CORRUPTION AND DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN EASTERN EUROPE. THE ROLE OF POLITICAL SCANDALS IN POST-MILOŠEVIĆ SERBIA BY MARIJA ZURNIĆ

Marija Zurnić’s latest work has been published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019. By the title, Corruption and Democratic Transition in Eastern Europe – the Role of Political Scandals in Post-Milošević Serbia, we can see that we are in for some sordid tales. The meticulous details of these grand schemes of social robbery and psychopathy-in-office are not neglected. However, the proper subject of her work is not so much the crimes of tycoons in-themselves, but rather what is said about them, how they exist in the form of media scandals and discursive phenomena, as the subjects of fierce (one could say ‘obsessive’) debate in various public spheres. One could guess that the aim of all this discoursing is to change the malevolent practices of the ruling elite and their obliging legal, commercial, and industrial apparatuses. Covered in Zurnić’s book are close to two decades of scandals, conspiracies, and all manner of public outrage (following the overthrow of Milošević in 2000 to the street protests taking place today). Any glance at the history begs the question of what exactly is wrong here. The questions of Zurnić’s research are where is the (dis)connection between corrupt practices and social robbery, the media coverage and the public reaction to them? How can we get at the heart of this complex? Zurnić analyzed the phenomena of corruption scandal and social response by using the ASID theory and the formula stands for: Agency: “Agency is meaningful human behaviour, individual or collective, that makes a significant difference in the natural and/or social worlds, either by direct, unmediated action or through the mediation of tools, machines, dispositifs, institutions, or other affordances.”

Structure: "Structure comprises those moments of natural and/or social realities that, in the short-to medium-run and in a definite spatial context (typically wider than the 'localissimo'), cannot be changed by a given individual or collective agency. ") Institution: "Institutions comprise a more or less coherent, interconnected set of routines, organizational practices, conventions, rules, sanctioning mechanisms, and practices that govern more or less specific domains of action. " And Discourse: "Discourse is the production of intersubjective sense-and meaning-making. It is an essential moment of action (as meaningful behaviour), of structural constraints and conjunctural opportunities. " (Moulaert et al., 2016, p. 169) Zurnić uses this Discursive Theory, more specifically the Institutional Discursive Analysis, to dissect the proper Serbian corruption scandal. An 'institution' is composed of agents arranged in a particular structure, whose understanding of what they are doing and how it is to be done is determined by institutional (and non-) discourses that they are influenced by. And this 'influence' will emerge as the key question to institutional change. The application of this theory to the study of corruption, is, in my view, innovative, and proves to be fruitful.

Method and Materials
The object of Zurnić's discursive analysis, is, then, not the practice or fact of corruption, but the scandal it produces. The scandal exists as a social phenomenon, it is a discursive event, associated with outrage from the public and (normally) humiliation, shame, and punishment of involved public figures, the perpetrators of the scandal's discoveries.
In her work, the scandal could be seen to operate as a locus or nucleus of several, various, interconnecting discourses, merging (from different structures/agents) into the scandal, where all their concerns meet. In this way a scandal is produced from its seed, usually borne aloft in the bigger critical media outlets.
Corruption, the real subject at the heart of the scandal and all its discourses, comes to be redefined and understood differently by the conflicts of discourses at odds with each other. So, though the real object of her study is the scandal, the real aim is to identify the meaning of all this -the whole economic and state system where corruption operates and the corresponding public, media discourses and institutions aimed at eliminating it. What is properly going on?
To access the discourses of scandal and corruption Marija Zurnić uses the archives of Politika, Serbia's leading daily newspaper, over the prescribed period of study (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012). Within this archive she locates the most illuminative exemplars of political corruption in Serbia. Zurnić has chosen scandals based on their determinative relevance to the quality of life of Serbian citizens and the development of their society. Topics include: "Organized Crime and Security… the right to employment… health… and key branches of the economy undergoing privatization, such as industry and metallurgy, agriculture and the food market… and construction and housing. " (Zurnić, 2019, p. 206) Alongside this main archival channel, Zurnić presents data collected through qualitative analysis, semi-structured depth interviews, conflicting media reportage, the analysis of domestic and international anti-corruption legislation, programs, and conventions, political party manifestoes, and so on. "Fieldwork… was conducted through 2011 and 2012… (with) 27 semi-structured interviews with six Serbian state officials, one politician, five academics, seven journalists, and eight members of the NGO sector" (Zurnić, 2019, p. 207). All of these various players are agents in conflicting structures, capable of syndicating a discourse and partaking in the phenomenon of the scandal� Also included in some of her case studies are the words of workers and activists, when they succeeded in being heard during the scandal�

