Some Causes of Corruption in Serbia
Some Causes of Corruption in Serbia

Author(s): Jovan Ćirić
Subject(s): Criminal Law, Corruption - Transparency - Anti-Corruption
Published by: Institut za uporedno pravo
Keywords: crisis of morality; distrust in the judiciary; UN sanctions and blockade; corruption; Serbia
Summary/Abstract: In this article, the author considers the different causes of corruption in Serbia. These causes may be divided in three groups. The first might be called: „Crisis of morality and basic social values in times of transition“. The second: „Distrust in the judiciary and the other government and basic social institutions“, and the third – „The state of necessity in times of war and the sanctions and blockade by the UN“. It is evident that the general public and especially mass media, in the last decade have emphasised some negative social heroes much more than heroes and values of the past.. In that sense, money and publicity became the basic values, no matter how they were achieved. That has caused excessive individualism and selfishness among the people, spoiling thus the social morality especially among the young generation – the biggest consumers of new mass media in Serbia. On the other hand, the so-called trials by media also became something rather common nowadays in Serbia and while the collective sense of justice is not properly satisfied, people usually think that the judiciary is corrupted. The perception of the corruption, generally speaking, in Serbia is overwhelming and it leads to the real corruption. It also has to be mentioned the third group of causes of corruption. The author treats the topic also from the aspect of the nineties when UN sanctions rather directly caused shortage of important goods, first of all gasoline, medicines and even food. In such circumstances for persons breaking the rules of law and the sanctions was not experienced in a negative sense. Some corruptive behaviour and the way of thinking were tolerated openly, since the survival of the nation was at stake. These negative ways of behaviour and thinking even obtained some kind of a legality in the moral sense.

• Details
• Contents