By; Nikollë D.Ukaj
After elections in Kosovo, public attention usually focuses on the distribution of political power, and much less on how this power should be exercised to build a stable and functional state. This approach highlights a deep and persistent problem in political culture: public positions are often perceived as a privilege, a trophy, or a symbol of personal and party pride, rather than as a state responsibility to citizens and institutions.
In practice, political struggle is not waged for ideas, reforms, or results, but for positioning. Taking one position is seen as a victory over another, as proof of political superiority, and not as a burden of responsibility to serve with dignity. This distorted logic of power shifts the focus from public interest to personal and party affirmation.
Many institutional roles are treated as tools for career and image, without paying sufficient attention to the criteria of professional competence, experience and ethical integrity. As a result, institutions lose their fundamental function and become spaces of political rivalry, where energy is spent on internal conflicts, rather than on serving the citizen.
A functional state is built on the principle of institutional accountability. Every public position carries a decision-making weight that directly affects the economic, social and democratic development of the country. For this reason, the exercise of power is not limited to political legitimacy; it requires professional skills, honesty, humility and high moral awareness.
When political competition becomes an end in itself, it produces polarization and erodes civic trust. Institutions cannot function on the basis of arrogance, comparisons of superiority, or empty pride in positions won. They function only on work ethic, merit, and collective responsibility. Institutional work must be honest, professional, and oriented exclusively toward the public interest.
In this context, Ibrahim Rugova's political vision remains deeply relevant. He emphasized that:
"Politics is a service to the citizen, not a tool for personal power."
This saying summarizes the essence of democratic governance: power only makes sense when it is used to strengthen institutions and improve the lives of citizens, not to feed political egos.
Even sociologist Max Weber defines politics as a call to responsibility, warning of the dangers of politics driven by personal ambition. Classical political thought teaches us that states weaken when power is entrusted to those who seek it for prestige, rather than to those who are prepared to exercise it with prudence, knowledge, and honesty.
Kosovo needs a fundamental change in the approach to governance: from the politics of positions, to the politics of institutions. From the race for seats, to the race for results. Only through an administration based on merit, professionalism and public ethics, can state positions be transformed into instruments of development and not into personal goals.
The state duty should not be taken for pride towards each other, but for responsibility towards the state and society. Otherwise, whenever the position serves ego, the state remains a victim. Only by understanding power as a service and not as a trophy, can sustainable institutional development be built, which serves the future and not the ambition of the moment.
edition
t7 live