Social Malevolence
We have 6 scandal case studies at hand. Readers are no doubt aware of these high-profile spectacles of greedy social crime. Marija's analysis covers the media reports of the facts and the general understanding of what happened. Then she proceeds to document the ways in which the scandal and the corruption involved were differently defined and thrown aloft by the different sectors of society voicing their views. The corrupt practices of each scandal vary widely but nevertheless share some important elements through-out. The most basic element is a kind of back-room, inside-dealing in which social objects (the means of production) are 'undergoing privatization' (sold to the rich and powerful) or are deliberately mismanaged and led to destruction. In some cases they are simply misused for the enrichment of the most powerful managers and their allies.
The Money in Cyprus scandal involves Milošević and Co. who made bank transfers off-shore of the Yugoslav citizens' life-savings from the National Bank splintered into hundreds of Swiss, Russian, Virgin Island, and Cypriot bank accounts, casting a billion and a half dollars to the wind. The International Court Tribunal at The Hague finds that at least some of this capital was being used to fund some groups involved in the region's dissolution. This scandal became an interesting political point between the old guard of Milošević and the new opposition. The opposition capitalized on the scandal to discredit Milošević and his administration. The scandal was used in their political campaigns as an example of the 'stealing that will stop' . Milošević's team maintained that the new opposition deliberately misconstrued what they were doing with the money to discredit their defensive maneuvers for the people against Western aggression.
As the scandal concerning Jugoremedija shows, this domestic medicinal manufacturer was up for privatization. A mysterious conglomerate by the name of Jaka 80 (doing business from Macedonia) comes in and buys 41% of the shares. This new owner begins several conspiratorial schemes to seize control of the Jugoremedija firm and squeeze it for all its worth. The new buyer does not provide the required bank security deposit he promised, indebts the company and buys more shares instead of paying the dues, among other disrespectful and malevolent practices towards the worker-managers of the firm. The struggle begins. It comes to light that the owner of Jaka 80 has an arrest-warrant in the Republic of Serbia. In this scandal the worker's gained the upper hand and scored several impressive victories, due to their diligence, organization, and political savvy. Activist, media, and NGO discourses show solidarity with the Jugoremedija workers. The story continues.
The Swine Flu Vaccine Scandal emerged when "[t]he global outbreak of the swine flu virus in 2009 caused the Serbian government to declare a flu pandemic in the country.
The State Fund for Health Insurance published a tender for three million vaccines, and soon afterwards, the contract was signed with the only bidder, local company Jugohemija. " (Zurnić, 2019, p. 182). The Minister of Health is also a member of the World Health Organization's executive board. It is speculated in the media that he used both positions to trigger the declaration of pandemic, and sell a whole lot of flu vaccines for multinational pharmaceutical corporations. Debates are also raised regarding the safety and quality of the vaccine, as well as the illegal way in which the State contract was taken by one bidder (an oligarch) with great political connections.
Anyone familiar with the tactics of an American used-car lot will recognize the strategy of the American embassy and US Steel in the SARTID scandal� SARTID was a hundred year old Serbian and Yugoslav metallurgy and steel mill, located in Smederevo, Serbia. The complex was sold at a cut-rate price to US Steel, to the chagrin of international bidders willing to spend much more and meet additional social and legal obligations. But to US Steel it went, as hands were greased at the US Embassy. Media reports were spread, decrying the decrepit state and worthlessness of the factory and its obstinate "Stalinist" workers who were against privatization. Debate focused on the discrepancy between the price paid and the real value of the SARTID complex, investigations revealed that chump-change and kickbacks were received in Serbian ministries for what looks like a massive back-room arrangement, American cattle-dealer style (make the other guy think his stuff is worthless, point out all the things wrong with it, spread the word around, corrupt, offer them some of the pie for a bargain price…) The scandal and its discourses expand here to include corruption as a collaborative practice between domestic and foreign state agents, domestic and foreign commercial concerns, all against the social interest of the people who live and work where their contracts move the earth.
During the C-Market privatization scandal, a domestic grocery enterprise is sold to several domestic capitalists and state ministers (the same guy from the Swine Flu scandal) with the explicit disregard of higher-bidding foreign capitalists. Through this backroom deal, the state ministers cheated the nation of a potentially profitable privatization in order to seize personal ownership of a domestic enterprise.
The last scandal concerns privatization of the Port of Belgrade, which was initially privatized in 1997, with part of the shares in the hands of workers and the rest held by the state. Eventually the relevant ministers of the Serbian State decide to sell the state shares to a Luxembourg firm, Worldfin� The media reports that the owners of Worldfin are actually two Serbian businessmen (one of whom appears again in the C-Market scandal and again in the Swine Flu deal.) The scandal is mostly focused on the method of privatization, in which Worldfin received a much lower price for the shares then would be possible through a fair public auction. The workers sued, sensing a conspiracy. The court decided against them. The EU recommends thorough investigation. Conclusions await… Each scandal is richly detailed and the ringing discourses are explored and included, from all sides of the debate and in every case study. An interesting larger phenomenon revealed through this study is the recurrent use of the scandal as a tool to delegitimize the previous government in the campaign promises of the incumbents, who very soon have their hands busy with their own scandals coming to light.

