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Policy and Politics

Examining the extent of institutional corruption in Russia

Institutional Corruption

Is there a way to understand the extent of institutional corruption in Russia?

The debate is growing about corruption around the world. Not much is known about the reason groups or individuals engage in corrupt practices. But much less is known about institutional corruption in Russia.

Corruption as institutional practices

The institutional approach to corruption suggests that a compilation of factors govern institutional practices. Under this paradigm, institutional structures guide and inform individual actions. The same is true for groups or corporations.

The common belief is that corruption can be pervasive. This is because corrupt practices are so entrenched within a particular society. They often become the norms in many institutions. Critics have used a similar argument to describe the nature of corruption in Russia.

Another understanding is that characteristics of Russian society have a huge influence on the country’s policies and politics. This reality has affected local institutions in the most perverted manner. Nonetheless, these institutional entities are not independent. In many cases, they reflect both collective and individual attributes.

The difference between Russia and other countries

There is corruption in Russia. Could we also say that Russia is the only corrupt country in the world? The answer is certainly in the negative.

Every year, the organization known as Transparency International provides a list of the most corrupt countries in the world. This is a lengthy list. In 2020, Russia ranked 129 out of 180 countries. This is bad, compared to the United States, which ranked 25 for the same year.

It is worthy of note that there are apprehensions about the works conducted by the Transparency International. But there is no debate that corruption is a major problem in the Russian State. Critics have argued that every aspect of Russian institutions is corrupt.

Such attributes, many are convinced, are embedded within various institutional settings within the Russian social milieu. These facets influence institutional practices to a point where public officials and ordinary citizens often have little means (or no viable alternatives) but to be corrupt. Thus, corruption, critics argue, results from structural arrangements, which have been specifically tailored to facilitate certain practices.

Conclusion

The institutional approach explains, though not in depth, the extent of corrupt practices in Russia. Several studies have found that most Russian institutions, including the police, the military, political parties, and the justice system, to name a few, regularly engage in illicit practices, which could be construed as a form of corruption. In that case, corruption seems to be an institutional problem in Russia. Could we also say that corruption in Russia has cultural roots? I am not sure. The argument could be made that corruption, while endemic in certain parts of Russian society, is not necessarily a political or even a cultural issue.

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