PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC POLICY IN KOSOVO Edited by MARK BASKIN and FATON BISLIMI MARCH 2019 The Principles and Practice of Public Policy in Kosovo March 2019 By the Public Policy and Governance Unit Faculty of RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) Editors: Mark Baskin and Faton Bislimi This publication is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of cooperative agreement AID-167-A-14-00007. 2019 The Transformational Leadership Program – Public Service Courses (Public Policy Development and Leadership - PPDL). The contents are the responsibility of the PPDL Project and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Str. Dr. Shpetim Robaj, NN, Prishtina, Kosovo, 10000 Telephone: 038 608 608 e-mail: [email protected] www.kosovo.rit.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 PREFACE MARK BASKIN 13 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC POLICY IN KOSOVO ROBERT MUHARREMI 59 RULE OF LAW IN KOSOVO – BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT MENTOR NIMANI 89 SOCIAL POLICIES - MARGINALIZED GROUPS CHAD BRIGGS 115 ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE POLICY IN THE BALKANS GARENTINA KRAJA 141 SECURITY, CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND COUNTERING TERRORISM BESNIK BISLIMI & VENERA DEMUKAJ 165 MACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN KOSOVO FATON BISLIMI 213 LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC POLICY MAKING IN KOSOVO 232 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All the following people who participated in the successful deployment of the PPDL Project deserve thanks and gratitude. PPDL Project Team PPDL Teaching Assistants Ylberina Morina Mala Alketa Buçaj Visar Jasiqi Arzana Myderrizi, TLP Citizen Corps Peonare Caka Besfort Kosova, TLP Citizen Corps Artan Venhari Blerta Greiçevci, TLP Citizen Corps Blerta Avdiu Blond Gerqari, TLP Citizen Corps Leonora Çerreti Donjetë Murati, TLP Citizen Corps Dren Puka, TLP Citizen Corps Edona Peci, TLP Citizen Corps Gent Salihu PPDL Faculty Gresa Statovci, TLP Citizen Corps Armend Bekaj, MA Jeta Aliu, TLP Citizen Corps Chad Briggs, PhD Kaltrina Hoxha, TLP Citizen Corps Faton Bislimi, MPA/ID Lavdi Zymberi, TLP Citizen Corps Garentina Kraja, MA Merdiana Leci, TLP Citizen Corps Luca J. Uberti, PhD Nikola Aksić Mark Baskin, PhD Qëndresë Beqiri, TLP Citizen Corps Mentor Nimani, MA Rineta Hoxha, TLP Citizen Corps Michael Waschak, PhD Rinor Kurteshi, TLP Citizen Corps Robert Muharremi, PhD Valmir Ismaili, TLP Citizen Corps Vjosa Osmani, PhD Vladan Jaćimović, TLP Citizen Corps Supporting Staff RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) and Training and Development Institute (TDI) Administration This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Kosovo 4 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC POLICY IN KOSOVO NOTE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR Many reports have been produced regarding the state of affairs in Kosovo’s public administration and have emphasized the importance of administrative reform for well-functioning public institutions. Those recommendations are aligned with the USAID’s Kosovo 2014-2018 Country Development Cooperation Strategy, which highlights the value in improving Kosovo’s educational system and enhancing the skills of public and civil service employees through professional development programs. Mastering the challenges of public policy formulation process is the key driver of progress in public administration and public service. Therefore, ensuring this outcome alone, which includes professional development and capacity building, is an enduring challenge. In this context, the Public Service Courses component (known also as the Public Policy Development and Leadership Program - PPDL) provided under the Transformational Leadership Program (2015- 2019) marked a positive intervention to transform the way professional capacity is delivered to ensure sustainable development. The program’s goal was to assist the public servants of the Government of Kosovo to strengthen their capacity for public policy development and leadership at both central and municipal levels of governance. The program was delivered to over 1,000 civil servants of the Government of Kosovo in the course of three years. In June 2015, the RIT Kosovo (A.U.K)’s Public Policy unit faculty developed the PPDL curriculum, student materials, and case studies, for the program. The faculty engaged in delivering the program components found that the literature on public policy in Kosovo was scarce. Many participants in the program also raised this concern and observed that the absence of literature on public policy formulation in Kosovo provides a significant impediment to their learning. As we revised the learning material in order to mirror the recent developments in Kosovo, we