Development of Codes of Conduct for Local Government Officials in Serbia: A Beginner's Case*

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the current state of affairs in the process of adoption of codes ofconduct for local government officials in Serbia. On the basis of a model drafted under the auspices of theSerbian local government association, 130 Serbian municipalities (out of 167) have adopted such codes.The paper tries to picture the environment in which the codes are being adopted, i.e. anti-corruption effortson the national level, the framework in which Serbian local governments function, process of draftingof the model code and consequent adoption in municipalities. Finally, it attempts to present as critical aspossible an evaluation of this process in Serbia, as well as recommend or project further steps necessaryfor internalisation and full implementation of these codes. To achieve the abovementioned, the paper refersto Serbian legislation and adopted codes of conduct, empirical data collected from municipalities,results of surveys and opinion polls conducted in Serbia in the period from 2001 to 2005, data on othercountries available in English, as well as academic texts.