How Corruption and Anti-Corruption Policies Sustain Hybrid Regimes: Strategies of Political Domination under Ukraine’s Presidents in 1994-2014(218 Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society)

Leaders of hybrid regimes in pursuit of political domination and material gain instrumentalize both hidden forms of corruption and public anti-corruption policies. Corruption is pursued for different purposes including cooperation with strategic partners and exclusion of opponents. Presidents use anti-corruption policies to legitimize and institutionalize political domination. Corrupt practices and anti-corruption policies become two sides of the same coin and are exercised to maintain an uneven political playing field. This study combines empirical analysis and social constructivism for an investigation into the presidencies of Leonid Kuchma (1994–2005), Viktor Yushchenko (2005–2010), and Viktor Yanukovych (2010–2014). Explorative expert interviews, press surveys, content analysis of presidential speeches, as well as critical assessment of anti-corruption legislation are used for comparison and process tracing of the utilization of corruption under three Ukrainian presidents.

About the Author :
Dr Oksana Huss is a Research Fellow at Bologna University. She earned her PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen and held a postdoc position at Leiden University. Huss taught at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy as well as Kyiv School of Economics, and consulted the Council of Europe, EU, UNESCO, and UNODC. She is a co-founder of ICRNetwork.org—the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network. The authors of the foreword: Dr Tobias Debiel is Professor of International Relations at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Dr Andrea Gawrich is Professor of International Integration at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen.

Review :
Huss, in this provocative study of Ukraine, shows that the conventional wisdom is misleading. Both corruption and reforms can be means of control, solidifying rather than undermining the power of presidents—even those who govern badly. In a time of international awareness of corruption, that might seem surprising—but top figures can skew our perceptions by the ways they 'frame' corruption and reform. In struggling societies dealing with corruption is much more than just a matter of making and enforcing rules.”—Michael Johnston, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Colgate University, New York “Ukraine is an exemplary case to demonstrate the complexities of the fight against corruption. In her book, Oksana Huss does not simply illustrate this over a longer time period and with more details than usual. Crucially, she provides a systematic analytical framework which coherently and convincingly brings together the numerous and diverse aspects of the political economy of corruption.”—Heiko Pleines, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Bremen "At a time, when quantitative analyses of dubious quality have come to dominate research on corruption, Oksana Huss presents a masterfully crafted study that deserves the attention of every scholar who seriously tries to understand the political dynamics of corrupt practices and anti-corruption campaigns. It is also a must-read for students of modern Ukraine. Her fine analysis traces how patterns of corruption and anti-corruption shaped and were shaped by Ukraine’s three presidential regimes from 1994 until 2014. It leaves the reader with a central message: to understand today’s hybrid regimes, a solid understanding of institutionalized corruption is indispensable."—Christoph Stefes, Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado, Denver "The chapter on corruption is extremely helpful as it shows the rich array of the forms that corruption may take. The empirical section is rich in detail and can lead to a rethink of how we perceive the three presidents. Overall, Oksana Huss’s book on the interplay between corruption and the outcomes of political struggle in Ukraine is well-argued and informative."—Rostyslav Averchuk, VoxUkraine, 10.02.2021