Allnutt, LukeDruker, JeremyTracy, Jen2019-09-252019-09-252011-04-012001393571100Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/177345Do not mistake bribery for corruption,’ Russian Minister for the Interior Vladimir Rushailo told journalists in March 2001.1 Perhaps what Rushailo – who was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle later that month – meant to say was: ‘Do not put the policemen who accept bribes for traffic violations on the same level as the oligarchs who line the pockets of key government officials.’ Whatever his point, Rushailo’s words gave some idea of the many guises that corruption takes in the countries of the former Soviet Union – and hinted at the way it may be tolerated. Corruption fuelled the political and economic system throughout 70 years of communism. A decade of post-communist transition brought corrupt privatisations and governments unable to provide checks and balances, or to enforce property rights and other legal contracts. As a result, societies across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) now have little more than the shadow of a safety net, and corruption is part and parcel of political, economic and social life.2 From passing university examinations to acquiring a passport, bribes are the means to get things done. Though similar in nature, corruption in the countries of the former Soviet Union varies, based in part on the degree to which they have made the transition to a market economy. In Russia and Ukraine, where transition has jolted the system, both elite and petty corruption thrive.3 Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan generally win a better rating in terms of elite corruption, because their transition from communism is less complete.4 In these countries, the unwillingness to undertake major privatisation and other market reforms means that corruption tends to remain petty and administrative in form. However, electoral fraud and the suppression of information have taken on increasingly dramatic dimensions.engWith permission of the license/copyright holderauthoritarianismattitudepeace researchPolitical ethicsEconomic ethicsCommunity ethicsBook chapter