Description: The edited volume provides a novel comparative examination of the anti-corruption regulatory regimes in the areas of political finance, lobbying, revolving doors and media in 9 Western and Central-East European countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine. The report adopts a social constructivist perspective, which treats laws as fundamentally socially and politically embedded. The research thus complements predominant institutional-rational approaches with a context-sensitive understanding of history, culture and their impact on contemporary actor interactions in the sphere of anti-corruption. Empirically, major differentiations between Western and Central-East Europe are identified in terms of proclivities to corruption as well as distinct capacities to counter it – shaped as these are by historically continuous structural factors. At the same time, convergences between the east and west of the continent are also singled out in the area of anti-corruption institutions and legal design. The analysis additionally classifies patterns in European regulatory approaches to political corruption.

Link: https://globalanalytics-bg.org/2025/09/18/elementor-7007/

Year of publication: 2025

Authors:

Editor: Dr. Rumena Filipova, Founder, Institute for Global Analytics; 

Author of comparative chapter: Dr. Rumena Filipova, Founder, Institute for Global Analytics; 

Authors of national chapters: 

• Marcia Grimes, Professor of Political Science, University of Gothenburg; 
• Sofia Wickberg, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam;
• Christopher Starke, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam; 
• Dr. Sarah Gharib Seif, Research Associate, School for Government, King’s College London;
• Dr. Roxana Bratu, Senior Lecturer, School for Government, King’s College London; 
• Cyril Benoît, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics, CNRS, Sciences Po; 
• Lorena Andreea Axinte, Transcrime – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore;
• Carlotta Carbone, Transcrime – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore;  
• Michele Riccardi, Transcrime, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; 
• Robert Panyi, Central European University;
• Viktoriia Poltoratskaia, Central European University;  
• Dr. Stoyan Panov, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Global Analytics; 
• Alessandra Lo Piccolo, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Bologna;  
• Dr. Andrii Biletskyi, Senior Researcher of the Anti-Corruption Research and Education Centre;
• Oleksandra Chupyra, Junior Researcher of the Anti-Corruption Research and Education Centre.