Civil Society against Corruption in Ukraine: Pathways to Impact
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Date
2019
Authors
Bader, Max
Huss, Oksana
Meleshevich, Andriy
Nesterenko, Oksana
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Journal ISSN
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Abstract
This policy paper has been written as part of the project Civil Society against Corruption in Ukraine: Political Roles, Advocacy Strategies, and Impact which is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. The paper draws from a comprehensive study of anti-corruption activism outside the capital city. For the purposes of the study, we have conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives of anti-corruption civic initiatives in cities or towns in all regions of Ukraine that are under control of the government of Kyiv. In addition, we have analyzed social media reports from these initiatives and media reports about these initiatives. The paper contributes to insights into the effectiveness of anti-corruption activism, especially in relation to Ukraine. Our findings also have implications for practitioners of international assistance. The fight against corruption attracts great interest among Ukraine's international partners, who view its success as vital to the country's stability, democratization, and economic development in the years ahead. Across Ukraine, practitioners of assistance support civil society-led anti-corruption initiatives, but they lack evidence-based knowledge about the effectiveness of such initiatives. The first section of the paper discusses the significance of civil society for the fight against corruption and lists the main types of activities and instruments that anti-corruption activists employ. While there is little established knowledge on determinants of effectiveness in anti-corruption activism, existing academic and practitioner literature nonetheless identifies a range of variables that are associated with effectiveness. The second section contains an overview of these variables grouped in three broad categories: environmental factors, advocacy strategies, and organizational characteristics. The third section introduces our dataset of anti-corruption organizations in the regions of Ukraine with a focus on the types of activities that these organizations are involved in and on the types of impact that they generate. In the fourth and main section of the paper, finally, we relate the factors associated in academic and practitioner literature with success in anticorruption activism to current anti-corruption activism in the regions of Ukraine.
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Keywords
corruption, anti-corruption activism, anti-corruption organizations, working paper, Civil Society, Corruption, Ukraine, Impact, Pathways, Anti-Corruption Efforts, Advocacy, Transparency, Accountability, Empowerment
Citation
Civil Society against Corruption in Ukraine: Pathways to Impact : Working Paper, July 2019 / Max Bader, Oksana Huss, Andriy Meleshevych, Oksana Nesterenko ; Anti-Corruption Research and Education Centre of National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. - Kyiv : [s. n.], 2019. - 23 p.