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7 Political Corruption in Ukraine NATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENCE π 7 (111) CONTENTS POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE: ACTORS, MANIFESTATIONS, 2009 PROBLEMS OF COUNTERING (Analytical Report) ................................................................................................... 2 Founded and published by: SECTION 1. POLITICAL CORRUPTION AS A PHENOMENON: APPROACHES TO DEFINITION ..................................................................3 SECTION 2. POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE: POTENTIAL ACTORS, AREAS, MANIFESTATIONS, TRENDS ...................................................................8 SECTION 3. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COUNTERING UKRAINIAN CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC & POLITICAL STUDIES POLITICAL CORRUPTION ......................................................................33 NAMED AFTER OLEXANDER RAZUMKOV SECTION 4. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS ......................................................... 40 ANNEX 1 FOREIGN ASSESSMENTS OF THE POLITICAL CORRUPTION Director General Anatoliy Rachok LEVEL IN UKRAINE (INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION RATINGS) ............43 Editor-in-Chief Yevhen Shulha ANNEX 2 POLITICAL CORRUPTION: SPECIFICITY, SCALE AND WAYS Layout and design Oleksandr Shaptala OF COUNTERING IN EXPERT ASSESSMENTS ......................................44 Technical & computer support Volodymyr Kekuh ANNEX 3 POLITICAL CORRUPTION: SCALE AND WAYS OF COUNTERING IN PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS AND ASSESSMENTS ...................................49 This magazine is registered with the State Committee ARTICLE of Ukraine for Information Policy, POLITICAL CORRUPTION: ESSENCE, FACTORS, COUNTERMEASURES registration certificate KB №4122 Mykola MELNYK ..................................................................................................... 67 POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE: Printed in Ukrainian and English THE STATE, FACTORS AND COUNTERMEASURES Circulation: 3 800 (Presentations by Expert Discussion Participants) .. .. Heike DORRENBA CHER ........................................................................................ 73 Editorial address: Eleonora VALENTINE ............................................................................................. 73 34 Mazepy str., 2nd floor, Volodymyr STRETOVYCH ...................................................................................... 74 Kyiv, 01015 Serhiy MISHCHENKO ............................................................................................ 74 tel.: (380 44) 201-11-98 Ihor POPOV ........................................................................................................... 75 fax: (380 44) 201-11-99 Ihor KOHUT ........................................................................................................... 76 e-mail: [email protected] Denys KOVRYZHENKO .......................................................................................... 76 web site: www.razumkov.org.ua Oksana MARKEYEVA............................................................................................. 77 Volodymyr RUSSKOV ............................................................................................ 78 Reprinted or used materials must refer to Roman ZVARYCH .................................................................................................. 78 “National Security & Defence” Taras STETSKIV .................................................................................................... 79 Vyacheslav KOVAL ................................................................................................ 80 The views expressed in this magazine Volodymyr FESENKO ............................................................................................. 80 do not necessarily reflect those Yuliya TYSHCHENKO ............................................................................................. 81 of the Razumkov Centre staff Oleksiy KHMARA................................................................................................... 81 Photos: Mykhaylo BUROMENSKYI ..................................................................................... 82 Novynar – cover Oleksandr LYTVYNENKO ....................................................................................... 82 Mykhaylo SEMENDIAY .......................................................................................... 83 © Razumkov Centre, 2009 Serhiy DRIOMOV ................................................................................................... 83 Hryhoriy USATYI ................................................................................................... 83 Roman SHLAPAK ................................................................................................ 84 This research is supported by Democracy and Governance programme of USAID mission to Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus within Parliamentary Development Project: Legislative Policy Development Programme, according to grant agreement №121-А-00-03-00008-00. The publication’s on-line archive may be found at: Publication of the journal is sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (USA). http://www.razumkov.org.ua/magazine Thoughts and statements expressed in this journal reflect personal position of the authors and may not coincide with those of USAID. POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE: ACTORS, MANIFESTATIONS, PROBLEMS OF COUNTERING n recent years, the problem of political corruption has become especially pressing in Ukraine. The scale of that I phenomenon in governmental and political institutes lets us describe political corruption as an attribute of their everyday activity. Political corruption poisoned all branches and institutes of state governance, local self-government, and presents the main obstacle on the road of Ukraine’s development into a truly democratic state. Political corruption may be identified as the main reason for the political crises of 2006-2009, and in more general terms, did not let Ukraine use its chance of fundamental internal modernisation and approach to EU standards in different sectors that arose after the presidential elections in 2004. Ukraine’s political elite proved unprepared to accept an incorrupt model of politics and governance, and therefore unprepared for large-scale and, most of all, effective fighting political corruption. As a result, accusations of political corruption became only a tool of political struggle and public rhetoric of politicians. Meeting no effective counteraction, political corruption gradually evolved from deviant behaviour into a norm of relations in the state and political circles. “Hierarchic corrupt pyramids” and “closed corrupt cycles” were created in the system of governance, involving representatives of different institutes of governance. Political corruption is nourished by the activity of the most potent financial and industrial groups, and structures of the shadow economy that have enough resources to finance politics behind the scene and influence the authorities in that manner. Political and state figures secured themselves against political responsibility. Channels of public influence on the authorities are effectively obstructed. The system of parliamentary elections and most of local self-government bodies bars voters’ influence on its personal membership. Exercise of the citizens’ right to organisation and conduct of referendums, accomplishment of the procedures of presidential impeachment or bringing members of the parliament to criminal responsibility are next to impracticable. The structures primarily called to oppose corruption – courts and law-enforcement bodies – proved the most vulnerable to it. Internally corrupt, affected by varied managerial and political influences, they cannot effectively discharge their functions of fighting political corruption. The peculiarities of such inability are, on one hand, failed attempts of prosecution of top officials in cases of corruption, on the other – persecution of political opponents under invented pretexts. Further spread of political corruption in Ukraine endangers its national security, since it impairs the effectiveness of the authorities, undermines their public legitimacy, promotes legal nihilism in society, disappointment about the values of democracy and the rule of law. This results in impairment of the country’s competitiveness on the world scene, its ability to effectively counter inner and outer challenges. This study by Razumkov Centre was intended to identify the specificities and scale of political corruption in Ukraine, the fields and reasons of its growth, to provide the basis for formulation of the optimal strategy of countering that phenomenon. The analytical report consists of four sections. The first analyses the features of political corruption as such, its difference from other kinds of corruption by actors, their section goals, substance and nature of activity, gives a working definition of political corruption. The second reviews manifestations of political corruption in separate sectors and actions of specific actors – in political parties section and during elections, in the Verkhovna Rada and in the legislative work, in the activity of the President and advisory bodies working under his auspices, in the work of the Cabinet of Ministers, judicial and law-enforcement bodies. The third outlines the specificity of countering political corruption, conditioned by its nature, and the factors that influence section the effectiveness of such countering. The fourth produces brief conclusions as to the nature, scale and peculiarities
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