The Perils of Global Governance: Why has the European Union Failed to Address Corruption in Kosovo?

Since the Kosovo War ended on June 10, 1999, the European Union (EU) has allocated vast influxes of official development assistance (ODA) to Kosovo, including humanitarian aid, technical assistance and financial grants. In large, this support has sought to facilitate accountable, democratic governance that fosters ‘uncorrupt’ institutions within the country. Although the EU has made considerable advances in this pursuit, Kosovo’s public institutions remain riddled with corruption, notably access payments, which impede the development of transparent governing bodies. Accordingly, this paper conducts a critical analysis to assess why the European Union has been unable to address widespread corruption in Kosovo. It contends that during the international post-conflict reconstruction of Kosovo, the EU provided ODA to local political elites who used such resources to establish clientelist networks that undermine accountable, democratic governance. This advent created ‘path dependency’, making institutional reform difficult thereafter. Second, ODA programs from the EU have imposed market-oriented reforms that have directly and indirectly nurtured clientelism when implemented.