UKRAINE’S ANTI-CORRUPTION INFRASTRUCTURE: STRUCTURALFUNCTIONAL, COMPARATIVE-LEGAL AND EVALUATIVE-PERFORMANCE DIMENSIONS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure through the prism of structural and functional analysis, comparison of the domestic anti-corruption infrastructure with models created in countries that are world leaders in the fight against corruption, and analysis of the effectiveness of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure. The methodological basis of the study was formed by dialectical, structural-functional, comparative- legal, and evaluative-resultative research methods. Their application made it possible to: determine the dialectics of the formation of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure and outline the main functional areas of its activities today; compare Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure with similar models in countries that are world leaders in the field of countering and combating corruption; assess the effectiveness of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure. The study showed that since 2014, Ukraine has been developing an anti-corruption infrastructure. Today, it is extremely extensive and includes a system of entities with general competence; specially authorised entities in the field of anti-corruption; other entities with authority to combat corruption; civil society institutions and private individuals that perform regulatory, strategic planning, coordination, preventive, control, law enforcement, and financial and analytical functions in the field of preventing and combating corruption, as well as the function of justice in relation to corruption and related criminal offences. Specialised state authorities whose core activity is the prevention and combating of corruption occupy a central place in this infrastructure. The anti-corruption infrastructure developed in Ukraine is significantly larger than that of leading countries in the field of combating corruption, such as Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland, etc. At the same time, the functioning of this infrastructure does not allow Ukraine to be among the countries that effectively combat corruption. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranked 105th out of 180 countries in 2024. In our opinion, the experience of world leaders in the fight against corruption shows that it is not the number of anti-corruption bodies, but the quality and effectiveness of their work that influences the results of a state’s anti-corruption policy. The effectiveness of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure, primarily specially authorised entities in the field of anti-corruption and other authorities combating corruption, depends on strict adherence to the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the State Anti-Corruption Programme for the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy. Currently, the vast majority of specially authorised entities in the field of anti-corruption carry out their activities without due consideration of these programmes. In view of this, the planning of the strategy and tactics of Ukraine’s state anti-corruption policy needs to be thoroughly reformed in order to create a real, effective mechanism for the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the State Anti-Corruption Programme for the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy in practice by the entities of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure.