On the National System of Monitoring the Effectiveness of Corruption Counteraction

Abstract

Corruption counteraction is, at present, one of the priorities in the domestic policy of the Russian Federation. Creating a national system of monitoring the effectiveness of corruption counteraction is an urgent task. The paper analyses the organization of a national system of monitoring the effectiveness of corruption counteraction in Russia. Anticorruption monitoring is viewed as an instrument to measure the influence of the states anticorruption efforts on the condition of corruption in the country and the evaluation of this condition by the population. Ultimately, anticorruption monitoring is necessary for the implementation of an effective anticorruption policy. The presented approach to organizing such monitoring focuses not only and not so much on the volume of planned and carried out tasks, but, primarily, on the comparison of corruption indices and changes in the evaluation of these indices by population. Besides, the measurement of the state of corruption for the purposes of monitoring should be primarily based on two indicators: the involvement of the participants of corresponding public relations in corruption and the scale of consequences (primarily, depending on the size of damage) caused by corruption offences. The authors conclude that it is necessary to involve universities with the necessary resources in the anticorruption monitoring. This will help solve the problem of organizing and conducting research on a systematic basis, students will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, while the universities will accumulate scientifically valid information. The authors also suggest implementing pilot projects, and such experience could later be used to organize work on a national basis. While writing this paper, the authors used their experience of working in the Taskforce of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Counteracting Corruption and Interaction with Civil Society, as well as the results of a sociological study «Problem of Corruption in the Collective Consciousness of Russians» carried out in October 2017 by the Center for Sociological and Internet Research of St. Petersburg State University.