In Context
Marija Zurnić embeds her discursive analysis in historical context. 'Corruption' as a concept is most securely established in the legal discourses (the Law) of the nation-state. The nation-state itself and all its laws have morphed, in just the last hundred years, from an Ottoman principality, a parliamentary monarchy, a straight monarchy, a socialist republic, international pariah, and now towards capitalist democracy. Corruption was present in the monarchies, mostly in the form of bribes and illicit deal-striking with foreign capitalists. In the socialist time you were really risking your neck if you played with such paltry ideas. The 'corruption' we live with today is specifically the product of the last (indefinite) transformation from socialist republic to capitalist democracy, and the traumatic decade of the 90's.
In the 90's, organized crime was encouraged and even organized from the highest levels of the state. So it emerged as a force in a time when the law was not applied. This was corruption-for-survival for ordinary people, and looting and loading pockets for those in power. Afterwards, after Milošević's opposition took power, privatization began again. This time in earnest, only to be practiced with a new kind of corruption. It could be said that 'corruption' was their strategy for privatization.
In this context the debates of corruption begin to center around several visible trends and topics. The discourses tend to focus on the increasing concentration of capital and the consolidation of the business-state nexus, the responsibility and real freedom of the media, the interests of the Serbian public. Furthermore, debates emerged on social, state, and private property -with the main underlying current really being a question about democracy -from the 'economic democracy' of social property and the practice of workers' self-management, towards the 'political democracy' of private property and private citizens with equal rights on the market (but not equal access to its goods).
Closing Remarks "In post-2000 Serbia, corruption scandals have been widely perceived as being endless and pointless stories which present an abundance of misleading information in public space aimed at distracting public attention from more relevant issues… scandals provide no solutions to the problems they present. " (Zurnić, 2019, p. 82) The conclusions of her research sort of betrays some of the naiveties of the discursive-institutional theory. Her conclusion in fact contradicts some of the hypothetical assumptions of this theory. By the end of the book it would seem that the scandals and the myriad discourses of which they are constituted do not effect enough significant change in the institutions implicated, each time, and their corrupt practices. The quote above is a snippet of the unfortunate cynicism present in civilian discourses. The endless carousel of scandal seems to desensitize those who should be very concerned. The scandal itself emerges as a sort of pseudo-activity, a repeated, symbolical act that signifies only the impotence of justice in the country.
It could be that there is too much 'social distance' between the structures and agents of critical discourses and the propagators of the scandals� There's a question of mobilization and power involved which the theory neglects. Further struggles against corruption should take close note of Marija's book, especially these last sentences, and incorporate her findings into the next discourse mobilized: "A closer look at political developments since the end of the study period suggests that the lack of consensus on what corruption and the related concepts of state, interest, power, and property mean may have contributed to the emergence of civic activism in Serbia. As the book has shown, the anti-corruption discourse was more successful… at exposing alleged cases of corruption and whistle-blowing at perceived injustices than at bringing about long-term institutional change. State institutions' lack of response… raises questions about the legitimacy not only of the political elite in power but also and increasingly of the democratic system and capitalism itself... Public discontent may well increase if the state authorities fail to address grievances over these issues. The emergence of political and social structures based on cooperation and mutual aid which aim to facilitate a prompt response to perceived injustices may change the nature and dynamics of social and economic development in Serbia. " (Zurnić, 2019, p. 202) The agents of the critical discourses will have to form new, more powerful structures -bigger and better connected to courts and media -to syndicate effective discourses.
In conclusion, this is a rigorous, very informative and comprehensive work. Zurnić's research is excellently well-planned and structured, even though some of this was not visible in her presentation of the material in the book -it is a little hard to see at times her master plan. But, there is no doubt that here we are watching a master at work. This work is required reading for the subject of corruption in general and for some looking for specificities in the transformations of Eastern Europe. It is detailed to exhaustion about the realities of privatization and the understanding of this transformation by some representative factions of the post-socialist populace and their new democratic leaders and institutions. The book provides a meta-understanding of the last few decades of hardship and the dynamics resulting in the absence of greater responsibility and correspondence between the public and the Serbian State. Hopefully the work will be available in Serbian soon to inform its protagonists with this richer and comprehensive understanding of the action. Најновије истраживање Марије Зурнић објавила је издавачка кућа Палгрејв Мекмилан 2019. године. Већ по наслову књиге -Корупција и демократска транзиција у Источној Европи� Улога политичких афера у Србији после Милошевића -видимо да се ради о некаквим прљавим пословима. Тачно је да детаљних описа грандиозних шема друштвене пљачке и психпатологије на положајима власти не недостаје. Међутим, тема књиге нису кривична дела тајкуна, већ оно што је о томе речено, постојање тог криминала у облику медијских афера, дискурзивних феномена и предмета жестоких (неко би рекао "опсесивних") расправа у разним областима јавног живота. Неко ће претпоставити да је циљ тих расправа да се утиче на злонамерно понашање владајуће елите и њима послушних апарата -правосудног, трговинског и индустријског.