CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Dimitrov, Martin Dimitrov |
|---|---|
| Title | Elite Cohesion and Anti-Corruption in Democratizing Countries: The Cases of Bulgaria and Romania |
| Summary | Why do some transitional democracies manage to punish corrupt politicians, while others falter? To offer an explanation, this study compares the post-EU accession anti-corruption paths of two “most similar” cases - Romania and Bulgaria, which underwent similar paths towards Europeanization and were pressured to create anti-graft systems by Brussels, but only one – Romania – temporarily succeeded. Through the use of process-tracing and elite interviews, this thesis revisits existing academic hypotheses of why Romania pulled ahead and reevaluates them with the benefit of hindsight and expert knowledge. The dominant perspective – that EU pressure allowed for the creation of a stronger institution setup and civic engagement with anti-corruption in Romania – is challenged with a new one that explains the deviation with the greater cohesiveness of Bulgarian elites who resist reform that might place them under scrutiny as compared to Romanian elites’ disunity at the crucial EU accession phase that left space for the establishment of a stronger anti-corruption system – for a time. |
| Supervisor | Batory, Agnes; Keith, Daniel |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/dimitrov_martin.pdf |
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