village in Bosnia, where electricity and water are a privilege for a few hours a day, watching the policemen rely on corruption to maintain a decent standard of living. Their earnings, however, often succeeded average citizen salaries, making them the top-earners of Bosnian society. Depending on the creativity of a policeman for traffic violations, he could pocket a substantial amount of Bosnian Mark per month.
Georgia is too beautiful, the people are too engaged, and the society experiences too much development to be subjected to the same fate. Advocating for a corruption-free police apparatus doesn’t mean choosing between two systems, but it means putting the policemen under state control and maintaining a monopoly of force by the state, so heavily advocated by thousands of political state theories. Furthermore, it puts men with guns at the same level as ordinary citizens, whom they need to protect.
Humans are flawed beings and the law is above them to guarantee that their flaws don’t affect society in a destructive manner. No state is perfect, but covering up imperfection and problems as a different system is a suicidal endeavor hindering development at all levels.
When it comes to corruption, there is only one solution: cut down on it. Georgia progressed during the previous 10 years partially due to their crackdown on petty corruption, painting the government in a much better light than most other post-Soviet countries can claim. Advances in e-governance and building the House of Justice are additional steps to a transparent and efficient bureaucracy which puts all citizens on the same footing.
It shouldn’t be missed that one of the most redistributive side effects of a functioning police apparatus in an effective bureaucracy are higher tax revenues, allowing government officials to invest in better infrastructure and social services. In the end, the families of these policemen will benefit more than would have ever been possible during the patronage of self-appointed tax collectors.
The Georgian government, praised by the IMF and other international organizations, implemented many reforms in the field of tax regulations. Just last week, a conference of Eastern European nations engaging in e-governance measures was held in Tbilisi, as the country is a role model to other states in many aspects. The advancement in online civil services helps the state to generate the necessary momentum for greater transparency among all levels of government. From the clerk in the patent office to the president, checks and balances increase their efficiency and stop further abuse of office.
The view of ordinary police officers is important as their perspective can be extended to more experienced civil officers. It translates the state into a pyramid, in which the bottom represents policemen and other state employees, and the top is the government. Problems occurring at the bottom are inevitable carried to the top and both symbolize a heavy abuse of state authority.
This abuse makes the plastering of the pyramid crumble, resulting in its eventual decay. Precise intervention to stop this abuse will support the pyramid for decades to come, and citizens will respect this construct knowing that it can actually advance their everyday lives.
By Benjamin Music