Crime and Culture Crime as a Cultural Problem. The Relevance of Perceptions of Corruption to Crime Prevention. A Comparative Cultural Study in the EU-Accession States Bulgaria and Romania, the EU-Candidate States Turkey and Croatia and the EU-States Germany, Greece and United Kingdom.
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Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS)

 

The Institution

 

The Centre for Liberal Strategies is an independent, non-profit public policy institute. It was founded in 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria by a team of researchers in the fields of political science, sociology and economy. The Centre for Liberal Strategies team combines a strong academic background with various forms of direct involvement in the political process, civil society, and governmental institutions. The Centre’s research fields of interest include studies of:

  • Bulgarian political life;
  • Bulgarian business reality and the development of a market economy in the country;
  • social development;
  • European integration;
  • Trans-Atlantic agenda and Anti-Americanism;
  • regional development;
  • corruption and anti-corruption policy;
  • juridical reform;
  • organized crime.

Eleven researchers work on permanent basis in CLS, but the institute is a part of wide national and regional research network and co-operates in its research activities with a number of other research institutions and experts.

The topic of corruption and in particular of anti-corruption policy is well represented in CLS research activities. CLS initiated a large regional research project Lessons Learned from Anti-Corruption Policy in SEE in 2003. The project studied in detail the implementation and the effects of anti-corruption programs in four Balkan countries (Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Bulgaria). The project came out with a strategic policy document outlining the failures in anti-corruption policy and suggesting new approaches and models. In 2002 - 2003 CLS conducted a project on Institutional Reactions to Cases of Corruption in Bulgaria. The project involved experts, investigative journalists, and politicians who monitored and discussed the institutional reactions to a number of cases of corruption in Bulgaria.

 

Members of the Project Team

 

Co-ordinator

Dr. Daniel Smilov

 

Researchers

Rashko Dorosiev (M. A.)

 

Research Assistants

Ms. Yana Papazova (M. A.)

Ms. Anna Ganeva (M. A.)

 

 

Dr. Daniel SMILOV, Programme Director, Centre for Liberal Strategies

 

Contact Details:

Centre for Liberal Strategies

135 A Rakovski St.

1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Tel. + 359 2 986 14 33; + 359 2 981 89 26

Fax: + 359 2 981 89 25

E-mail: Daniel@cls-sofia.org

 

Current Position

Program Director, Center for Liberal Strategies

Recurrent Visiting Professor at the Legal Studies Department, Central European University, Budapest

Visiting Professor, University of Sofia

 

Responsibilities within the Bulgarian Project

Supervising all research activity, elaborating methodology, writing research reports, articles, participating in meetings and conferences on the issue of corruption, disseminating research results.

 

Qualification for the Accomplishment of the Task

Dr. Smilov is highly qualified for the co-ordination of the Bulgarian project since his research fields of interest include studies of comparative constitutional and administrative law, party funding and corruption, legal theory, political parties and organizations especially in Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Besides his academic background as a doctor of juridical science (PhD theses on “Legal Regulation of Political Finance” and Judicial Discretion in Constitutional Jurisprudence”), Mr. Smilov is already experienced in research on anti-corruption policies in SEE (Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Bulgaria).

 

Academic Degrees and Post-Doctoral Programmes

2003-2004 Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence

2003 DPhil, University of Oxford. Thesis title: Judicial Discretion in Constitutional Jurisprudence. Supervisor: Professor Denis Galligan.

1999 PhD (SJD – Doctor of Juridical Science) in Comparative Constitutional Law, Central European University, Budapest. Summa cum laude . Supervisor: Professor Andras Sajo. Thesis title: Legal Regulation of Political Finance

1997 MSt in Legal Research, Oxford University

1995 LLM in Comparative Constitutional and International Public Law, Central European University, Budapest.

January-April 1995, University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall (Visiting Scholar).

1994 MA, BA in Political Science, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Sofia. Distinction.

 

Scholarships and Awards

2003-2004 Jean Monnet Fellowship, RSCAS, European University Institute

2001 International Policy Fellowship, Open Society, Budapest

1997-2000, East European Graduate Scholarship, Jesus College, Oxford (fully funded scholarship for doctoral studies)

1996, Soros/Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening Scholarship

1994-1997, Central European University Graduate Scholarship (fully funded scholarship for doctoral studies)

1993-1994, Sofia University, Political Science Department Stipend for Best Student

 

Research and Policy Advisory Projects

2003-2004, Member of the Forum on Constitutionalism in Europe of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies;

2003-2004, Member of the Steering Committee of the project Assessment of Anti-Corruption in South East Europe: Lessons Learned, coordinated by the Centre for Policy Studies, CEU, Budapest;

2001-2003, Editor-in-Chief of the project of Open Society Institute, Budapest Party Funding and Campaign Finance in Central and Eastern Europe;

2001-2002, Senior Legal Consultant of the Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute, Budapest, affiliated with the OSI;

1997-1998, Managing editor of the project Administrative Law in Central and Eastern Europe, organized by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, and the Institute for Constitutional and Legislative Policies (COLPI), Budapest;

1995-1997, contributor to the Administrative Justice project organized by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, and COLPI, Budapest;

1996 (spring), participation in the OECD, SIGMA project on administrative procedures in Eastern Europe;

1996 (May-June), participation in the Primary Presidential Election in Bulgaria research and policy-making project, organized by COLPI, Budapest, and the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia;

1996 (January-April), affiliate of the East European Constitutional Review, Editor-in-Chief: Stephen Holmes.

