Public control and counteraction to corruption offences by means of social communications and networks

Abstract

The research paper deals with identifying ways to strengthen the institutional capacity of citizens in the field of combating corruption and to creating recommendations on measures to prevent corruption offenses. The genesis of criminologists’ scientific opinion on the role of civil society institutions in the fight against corruption is analysed. It is noted that scholars studied only fragments of the problem of public participation in the prevention of corruption offenses at different times. The study concerned only a general description of corruption offenses, their determination and ways of prevention, including, among others, the role played by NGOs in the anticorruption process. When considering modern scientific research and international regulatory acts, the attention is focused on the new anti-corruption legislation and the works of those scholars who researched the legal basis and forms of public participation in the prevention of corruption offences, etc . Our research is based on the analysis of indicators and trends of corruption crimes. We compare countries with a high level of development of anti-corruption social networks and post-Soviet countries - with a low level of anti-corruption social activity.The most common measures taken by the public in their own activities and the main reasons that impede the effective participation of the public in the anti-corruption process were also identified. The author examines international standards of public participation in combating corruption, foreign experience and activities of international non-governmental organizations in the field of preventing corruption offences. It was stated that the adoption of international legal acts for the prevention of corruption offences contributed to enshrinement of the provision regarding public participation in this process. The interaction between donor financial organizations and national NGOs was studied, and the conclusion is made about the directions of further improvement of cooperation. The result of our study confirms the hypothesis that the level of corruption will be lower in countries whose population shows a higher level of anti-corruption activity in social networks, as well as a higher level of development of anti-corruption NGOs. It is suggested that the public can be involved in preventing corruption in public administration. It is justified that the public is a non-specialized subject for the prevention of corruption, which conducts its own activities on an equal basis with specialized entities.Recommendations were made to create anti-corruption social networks.