Abstract
Recent work by an interdisciplinary community of scholars has brought attention to the politics and economics of the production and deployment of indicators on a wide range of issues—from human rights and the rule of law to health care and climate change. Working alongside this literature, this chapter looks into the production and circulation of corruption indicators as powerful sources of expertise and as means of global and local governance. The focus of the chapter is a corruption indicator produced in Albania, a country that over the past 25 years has depended on international development aid and has eagerly (but to this day unsuccessfully) tried to join the European Union. The chapter traces the production and circulation of this indicator among a heterogeneous network of actors—governmental bodies, international organisations, local research centres, and global consultants—and its intended and unintended uses by various political actors on the ground. More specifically, the chapter traces the uses of this indicator as a source of expertise in discussions and decision-making around key court cases of alleged high-level corruption and on the ongoing judicial reform.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The indicator in question acts as a “quasi-indicator” (Davis et al. 2012b). It compares institutions to one another and over time. However, unlike other indicators (such as TI’s CPI, for instance), its rankings are not compared to those of other countries.
- 2.
It should be noted that the local branch that managed the Albania scores for the TI CPI, the Citizens Advocacy Office (CAO), also received funding support from the USAID Rule of Law Program.
- 3.
As detailed in Musaraj 2015, the Italian TV mini-series La Piovra, produced in Italy between 1984 and 1999, was broadcast on the highly censored (only) Albanian television station between 1987 and 1988. The TV series was extremely popular in a number of late socialist countries (among others, the former USSR, Bulgaria, and Albania). The series depicts the Italian mafia and its multiple tentacles entwined around the highest levels of government—hence the metaphor of the octopus. Silvia Conti, a deputy prosecutor, is one of the few characters in the series who is not corrupt.
- 4.
According to the USAID/IDRA survey, the judiciary remained one of the least trusted institutions throughout 2005–2009 (IDRA 2010, p. 14).
- 5.
A recent account of these transformations highlights the enormous support that American institutions provided for Berisha and the PD in the beginnings of the democracy movements (Abrahams 2015). Since the Gerdec investigations, the support of the American Embassy has shifted towards the Socialist Party.
- 6.
Similar questions of continuity in the production of data also emerge from internal debates about the best methodological tools to use. This is, for instance, an issue that also applies to the recent changes in TI’s CPI, which has changed it methodology making it impossible to compare the data from the 2011 CPI with that of the 2012 CPI (TI 2012).
References
Abrahams, F. (2015). Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Europe. New York: New York University Press.
Barry, A., Osborne, T., & Rose, N. (Eds.). (1996). Foucault and Political Reason: Liberalism, Neo-liberalism and Rationalities of Government. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bhuta, N. (2012). Governmentalizing Sovereignty: Indexes of State Fragility and the Calculability of Political Order. In K. Davis, A. Fisher, B. Kingsbury, & S. E. Merry (Eds.), Governance by Indicators: Global Power Through Quantification and Rankings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brunwasser, M. (2015, January 30). Steamrolled: A Special Investigation into Business Abroad. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/30/steamrolled-investigation-bechtel-highway-business-kosovo/
Chivers, C. J., Schmitt, E., & Wood, N. (2008, March 27). Supplier Under Scrutiny on Arms for Afghans. The New York Times, p. A1.
Cordella, A., & Willcocks, L. (2010). Outsourcing, Bureaucracy and Public Value: Reappraising the Notion of the “Contract State”. Government Information Quarterly, 27(1), 82–88.
Davis, K., Fisher, A., Kingsbury, B., & Merry, S. E. (Eds.). (2012a). Governance by Indicators: Global Power Through Quantification and Rankings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Davis, K., Kingsbury, B., & Merry, S. E. (2012b). Indicators as a Technology of Global Governance. Law and Society Review, 46(1), 71–104.
Dutta, N. (2015). Tradeoffs in Accountability: Conditionality Processes in the European Union and Millennium Challenge Corporation’. In S. E. Merry et al. (Eds.), The Quiet Power of Indicators: Measuring Governance, Corruption, and Rule of Law (pp. 156–196). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Erebara, G. (2016, May 5). US, EU, Warn Albania Against Judicial Reform Delay. Balkan Insight. Retrieved from http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/us-and-eu-ambassadors-warn-albania-leaders-about-much-delayed-justice-reform-05-05-2016-6
Gupta, A. (1995). Blurred Boundaries: The Discourse of Corruption, the Culture of Politics, and the Imagined State. American Ethnologist, 22(2), 375–402.
Halliday, T. (2012). Legal Yardsticks: International Financial Institutions as Diagnosticians and Designers of the Laws of Nations. In K. Davis, A. Fisher, B. Kingsbury, & S. E. Merry (Eds.), Governance by Indicators: Global Power Through Quantification and Rankings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hellman, J., & Kaufmann, D. (2001). Confronting the Challenge of State Capture in Transition Economies. Finance and Development, 38(3), 31–35.
IDRA & DPK Consulting. (2008). Corruption in Albania: Summary of Findings. Tirana: IDRA & USAID.
