Rashomon in Bucharest
The fight against corruption as a battle zone
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Fighting corruption in Romania is a highly contentious issue. Often, it is presented as the universal key to resolving the wide range of structural challenges that Romania faces. However, this is not only a gross simplification, but also gives rise to a serious of other problems. Moral categories are instru-mentalised, social divides are being deepened, and terms such as “the rule of law” and “the independence of the judiciary” are used as weapons in the fight against political opponents. To date, those on the centre-right have been the main beneficiaries of this approach. It is not only the Social Democratic Party that has been discredited, but the left-wing per se. The EU institutions and a large section of the western press are knowingly or unknowingly contributing to this development.
(Osteuropa 6-8/2019, pp. 205–218)