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[Global corruption report 2003] Commonwealth of independent states
Ledeneva, Alena
Ledeneva, Alena
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n16_CIS__Ledeneva_.pdf
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Abstract
"The 12 countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are united by the systemic nature of their corruption, a legacy of the Soviet era, when irregular practices were all but made respectable as the only viable means for ordinary people to persuade an inefficient and all-pervasive bureaucracy to perform its proper functions. The ingrained practice of ‘beating the system’, once confined to personal or family requirements and not always associated with outright corruption, is estimated to cost private citizens at least US $2.8 billion a year in bribes.1 Throughout the region, anti-corruption initiatives begin, characteristically, from the top and, despite the increasing role of democratic institutions, independent media and NGOs, the speed of implementation is determined and controlled by political heads of states. Pressure from international lending agencies and donors is undoubtedly significant: the governments of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Turkmenistan all adopted anti-corruption rhetoric in 2002. What are absent are more effective ways of translating the rhetoric into consistent and effective programmes that address corruption. The cost to business of corruption remains exorbitant, dampening the appeal the region holds for foreign investors in spite of its rich energy and mineral deposits and well-educated workforce. There are a number of influential NGOs in the CIS region, but several governments are intolerant of civil society organisations. More alarmingly, conditions of press freedom deteriorated sharply in 2001–02. International organisations, as a consequence, play a particularly important role in sustaining NGOs and pressuring governments in the region to introduce higher standards of transparency, accountability and disclosure."
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2003
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1861974760
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With permission of the license/copyright holder