Dr. Ognian Shentov, President of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), spoke at CIPE on June 10 about "Anti-Corruption Efforts and Good Governance in Bulgaria." A CIPE grantee since 1994, the Sofia-based CSD has become a leading independent proponent of democratic, market-oriented reform in Bulgaria.
The Center's current work on corruption, the focus of Shentov's talk, builds upon the CSD's already successful programs to encourage privatization, capital markets, and greater participation by the Bulgarian people in public policymaking.
Shentov said that earlier this decade, corruption was endemic in Bulgaria at the highest levels. The Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation, for example, noted that one of the most important impediments to reform and macroeconomic policy in Bulgaria has been corruption and the ease with which the rule of law has been flouted there.
In response to this problem, CSD, working closely with CIPE and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), developed a public awareness campaign on corruption that was launched as a pilot program in the mid-1990s. The outstanding success of that initiative led to the recent creation of Coalition 2000, a widespread effort to fight corruption involving the private sector, NGOs, the academic community, and all branches of the Government of Bulgaria.
Shentov thanked CIPE for its ongoing support of CSD's programs, and he suggested that the war on corruption involves at least three key fronts:
Shentov said that the anti-corruption campaign also serves to "promote values linked with emerging capital markets, increase public awareness of market values and mechanisms, and act as a 'watchdog' for the economic reform process by encouraging transparency, clear rules of law, integrity, and the democratic process."
CSD's contributions to combating corruption have been recognized by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank. Both organizations were looking to develop such programs in Bulgaria, and the CIPE-initiated program opened the door. Shentov, who has been working with CIPE for much of the past decade, is on the Boards of Directors at the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, the New Bulgarian University, and the Vitosha Atlantic Radio Network.
Dr. Oleg Manaev, Director of the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic & Political Studies (IISEPS) in Belarus, initiated CIPE's "Anniversary Speakers Series" on May 12. Manaev described the gradual slide toward dictatorship in Belarus and discussed some of the steps that IISEPS, a CIPE grantee, has taken to promote civil society, democracy, and economic reform. (Click here to see related article, "Profile: Dr. Oleg Manaev".)
Manaev warned the audience at CIPE that "contrary to all its neighbors, Belarus is building not a democracy or a market economy . . . but a dictatorship and a centralized planned economy." He pointed out that the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has been steadily consolidating power and has already destroyed any semblance of checks and balances there.
The head of IISEPS pointed out that Lukashenko has "dismissed a legitimate parliament, constitutional court, and central electorate committee," and he is oppressing other political parties, private businesses, independent trade unions, media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and think tanks.
Manaev dismissed two basic views that he considers political myths. The first is that Lukashenko has no grass roots support because he was installed by the Russian secret service and hard-liners in Belarus. The second is that Lukashenko reflects the thinking of Belarusian society which, according to this theory, believes that there is no need for social reform.
Neither is true, according to Manaev, and each has spawned an inappropriate response from the West. The first response has been to encourage political opposition and street protests in Belarus in hopes of toppling Lukashenko, and the second has been to isolate Belarus from the international community as a means of expressing displeasure with Lukashenko. The two myths and the two "solutions," Manaev argued at CIPE, are largely "irrelevant to the situation."
Contrary to popular opinion, he said, Belarusian society is deeply divided on the question of whether to go forward to Europe or backward to the Soviet Union. Approximately one quarter of the population in Belarus "looks East," supporting Lukashenko and working to restore the old empire of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, around 20 percent of the country "looks West," opposing Lukashenko and encouraging the integration of Belarus into Western Europe. The majority of the electorate, then, consists of "swing votes" that could go either way in any given situation.
Because of the state-controlled media and the government's propaganda machine, Manaev suggested, there is a tendency for undecided voters in most cases to support Lukashenko. Manaev argued that this is where the independent mass media comes in, encouraged in part by such groups as CIPE and the National Endowment for Democracy. Without this support, he said, "I don't see any real resources for our effective activity - or even survival - in the present situation."
To strengthen support for democracy, free enterprise, and human rights in Belarus, Manaev has proposed a four-step plan:
If Belarus is left to its own devices to work out its problems, he said, the West must face the prospect that this nation may be "lost" to the hard-liners. "Today, Belarus is being used as a 'testing ground' by forces seeking to recreate the glory of the former Soviet empire," Manaev said. "The strengthening of Lukashenko's dictatorship could cause destabilization in the whole region, thereby affecting Europe and beyond."