Democracy and corruption
On post-communist society
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20873.rpv8n2-72Keywords:
Corruption, Democracy, Postcommunism, Rule of law, Modernization, Eastern EuropeAbstract
The purpose of this article is to show that the crisis of democracy in post-communist countries is an aspect of the more general crisis of society, being connected to the difficulties of modernization. Starting from the example of Romania, without making a case study, I show that corruption constitutes a set of unfavorable conditions for the rule of law, and that the source is the destruction of civil society by totalitarianism. Nevertheless, a retrospective look at the modern history of the region reveals that the destructive effect of totalitarianism is imbued with some specific cultural traits. It turns out that corruption (abuse of entrusted power) had destroyed democracy long before the establishment of communism. This possibly proves that corruption is a problem of social mentality, being linked to other unfavorable conditions, which are part of a long history of political domination.
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