BUILDING STATE BUREAUCRACIES AND DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS: THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTORS IN KOSOVO A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Elton Skendaj August 2011 © 2011 Elton Skendaj BUILDING STATE BUREAUCRACIES AND DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS: THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTORS IN KOSOVO Elton Skendaj Ph.D. Cornell University 2011 What explains success and failure in internationally supported bureaucracies? This dissertation examines how the approaches of international actors strengthen or weaken bureaucratic effectiveness and democratic institutions after the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo. My research demonstrates that international actors face short-term trade-offs between supporting state-building and democratization. In order to build effective state bureaucracies, international actors need to insulate these bureaucracies from political and societal influences. By contrast, international actors can support the development of democratic institutions by promoting citizen mobilization and contestation, and therefore encouraging political and societal influences to shape, constrain and inform democratic decision-makers. Employing a comparative research design, this dissertation utilizes national survey data as well as data from 140 author-conducted interviews and focus groups collected over ten months of field work. While most research investigates the state as a unitary abstract actor, I disaggregate the state by contrasting its constituent bureaucracies that vary in effectiveness. I use three innovative sets of indicators to measure effective bureaucracies: mission fulfillment, penalization of corruption, and responsiveness to the public. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Elton Skendaj was born in Albania. After receiving a degree in political science from the American University in Bulgaria in 2000, he graduated with a Master degree in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame. He started the graduate program in the Department of Government in 2005, and will hold fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the University of Notre Dame in 2011-2012. iii To Meg, Daniel and Luke iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation was the most difficult project I have undertaken until now. Experientially it started with a harrowing experience in the summer of 1997, when I returned to my Albanian hometown of Vlora after my first year of college. Since the state in Albania collapsed after a pyramid scheme scandal, violent gangs were holding the town hostage. A gangster almost shot me and my father when he stopped our bus and demanded payment. When I went back to college, I took more political science courses because I wanted to understand the bigger issues of peace, order and reconstruction. I think that I could not do this research on my own without the support of so many peers and mentors. I was lucky indeed with my committee. Valerie Bunce gave me the idea about looking at how international actors build state institutions as my dissertation project and she has been sustaining me through the high and lows of field work and writing. When I was hurrying to start a different project, Valerie was wise enough to tell me that I would be better off doing something else. Matthew Evangelista helped me both focus my questions analytically and think in broader terms. Nicolas Van De Walle was always generous to share his depth of knowledge about the international aid industry. David Patel asked hard questions about method and theory and pushed me in my analysis. None of them minded that I changed my hypothesis after the field work, but were always supportive. I have learned a lot about mentoring from them all and hope to be able to apply these lessons with my future mentees. I have learned significantly from the other professors at Cornell who were kind and supportive to me. With his six pages of general and specific comments, Peter Katzenstein,the external reader in my defense, lived up to his reputation for thorough and useful feedback. Many thanks also go to professors Ken Roberts, Holly Case, Richard Bensel, Maria Koinova, Chris Anderson and Chris Way. I have shared with my peers at Cornell the journey and tribulations of a doctorate in v social sciences. Tsveta Petrova, Lucia Antalova-Sybert, Jennifer Hadden, Alison McQueen, Michael Bobick, Noelle Brigden, Gaurav Kampani, Tariq Thachil, Steve Nelson, Govind Acharya and many others have been gracious in reading my drafts and listening to my half-baked ideas, providing essential intellectual and emotional support. The community of peace studies at Cornell has also supported me through the various stages of this project. The peace studies fellowship also provided a breathing