almanac on security sector oversight in the Western Balkans

MPs in the work of several committees. The list also includes various forms of obstruction
that executive bodies resort to in order to make the work of independent state
institutions more difficult.
What is actually at play in the majority of Western Balkans countries is not the development
of democratic accountability, but organised and covert pressure put on the
state security forces to be loyal to the ruling parties and their appointed executives
in the relevant ministries. It is more about personal and/or party control, rather than
democratic control, of these institutions and their members. Executives appointed by
parties still have discretionary powers which allow them to be sole decision-makers in
matters such as confidential and/or urgent procurement, the conversion of the military
industry, or the fate of public property used by security institutions. As a result, it
has become quite common in the region that, after changes of power following elections,
nearly entire top-level personnel of ministries and security forces are replaced.
Even if all the above-mentioned reasons are true, they are not sufficient explanations
for the lack of full democratic accountability of statutory security actors. The author
firmly believes that the roots of these deficiencies, of which just a few were mentioned,
lie in the nature of the systems that exist in the Western Balkans countries.
Their characteristics are primarily determined by the fact that the post-conflict and
post-authoritarian transitions of these countries remain difficult and have not been
entirely successful. Research conducted by Freedom House warns that transition has
not been finalised yet (Annex, Table 8). 210 Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro
have been ranked as Semi-Consolidated Democracies (with the score 3.00-3.99).
A score of 4.00-4.99 places Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group of Transitional Governments
or Hybrid Regimes. Kosovo, with the score 5.00-5.99, has been ranked as a
Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime.
Given all the facts, it is reasonable to conclude that SSR in the Western Balkan countries
can be carried out successfully only if their new democratic infrastructure becomes
viable. Only then it can be expected that security actors, as well as their controllers
and supervisors, will carry out their work responsibly and according to the needs
of society and its citizens.
210 Table 8 developed by Gorana Odanović, BCSP researcher.
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