IDRA & FSHSH. (2015). Impunity: Perceptions and Experiences of Albanian Citizens, 2015. Tirana: IDRA & FSHSH. Retrieved from http://www.idrainstitute.org/files/reports/impunity_2014/fact_sheet_sq.pdf
Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA). (2009). Corruption in Albania: Summary of Findings. Tirana: IDRA & USAID.
Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA). (2010). Corruption in Albania: Summary of Findings. Survey 2010. Tirana: IDRA & US Agency of International Development (USAID).
Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA). (2016a). Corruption in Albania: Perceptions and Experience 2015–2016. Tirana: IDRA. Retrieved from http://www.idrainstitute.org/files/reports/Corruption%202016/Corruption%20English%20FINAL.pdf
IDRA. (2016b). Judicial Reform in Albania: Knowledge, Support and Expectations. Tirana: IDRA. Retrieved from http://www.idrainstitute.org/files/reports/judicial_reform_2016/Graphs_survey.pdf
Kajsiu, B. (2013). The Birth of Corruption and the Politics of Anti-Corruption in Albania, 1991–2005. Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 41(3), 1–18.
Kajsiu, B. (2016). A Discourse Analysis of Corruption: Instituting Neoliberalism Against Corruption in Albania, 1998-2005. London: Routledge Press.
Klosi, A. (2009). Katastrofa e Gërdecit: Shkaqet, Shkaktarët, Viktimat. Tirana: K&B.
Lawson, G. (2015). War Dogs. New York: Pocket books.
Likmeta, B. (2008, December 22). Albania’s Patriotic Highway’ Scandal. Bloomberg News. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2008-12-22/albanias-patriotic-highway-scandalbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
Likmeta, B. (2012, November). Saying Farewell to an Albanian Hero in the Fight Against Corruption. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from http://transitions.beta.dev.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/16/saying_farewell_to_an_albanian_hero_in_the_fight_against_corruption
Malito, D. V. (2014). Measuring Corruption Indicators and Indices (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper 2014/13). Florence: European University Institute. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2393335
Merry, S. E. (2016). The Seductions of Quantification: Measuring Human Rights, Gender Violence, and Sex Trafficking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Merry, S. E., Davis, K., Fisher, A., & Kingsbury, B. (Eds.). (2015). The Quiet Power of Indicators: Measuring Governance, Corruption, and Rule of Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Miller, P., & Rose, N. (2008). Governing the Present: Administering Economic, Social and Personal Life. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Musaraj, S. (2011). Tales from Albarado: The Materiality of Pyramid Schemes in Postsocialist Albania. Cultural Anthropology, 26(1), 84–110.
Musaraj, S. (2015). Indicators, Global Expertise, and a Local Political Drama: Producing and Deploying Corruption Perception Surveys in Albania. In S. E. Merry, K. Davis, A. Fisher, & B. Kingsbury (Eds.), The Quiet Power of Indicators: Measuring Governance, Corruption and Rule of Law (pp. 222–247). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rottenburg, R., Merry, S. E., Park, S. J., & Mugler, J. (Eds.). (2015). The World of Indicators. The Making of Governmental Knowledge Through Quantification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
RTSH. (2016, June 2). Lu: Politikanet te degjojne popullin. Retrieved from http://rtsh.al/lajme/lu-politikanet-te-degjojne-popullin/
Sampson, S. (2005). Integrity Warriors: Global Morality and the Anticorruption Movement in the Balkans. In D. Haller & C. Shore (Eds.), Corruption: Anthropological Perspectives (pp. 103–130). London: Pluto Press.
Sampson, S. (2010). The Anti-Corruption Industry: From Movement to Institution. Global Crime, 11(2), 261–178.
Seligson, M., & Baviskar, S. (2006). Corruption in Albania: Comparisons Between 2004 and 2005 [Survey Data Set]. Retrieved from http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/albania/GoodGovernanceinAlbaniav82r.pdf
Serban, M. (2015). Rule of Law Indicators as a Technology of Power in Romania. In S. E. Merry et al. (Eds.), The Quiet Power of Indicators: Measuring Governance, Corruption and Rule of Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shekulli. (2008, May 8). Withers: Fatkeqesisht 92% e qytetareve pranojne korrupsionin (Unfortunately 92 % of Albanians agree that there is corruption).
Snapjudgment. (2015). The Accidental Arms Dealer. Snapjudgement, Storytelling with a Beat. Retrieved from http://snapjudgment.org/accidental-arms-dealer
Tema. (2009, May 7). Withers: Politika nuk duhet te ushtroje presion ndaj qeverise (Politics Should not Exert Pressure on the Government).
Transparency International. (2012). Corruption Perceptions Index 2012: Technical Methodology Note. Berlin: Transparency International. Retrieved from http://tiukraine.org/files/u/124/docs/g._technical_methodology_note_corruption_perceptions_index_2012_0.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Musaraj, S. (2018). Corruption Indicators in Local Political Landscapes: Reflections from Albania. In: Malito, D., Umbach, G., Bhuta, N. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Indicators in Global Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62707-6_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62707-6_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62706-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62707-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)