Albania Is Prosecuting a Former President. That Isn't Proof Corruption Fell

From a former president to the ex-intelligence chief, Albania is prosecuting senior officials at a rate once thought impossible there, Deutsche Welle reports. The report then poses the question that follows: do more prosecutions mean less corruption, or simply better enforcement? Those are different claims wearing the same headline. A prosecution count measures what prosecutors and courts are willing to do. Corruption is about how decisions get bought and sold. Arrests are a policing statistic, not a crime statistic, and a conviction tally for senior officials says as much about institutional appetite as about the supply of illicit deals. The uncomfortable version of the question is whether the cases change the incentives that produce the next crop of officials, or only punish the last one. Enforcement can be staffed, funded and counted. The other thing is slower, harder to measure, and rarely fits a headline.