Challenges of Anti-Corruption Policies in Post-Communist Countries

Abstract

This chapter reviews corruption and anti-corruption policies in post-communist countries since the beginning of transition by reviewing authors who have identified corrupt characteristics specific to the post-communist countries (Mendras, 1998; Andreff, 2003; Satarov and Parkhomenko, 2001). As a group, the post-communist countries are considered among the most corrupt in the world. Indeed, according to Transparency International (2005), seven transition countries are in the 30 most corrupt of 159 countries in the index. The historical legacy of communism, the history of transition, and the adaptation of networks into modern clientelism emerge as powerful conditioning experiences in the types of corruption which emerge, with two conceptual types appearing as particularly salient: state capture or political corruption, and administrative corruption (Hellman, Kaufman and Jones, 2000; 2002). Using measurement and diagnostic tools from major donors, the World Bank (WB), Transparency International (TI), Political Risk Services and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) the chapter then uses the prevalence of these corruption types to create a comparative typology of measurable corruption within the post-communist Eastern European countries. However, by using donor diagnostics this standardising methodology ultimately occludes a more diverse, historical and contextual picture.