Anti-corruption declaring in public service: comparative legal research in the ethical paradigm

Abstract

Leaning on the analysis of legal sources of Russia, a number of European and Asian countries, South and North America, this article explores the institution of anti-corruption declaring in public service. The goal consists in substantiation of methodological approaches, which would allow, with a certain degree of accuracy in the context of ethical paradigm, comparing the integral Institution of legal regulation of anti-corruption declaring in different countries, as well as utilizing these approaches in comparative legal research based on Russian and foreign materials for determination of substantial differences that require scientific comprehension and practical response. As a result of the conducted research, the author acquired data on several indicators of trust as an service-ethical purpose for disclosure of personal information by public officials, namely by volume of the disclosed personal information, nature of the source of the declared records, openness of declarations and their verifiability. Foreign declaring traces two main approaches: service-ethical and instrumental. In Russia, the Institution of declaring is of clear instrumental nature, which raises a question of the prospects for implementation of service-ethical approach, first and foremost, with regards to release of declarations of the officials. This question should depend on the actual goals of national policy.