space for my dissertation prospectus write-up and dissertation writing. I would like to especially acknowledge Chip Gagnon and Judith Reppy within the peace studies community for their insightful comments. In addition, this research project has received funding from the ACLS Committee on East European Studies, the Smith Richardson Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In Kosovo, I owe many people for their generosity, time, and ultimately friendship. The contacts from my alma mater, American University in Bulgaria, were essential for my field work. I learned a lot from many discussions with Dardan Velija, Shpend Ahmeti, Leon Malazogu, and Shenoll Muharremi who sometimes had to endure my naïve questions to help me understand Kosovo. Evliana Berani was often a great host and had boundless energy to sustain me for weeks. I learned a lot from the researchers in Kosovo such as Muhamet Mustafa, Lulzim Peci and Besnik Pula. I would also like to thank Armend Bekaj, Seb Bytyci, Naim Huruglica, Elinor Bajraktari, Paul Acda, Joloyn Naegele, Mike Dziedzic, Adri Nurellari, Edon Vrenezi, Selim Thaqi, Qerim Qerimi for their helpful ideas. I met countless Kosovo citizens who were more conscious of political forces in their lives than many people in other countries. My family has been my ultimate support in this endeavor. My father and mother, Leka and Fadile Skendaj, have always trusted that I would finish anything if I worked hard enough. I am amazed that my father is receiving a Ph.D. degree himself at the age of 59. I honor that drive vi for knowledge and achievement and I hope to live up to it throughout my life. Julie Gardinier and Eric Martin, my remarkable in-laws, have continuously supported me and my family. My sons, Daniel and Luke, have brought such joy in my heart and they are worth all the sleepless nights in the past four years. I re-learned fundamental concepts of scientific method looking at how my little boys touch almost everything and observe the effects. Finally, I have been lucky to have the in-house support of a brilliant scholar, my life partner, Meg Gardinier. Whether talking research design or epistemological issues, Meg has helped me sustain my work even in the most difficult moments of graduate school. It is to her and my two sons that I dedicate this dissertation. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . iii DEDICATION . iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . .. v TABLE OF CONTENTS. .. viii LIST OF FIGURES. x LIST OF TABLES. xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . xii PREFACE ………………………………………………………………. xiv CHAPTER ONE: BUILDING EFFECTIVE BUREAUCRACIES AND PROMOTING DEMOCRACY IN KOSOVO 1 Democratization hypotheses State-building hypotheses The Design of the Study: Case Selection Approach Concepts and Definitions Measuring Bureaucratic Effectiveness Dissertation Overview CHAPTER TWO: LEGACIES AND INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION: KOSOVO’S CONTESTED STATEHOOD 39 Kosovo’s Intervention in a Regional Context Yugoslav Legacies: Nationalism and Clientalism Clientelist Legacies National homogenization and mobilization of Kosovo Albanians International Mandate Managing the Conflict and Building Institutions Status Negotiations and Supervised Independence Concluding remarks CHAPTER 3. “DEADLY COCKTAIL”: WHEN BUREAUCRACIES DO NOT PERFORM 77 Measuring the bureaucratic performance of central administration and courts Mission Fulfillment of the Central Government of Kosovo Penalization of Corruption in the Central Administration Responsiveness to the Public of Central Administration Mission Fulfillment of the Judiciary System in Kosovo viii Penalization of Corruption in the Judiciary System Responsiveness to the Public of the Judiciary System Lack of Insulation from Political Interference Development of the Central Government Administration International support for central government Development of the Judicial System International Judges and Prosecutors Conclusion CHAPTER 4. “WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR”: BUILDING PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACIES AFTER WAR 123 Measuring the Bureaucratic Performance of the Police Force and Customs Service Mission Fulfillment of the Kosovo police force Penalization of Corruption in the Police Service Bureaucratic Responsiveness of the Police Service Mission Fulfillment of the Kosovo Customs Service Penalization of Corruption in the Kosovo Customs Service Bureaucratic Responsiveness of the Kosovo Customs Service Insulation from Politics Development of the Kosovo Police force Development of the Customs Service Transferring Power to Local Authority Alternative Explanations for their Success Conclusion CHAPTER 5. MASS MOBILIZATION AND DEMOCRACY IN KOSOVO 176 Assessing the state of democracy in Kosovo Elections Meaning of Democracy in Kosovo Civil