decided to produce a volume that would leverage the faculty’s areas of expertise and bring it together in a comprehensive, well-structured public policy reference book. This volume on public policy, titled “The Principles and Practice of Public Policy in K o s o v o ,” represents the first of its kind in Kosovo. Its authors are experienced professionals in policy- making and in the field of public policy. They are faculty members of the RIT Kosovo (A.U.K), and were actively engaged as PPDL lecturers. This book will be available for free and can be found on the RIT Kosovo (A.U.K)’s official website. As the director of the program, I would like to thank the project team, the faculty, the teaching assistants, consultants and all other stakeholders for sharing their insights and expertise in order to bring this publication to a successful completion. This book was made possible due to the hard work of all of the contributing authors, whom I thank sincerely. Ylberina Morina Mala Chief of Party/Program Director / Transformational Leadership Program – Public Service Courses PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC POLICY IN KOSOVO 5 PREFACE BY MARK BASKIN THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC POLICY IN KOSOVO Over the past 20 years, policy makers in Kosovo have produced a broad and diverse body of analysis on health, rule of law, municipal administration, privatization of property, policing, violent extremism, economic growth, employment, primary, secondary and university education, human rights, social welfare, public administration, energy, environmental protection, trade and customs, property rights, financial services, transportation, culture, and many other issues that touch the lives of all people in Kosovo every day. Often with assistance from international colleagues, they have drafted short term plans, mid-term strategies, legislation, assessments, evaluations and audits.1 With this context in mind, we hope that public servants and students of public affairs will benefit from this general introduction to the principles and practice of public policy in Kosovo, a study that is grounded in the disciplines of public administration and public policy that have evolved over the past century in democratic governments in Europe and further abroad. The principles in this textbook can help to guide current and future public servants to make and implement policy more effectively. As noted in the following chapter, we follow general practice in defining public policies as “intentional courses of action designed by government bodies and officials to accomplish a specific goal or objective.”2 It is important to note that this textbook is about policy and not politics. “Politics” involves those activities related to who gets power and how they get it. It is focused on the selection of individuals and groups (i.e. parties) to win positions of influence and power in society and to form governments. Once in power, governments enact “policies” to address the domestic and foreign problems facing society in order to improve the conditions of living in the country. “Policy making” takes place in national and local government, in the executive, the parliament and judiciary. Politicians and staff in these institutions build coalitions in support of specific types of policy approaches and tools on the current issues of the day. This textbook has been developed in line with the principles that also guide the reporting of the European Commission, whose 2018 report on Kosovo indicates progress in public administration reform: “[t]he legal basis and institutional structures for a coherent and coordinated policy-making system, including for EU related reforms, are largely in place. 1 Much of this analysis is available on the web sites of Kosovo Government agencies. 2 Jessica R. Adolino and Charles H. Blake, Comparing Public Polices; Issues and Choices in Industrialized Countries (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2011). PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC POLICY IN KOSOVO 7 Public administration reform is included as a priority area in the government programme for 2015-2018, the National Development Strategy and the National Programme for Implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement” and “[s]ome aspects of inclusive and evidence-based policy and legislative development are in place, but in practice problem analysis and justification for government intervention are often missing” and “[e]ffective public scrutiny of government work is undermined by the lack of clear requirements for both reporting on the implementation of the government’s annual work plan and sector strategies and publishing such reports. Parliamentary scrutiny of the government remains insufficient.”3 Because Kosovo remains on its European path and its government must continue to nurture its