NATO Library:

{gallery}newsletters/11/5/1{/gallery}“Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence – A Compendium of Best Practices” is authored by Todor Tagarev and represents one of the most recent publications from the NATO library. The book focuses on strategies and instruments which insure good practices within defense structures, building integrity of this institution and reducing the risk of corruption.

Corruption is a huge challenge for every institution, but it can have catastrophic consequences when it crawls into defence structures, especially in developing and societies in transition, as well as in new democracies. Alongside Todor Tagarev, a Bulgarian, numerous experts from various parts of the world have contributed to this book, who, each in their chapters, provide examples and share experiences from their own countries’ past (among others, the USA, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Indonesia, etc).

The book can primarily be used as a reference tool by employees of public security structures, but also represents interesting reading for all interested in security, democracy and civil society issues. This book brings a strategic approach to the problem of corruption, offers practical advice and examples from national perspectives and points to corruption risks and vulnerability of defence institutions. One of the weak spots of these institutions is lack of transparency in their work, but also risks in budget planning, procurement procedures, etc. The Building Integrity Initiative, which has been initiated in April 2008 within Partnership for Peace programme, is also thoroughly analyzed in the book.

{gallery}newsletters/11/5/2{/gallery}The book was published by the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces in cooperation with NATO and Transparency International. Unfortunately, it has not been translated into Bosnian, but you can download it in English in PDF from the following site:

http://www.dcaf.ch/publications/kms/details.cfm?lng=en&id=113983&nav1=5

Text and photo: Jasna PEKIĆ