Journal article
When civil engagement is part of the problem: Flawed anti-corruptionism in Russia and Ukraine
Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol.51(3), pp.245-255
09/2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.postcomstud.2018.06.003
Abstract
In developing countries, the fight against corruption entails purges of political and business elites and the restructuring of electoral, financial, and social provision systems, all of which are costly for the incumbents and, therefore, unlikely without sustained pressure from civil society. In the absence of empirical analyses, scholars and practitioners have, therefore, assumes that civil society plays an unequivocally positive role in anti-corruptionism. In this article, we challenge this dominant assumption. Instead, we show that, under certain conditions, an engaged non-governmental community may, in fact, undermine the fight against corruption. Using the data from forty interviews with anti-corruption practitioners in Ukraine and Russia, as well as primary documentary sources, we present two models of anti-corruptionism whereby active civil engagement produces suboptimal outcomes. One is faux collaboration, defined as a façade of cooperation between the state and civil society, which hides the reality of one-sided reforms. The other model is that of non-collaborative co-presence, whereby the governance role is shared by the government and non-governmental activists without compromise-based solutions. In both cases, civil engagement helps perpetuate abuses of power and subvert such long-term goals of anti-corruption reforms as democratization and effective governance.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- When civil engagement is part of the problem: Flawed anti-corruptionism in Russia and Ukraine
- Creators
- Marina Zaloznaya - Department of Sociology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USAWilliam M Reisinger - Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USAVicki Hesli Claypool - Department of Political Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol.51(3), pp.245-255
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.postcomstud.2018.06.003
- ISSN
- 0967-067X
- eISSN
- 1873-6920
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100006754, name: U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office, award: W911NF-14-1-0541
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/2018
- Academic Unit
- International Programs; Political Science; Sociology and Criminology
- Record Identifier
- 9983920521202771
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