Table Of ContentThe System Hade He Do It
“The System Made Me Do It breaks new ground in its
comprehensive and empirical analysis of the phenomenon of
corruption—a very difficult topic to research, given that corruption
is so hidden. The book will be of interest to anyone seeking to come
to grips with what is arguably the most important obstacle to the
creation of viable democratic regimes and capitalist economies in
the post-communist countries.”
—Mark Beissinger
University of Wisconsin
“Rasma Karklins shows us why corruption matters and how it can be
realistically mitigated. She mixes theory with specific examples . . .
to provide insights that challenge conventional wisdoms. This
book will change the way we think about the role of the press,
non-governmental organizations, and culture in deterring individuals
from acquiescing to corrupt practices.”
—Roger Petersen
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Rasma Karklins masterfully blends general scholarship on
corruption and democracy with an overview of the special
case of countries making the transition from communism. She
combines a neo-institutionalist approach with first-hand
knowledge of the transition process to produce a book that
should be of interest both to reformers in the region and to those
interested in corruption’s impact on democracy worldwide.”
—Susan Rose-Ackerman
Yale Law School
The System
Made Me Do It
CORRUPTION IN
POST-COMMUNIST
SOCIETIES
RASMA KARKLINS
First published 2005 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc
Published 2015 by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
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Notices
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to per
sons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from
any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the
material herein.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowl
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Karklins, Rasma.
The system made me do it: corruption in post-communist societies / by Rasma Karklins.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7656-1633-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Political corruption—Europe, Eastern. 2. Political corruption—Europe, Central.
3. Political corruption—Former Soviet republics. 4. Political corruption—Former communist
countries. I. Title.
JN96.A56C654 2005
364.1'323 "091717—dc22 2004025860
ISBN 13: 978-0-7656-1634-0 (pbk)
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Preface ix
1. Introduction: All Corruption Is Not the Same 3
2. The Typology of Post-Communist Corruption 19
3. The Experience of Corruption 39
4. Attitudes and Discourses about Corruption 58
5. Political Legacies: Old Habits Die Hard 74
6. The Opposites of Corruption 90
7. The Role of Institutions 105
8. Implementing Institutional Accountability 125
9. The Role of the Right Anti-Corruption Strategy 146
10. Conclusion: How to Contain Corruption 163
Notes 169
Selected Bibliography 197
Index 209
About the Author 219
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List of Tables and Figures
Tables
2.1 Typology of Corrupt Acts 25
3.1 Experiences with Corruption, Slovakia, 1999 41
3.2 Experience of Extortion, 1997-98 42
7.1 Map of Corruption: Public Health Services 117
7.2 Map of Anti-Corruption: Public Health Services 119
8.1 Numerical Indicators of Accountability 130
9.1 Corruption Winners and Losers 150
Figures
1.1 Sub-Regional Pattern of Corruption Intensity 12
3.1 Perceptions of Corruption in Public Institutions, Slovakia, 1999 44
3.2 Administrative Corruption Index, 1999 48
3.3 State Capture Index, 1999 49
3.4 Number of Articles on Corruption in Slovak Print Media,
1997-2001 52
10.1 Influences on Levels of Corruption 164
vii
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Preface
Although corruption is a destructive force worldwide, the social science
literature on it is surprisingly underdeveloped, rarely going beyond description
and the presentation of data. A part of this theoretical and analytical gap is
being filled by an upsurge of scholarly interest in recent years, and I am
grateful for having had the privilege of participating in several intellectual
forums crystallizing this new focus. I am especially grateful to the School of
Social Sciences of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, for inviting
me to be a Visiting Member during academic year 2002-3 and for asking me
to participate in its workshop on corruption. Being part of a group of fellows
at the Institute who for an entire year discussed their work on this topic within
an interdisciplinary and comparative framework was an invaluable experience.
The convener of the workshop, political theorist Michael Walzer, deserves
special thanks, as does the “elder statesman” of the group, Michael Johnston.
I am also deeply grateful to Susan Rose-Ackerman and Janos Kornai who
led the “Honesty and Trust” research project at Hungary’s Institute for
Advanced Study, the Collegium Budapest. Their skill in bringing together an
international group of scholars in a number of conferences in 2001-2 provided
another forum that stimulated my thinking about the meaning and
consequences of corruption and its opposites. A similar experience was
provided by the Amsterdam School for Social Research anniversary
conference on corruption in December 2002.
The research for this study was also supported by a number of grants. I
gratefully acknowledge the support the International Research and Exchanges
Board gave to my work by providing me with one of their short-term travel
grants in May 2002. My home institution, the University of Illinois at Chicago,
was generous in providing me with several internal grants: UIC’s Humanities
Institute in spring 2002 selected me for one of their research awards from the
Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research; the Office for Social Science
Research supported one of my research trips in June 2003; and the Department
of Political Science supported my travel to national and international
conferences where I had an opportunity to present my ongoing research to
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