Svetlana Savitskaya, Governance & Anti-Corruption Expert 21 March 2024, Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts It is remarkably resilient • •CIVIL SOCIETY •AND •ANTI-CORRUPTION •IN •EASTERN EUROPE C-Word •Taboo in policy and research circles until the mid-1990s •1993 - Transparency International •1995 - Corruption Perceptions Idex •1990s & 2000s – international legal framework •2000s & 2010s – Leaks and Papers, rise of investigative journalism •New anticorr and good governance oganizations, global and national •Research on corruption, its cause and consequences •Limited evidence on what works in anticorr •Citizens engagement remains a challenge •Corruption is •the abuse •of entrusted power •for private gain • • Corruption as an umbrella concept •Kleptocracy; privatization of public funds; stealing •Treason; subversion; illegal foreign transactions; smuggling •Misapproptiation; forgery and embezzlement; padding of accounts; skimming; misuse of funds •Abuse of power; intimidation; torture; undeserved pardons and remissions; •Deceit and fraud; misrepresentation; cheating and swindling; blackmail; perversion of justice; criminal behaviour; false evidence; unlawful detention •Non-performance of duties; desertion; parasitism •Bribery and graft; extortion; illegal levies; kickbacks •Election tampering; vote-rigging; gerrymandering •Misuse of inside knowledge and confidential information; falsification of records •Unathorized sale of public offices; public property and public licences • •*Source: The Elements of National Integrity System. TI, Jeremy Pope, 2000. Corruption as an umbrella concept •Manipulation of regulations, purchases and supplies, contracts and loans •Tax evasion; excessive profiteering •Influence peddling; favour brokering •Conflict of interest •Acceptance of improper gifts, fees, speed money and entertainments •Links with organized crime; black market operations •Cronyism; cover-ups •Illegal survelilance; misuse of telecommunications and mails •Misuse of official seals, stationery, residence • •*Source: The Elements of National Integrity System. TI, Jeremy Pope, 2000 • • • Transformation of state capture to kleptocapture (Kaufman) Corruption as an umbrella concept – new forms and types •Grand corruption •Political corruption •Petty corruption •Nepotism •Revolving doors •Money laundering •State capture •Kleptocapture • Corruption as Governance Regime •Governance is a government‘s ability to make and enforce rules, and to deliver services, regardless of whether that government is democratic or not. (Fukuyama) • •Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) Six Dimensions: • Voice and Accountability • Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism • Government Effectiveness • Regulatory Quality • Rule of Law • Control of Corruption • Corruption as governance regime •The governance mode under which public goods are distributed on the basis of ethical unversalism. (Mungiu-Pippidi) •Particularism - a social practice rampant in developing societies, where standards for the way a person is treated (including by the state) depend on the group a person belongs to and not on merit/entitlement = Corruption is the rule •Ethical universalism - the practice of individualistic societies, in which everyone is treated equally regardless the group they belong to = Corruption is the exception • Civil Society as a Driver of Anti-Corruption Reforms Preconditions for Civil Society Engagement in Anticorruption: •Access to information and transparency •Free media •Civil society space •Safety of media, civil society, activists • •Political regime does matter: electoral democracies vs autocracies •+ Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine -Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia •EU Candidate Status: Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine •Armenia may apply Charateristics of Good Anti-corruption Initiatives and Approaches •Evidence based: political settlement analysis, network analysis, et al. •Locally designed, ideas can be borrowed •Strong local ownership •Getting the objectives right: understand C and anticorr •Aim high: change of behaviour, not only laws and policies •Impact oriented (e.g. resignations of the corrupt after investigation), less output focused (e.g. number of journalists trained) •Theory of change: how change is assumed to come about through intervention in a given situation? Validating assumptions •Coalitions, locally set up and coordinated: citizens, business, media, etc. • Anti-corruption Initiatives and Approaches •Experts + Activists + Journalists • •Policy and legal: drafting and monitoring laws, policies, regulations •Monitoring and evaluating performance of anticorr institutions •Investigations: national, crossborder •Public sector integrity: conflict of interest, income and assets declarations •Procurement monitoring •Elections: political parties and campaign financing; abuse of administrative resources •Parliamentary oversight → reporting to citizens •PEP Database; asset tracing and asset recovery • •! Private sector work •! Sectors: education, health, police, energy, land, water, etc. • • • Anti-corruption Investigations •Anticorr investigations on the rise: Leaks, Papers, Files, Secrets •Transformation from „lonely ranger“ model to transnational collaborative networks built on mutual trust •Institution of global governance •Exposing wrongdoing, bringing it to light (OSINT) •Post-factum corruption investigations, very few prosecutions •Mostly crossborder and national level, not much local level • •Full cycle: investigations, analysis of legal and policy gaps, coalition building, advocacy, monitoring of implementation • • • Anti-corruption Advocacy •Evidence based; seeks to generate political change, better policies and practices •Analyse problems, find solutions, identify stakeholders, build coalitions •Develop advocacy strategy: decision makers as a target audience •It is not activism, awareness raising, campaigning or communication. But they can be part of advocacy strategy •Better results in coalition •Resource and labour intensive, long time span required •Regress on previously achieved advocacy goals • • •The Challenge of •Measuring Corruption Why Measure Corruption? •What can be measured, can be managed • •C measurement is a solid foundation for designing reforms • •Track progress over time (but challenging) • • • • Challenges in Measuring Corruption •Diversity of definitions • •Some forms of corruption are more visible (and easier to measure) than others • •Creating unbiased corruption measurements • •Capturing change CPI A global (180 countries/territories) aggregate index (13 different data sources) capturing perceptions (experts/business people) of corruption (abuse of power for private gain) in the public sector (public officials and institutions) CPI Captures: -Bribery -Diversion of public funds -Red tape & excessive bureaucratic burden -Meritocratic vs nepotistic civil service -Conflict of interest & financial disclosure of public officials -Access of civil society to information on public affairs CPI does NOT Capture: -Citizens perception & experience of C -Tax fraud -Illicit financial flaws -Enablers of C -Money laundering -Private sector C -Informal economies and markets 1.African Development Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment 2.Bertelsmann Stiftung Sustainable Governance Indicators 3.Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index 4.Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service 5.Freedom House Nations in Transit 6.Global Insights Business Conditions and Risk Indicators 7.IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 8.Political and Economic Risk Consultancy 9.The PRS Group International Country Risk Guide 10.World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment 11.World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey 12.World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 13.Varieties of Democracy Project CPI Sources • •“Anticorruption is like a bicycle, which manages to stand as long as it runs: but its separate pieces are worthless if they do not amount to a full-running bike” (Alina Mungiu-Pippidi) • • •“Anti-corruption should focus on citizens and wellbeing of citizens” (Bo Rothstein) • • •“Corruption is effectively a form of injustice. People are getting things they are not supposed to get. …Start thinking how to manage the problem. Not how to solve it, because C is a constant” (Paul Heywood) • • • • • • • • • •THANK YOU! • •