CORRUPTION AS A“SIREN SONG” AND ANTICORRUPTION POLICY FOR POST-COMMUNIST ALBANIA In the case of post-communist states like Albania, which is experiencing a long and harsh transition towards a competitive market economy and a democratic system, corruption can have power to transform such transition into a tunnel where often seems that there is no light at the end. Especially after the 90s, which marked the fall of the communist regime, people faced the phenomenon of widespread corruption at all levels. Beyond their anger with its often-obvious aspects, its spread at many levels of the administration became like a“Siren Song” that was luring officials and citizens into a relationship of giving and receiving bribes to solve problems instead of enforcing the law. As it is often defined that corruption resembles a“tango” that requires two people to dance. During the period 1992­1997 that culminated with the crisis of pyramidal firms, it could be said that such"tango" was often played under the sound of the"corruption sirens' song" which brought the crisis of 1997 and the completion of the first phase of the chaotic Albanian transition. Meanwhile along the period 1997-2005, the Albanian government and especially the international community that was helping Albania to recover its institutions after the crisis of 1997, started to build an approach and an anti-corruption agenda. It took into consideration the fact that the concept of good governance make sense only in a society and public administration that is“free of corruption” in all its classic forms known as petty corruption, grand corruption and systemic or endemic corruption P4F 5 P . In 1998, as part of a broad governance and anticorruption agenda defined and supported by the Friends of Albania, the World Bank has helped the Albanian government to develop and implement the first Anti-Corruption Plan(ACP) P5F P 6 , which included 150 specific actions affecting economic policy, rule of law, public administration, public finance, customs administration, procurement, audit, and public awareness. In the following years such“anticorruption policy approach ” was followed by a series of surveys so – called Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey(BEEPS), that World Bank undertook with public officials in Albania to establish baseline measurements of the performance of the public 5 According to the definition of Transparency International(TI) 1) Petty corruption occurs at a smaller scale and takes place at the implementation end of public services when public officials meet the public. such as registration offices, police stations, state licensing board sand many other private and government sector2) Grand corruption is defined as corruption occurring at the highest levels of government in a way that requires significant subversion of the political, legal and economic systems. Such corruption is commonly found in countries with authoritarian or dictatorial governments but also in those without adequate policing of corruption 3) Systemic corruption(or endemic corruption)is a corruption which is primarily due to the weaknesses of an organization or process. It can be contrasted with individual officials or agents who act corruptly.(See https://www.transparency.org/en/corruptionary/petty-corruption;https://www.transparency.org/en/our­priorities/grand-corruption) 6 See World Bank support Albanian government towards an anticorruption policy measures http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website01337/WEB/0__CO-23.HTM 8