 

Selected Publications in English

 

Books:

  • Daniel Smilov (ed.), Party Finding and Corruption in Eastern Europe, CEU Press, Budapest, 2005 - forthcoming.
  • Martin Tisne & Daniel Smilov, From the Ground Up: Assessing the Record of Anticorruption Assistance in Southeast Europe, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004
  • Denis J. Galligan and Daniel M. Smilov, Administrative Law in Central and Eastern Europe 1996-1998, CEU Press, Budapest, 1999.

 

Articles and Chapters in Books:

  • ‘The Character and Legitimacy of Constitutional Review: Eastern European Perspectives’, ICON (Journal of International Constitutional Law), No. 1, 2004, under print.
  • Janis Ikstens, Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, Daniel Smilov and Marcin Walecki, ‘Political Finance in Central Eastern Europe: An Interim Report’, Special issue on party funding of the Austrian Journal of Political Science (ÖZP), Spring, 2002.
  • Janis Ikstens, Daniel Smilov, and Marcin Walecki, Campaign Finance in Central and Eastern Europe: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead, International Foundation of Electoral Systems, Washington, 2002. Also available at: http://www.ifes.org/reg_activities/Pdf/CEE_CampFinEng.pdf
  • ‘Governmental Favouritism in Bulgaria and Russia’, in Stephen Kotkin and Andras Sajo (eds.) Political Corruption of Transition: A Sceptic's Handbook, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2002.
  • ‘Bulgaria’, in Andreas Auer and Michael Butzer (eds.), Direct Democracy: The Eastern and Central European Experience, Ashgate, 2001.
  • Chapters ‘Bulgaria’ in Denis Galligan, Richard Langan II, and Constance Nicandrou (eds.), Administrative Justice in the New European Democracies: Case-studies of administrative law and process in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford and COLPI, Budapest, 1998, Budapest, (pp. 93-107; 169-193; 281-297; 385-403; 460-478; 514-527).

 

PhD Theses:

(SJD Dissertation) Legal Regulation of Political Finance , Central European University, 1999.

(DPhil Dissertation) Judicial Discretion in Constitutional Jurisprudence : the Constitutional Policies of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court, University of Oxford, 2003.

 

 

 

Rashko DOROSIEV (M. A.), Researcher at the Centre for Liberal Strategies

 

Contact Details:

Centre for Liberal Strategies

135 A Rakovski St.

1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Tel. + 359 2 986 14 33; + 359 2 981 89 26

Fax: + 359 2 981 89 25

E-mail: rashko@cls-sofia.org

 

Current Position:

Program director and research fellow at the Centre for Liberal Strategies

 

Responsibilities within the Bulgarian Project

Elaborating methodology, writing research reports, articles, participating in meetings and conferences on the issue of corruption, disseminating research results.

 

Qualification for the Accomplishment of the Task

As a political scientist (M. A.) with research experience in “Lessons Learned in Anti-Corruption Policy” research project (CEU Budapest) and in “Task Force on Organized Crime” research project (CLS Sofia), Mr. Dorosiev has already worked on perceptions of corruption in the media and the judiciary instances in Bulgaria, making him emminently qualified for the given research task.

 

Education:

1994 – 2000- Sofia State University "Sv. Kliment Ohridski", MA in History and

Archaeology

2001 – 2003 - Sofia State University "Sv. Kliment Ohridski", MA in political science

 

Research Experience

  • 2005 – present - project director and researcher in “Strengthening Parliaments in Conflict/Post-Conflict Situations”, Centre for Liberal Strategies and UNDP, New York
  • 2004 - 2005 – researcher in “Task Force on Organized Crime” research project, Centre for Liberal Strategies
  • 2003 – 2004 – researcher in “Civil Society & Social Capital Formation” research project (a part of "Functional Borders and Sustainable Security: Integrating the Balkans in EU" research project), Centre for Liberal Strategies and ELIAMEP Foundation, Athens, Greece http://www.eliamep.gr/main.asp?cat=3
  • 2003 – 2004, researcher in “Lessons Learned in Anti-Corruption Policy” research project , CEU Budapest, Hungary http://www.ceu.hu/cps/res/res_anticorruption.htm
  • 2002 – present – author of Quarterly Political Risk Assessments on Bulgaria, Crown Agents Limited, London, UK
  • 2002 -2003 - research co-ordinator of the “Institutional Reactions to Cases of Corruption in Bulgaria” research project, Centre for Liberal Strategies

 

Publications:

  • Co-author “Country report: Bulgaria” in: Nations in Transit 2003 - Democratisation in East Central Europe and Eurasia, Freedom House, 2003
  • Co-author “Country report: Bulgaria” in: Nations in Transit 2004 - Democratisation in East Central Europe and Eurasia, Freedom House, 2004
  • Co-author: “Social Capital in the Balkans: Are Socio-Demographic Factors Important? Can Policy Assumptions be Supported?”, in Final Research Report – IBEU project, ELIAMEP, 2004
  • Co-author “Country report: Bulgaria” in: Nations in Transit 2005 - Democratisation in East Central Europe and Eurasia, Freedom House, 2005 (under print)
  • Four Corruption Scandals Seen by Media and Judiciary Points of View”, in Institutional Reactions to Cases of Corruption in Bulgaria, CLS, 2005, (under print)

 

 

   
last update: November 9, 2006     Webmaster