Western Balkans: Extractive Institutions, Formalism, and Rule of Law Failure

For more than twenty years, the nations of the Western Balkans—including Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and others—have struggled with a fundamental issue: a persistent and pervasive failure of the Rule of Law (RoL). Why has progress been so limited, despite massive international support?.

We expose the three intertwined crises undermining justice, allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish. We’re investigating the rise of extractive state institutions, where political elites actively control and “occupy” state agencies to manage resources, subverting democracy and turning principles like checks and balances into mere illusions. We also explore the power of informal networks and corruption, which have become a structural necessity in daily life, transforming formal laws into nothing but “empty shells”.

And finally, we tackle the silent killer of justice: excessive legal formalism. This inherited legal culture allows judges to avoid responsibility, resulting in decision-makers focusing on trivial procedural issues rather than the merits of a case. This is the system responsible for endless cycles of remittals and bureaucratic absurdity—like demanding citizens prove they aren’t war criminals after the fact.

Join us as we explore why moving from formal compliance to genuine accountability requires much more than just ticking boxes.

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