Errors of Commission: EU Accession and the struggle against corruption in Romania

Abstract

The dissertation explores corruption in Romania during its transition from communism to democracy as well as the European Union's (EU) efforts to curtail it and their consequences. It applies a theoretical framework that draws insight from three literatures: those relating to rentseeking and corruption, the EU accession process and path-dependence. The dissertation demonstrates that corrupt practices in post-communist Romania are embedded in clientelistic structures originating in communist-era patron-client relations. The dissertation examines the incentives and opportunities that underpin corruption and the mechanisms for curbing it in three distinct periods: post-transition, pre-EU and post-EU accession. In that process, the author identifies and analyzes the range of endogenous and