This contribution discusses the politicization of the civil service system in Kosovo as a framework through which politicians exert influence in the system. The article employs the concept of formal-political discretion, as a means of explaining and elucidating the extent to which both the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and current legislation regulating civil service preconditions/pre-favours the politicization of the senior civil service in Kosovo. It first discusses the concept of politicization based upon current scholarship and gives hints on the way in which these concepts fit with both UNMIK and Kosovo’s current situation. Next, the article discusses and compares the previous civil service system built by UNMIK with the current one – built in post-independence Kosovo based upon the formal-political discretion model. The article further argues that the former system of civil service – in contrast to the current system – provided less formal-political discretion to political elites with which to politicize the senior civil service. The article concludes by suggesting that the current post-independence legislation regulating the civil service grants the executive institutions a significant level of formal-political discretion in the appointment, dismissal and promotion of civil servants. Points for practitioners The articles offers a thorough, both theoretical and practical, policy explanation of the model and structure of Kosovo's civil service, hinting on the previous and current legislative gaps that allow for partisan influence and control. The article also portrays the routes via which the politicization of the civil service in Kosovo is being developed, giving insights on how civil servants perceive such a process. Comparing the previous civil service system with the current one, the article informs practitioners on the directions that the new reform on Kosovo's civil service should take. Finally, the article provides in-depth policy information on the means to redesign the key protection mechanisms of Kosovo's senior civil service management.
This article assesses Kosovo's post-independence efforts to reform the civil-service system and establish a merit-based civil-service system. It also provides an overview of the relationship between civil service and other political institutions and asks whether the constitutional choices have-to a certain degree-influenced the existing design of the civil service. Moreover, the article exposes the current trend of politicization and describes the models through which the latter is developing. Finally, the article asks whether the current system of recruitment, promotion, and appointment of senior managing staff preconditions a political civil-service system.
One of the world’s youngest constitutions, the Constitution of Kosovo not only summarises the international community’s prescribed obligations towards Kosovo’s polity and establishes the polity per se, but also determines Kosovo’s governing system and prescribes the rights and liberties of Kosovo’s citizens. The constitution also determines the extra rights of ethnic minorities and assigns guarantees for their participation in public life. The constitution, moreover, specifies its relationship with the Ahtisaari Plan and lays out the international civilian representative’s position in Kosovo. To better understand these attributes, this paper shall conduct both a legal review of the Kosovan Constitution and draw some conclusions about the governing system and model of democracy established by the constitution.
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