"MAFIAS," CORRUPTION, AND THE STATE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

My work on informal groups as they surfaced above ground to form semi-legal businesses and voluntary associations in an unraveling communist state propelled me to undertake a study of the role of "mafias," "clans," and other informal groups in shaping the new systems of governing. Such groups, which penetrate the state in varying ways and to varying degrees, arise both from the legacies of communism, as well as, by now, at least a decade of "reform." This study, supported by grants from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, the United States Institute of Peace, and the National Institute of Justice, draws on firsthand data from Russia, Ukraine, and Central Europe and on secondary data from throughout the region.

My book on the topic (in draft form) compares the actual patterns and local constructions of "corruption" and governing, as described above, with the anti-corruption discourses and programs that are being promoted by the international financial institutions, Western governments, and NGOs such as Transparency International.

© Chris Suddick Neiburger