Corruption as a Threat to the Rule of Law in a Democratic Law-Observing State

Abstract

This paper shows that corruption constitutes a threat to the rule of law in a democratic law-observing state, destroying it from within and ridiculing it outside. It destabilises social relations in such a state, which adversely affects the political system as well as the development of legislation and economy. The paper also reminds that corruption erodes social relations, causing demoralisation and slackening of morals in society. Corruption may also be a threat to the life, health and property of citizens. The author tracks views about corruption using the method of theoretical analysis of the notions (critical analysis of secondary sources); the statistical method, mainly analysing the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (2019); and the dogmatic-legal method. He concludes that corruption destabilises multiple areas of the functioning of a democratic law-observing state, disrupting the political space, spoiling the law, and causing destructive phenomena in the economic as well as in the moral sphere. It ultimately destabilises state structures, rendering them dysfunctional and perverting the principles of democracy. Corruption interacts with legality acting as a feedback loop, as it destroys the rule of law and democracy, which in turn deepens corruptive phenomena.