Using government manifestos to analyse the political salience and shape of anti-corruption policies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

ABSTRACT

In an innovative use of government manifestos, this paper examines the salience and shape of anti-corruption policies in Slovakia and the Czech Republic during the period 1990–2013. Both the intensity and shape of anti-corruption efforts appear to be related less to the actual extent of corruption or external influences and more to the growing domestic electoral pressure expressed through the higher ranking of corruption on the list of public problems and to an ideological bent of governments. We also use cultural theory to examine the philosophy of anti-corruption measures. We find that the hierarchical approach clearly dominates, but there is also extensive evidence of an egalitarian approach. There are only a small number of individualist measures and there is nearly no evidence of fatalist measures. We found that the political right in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is associated not just with an individualist and market-based approach to anti-corruption, but even more with emphasis on anti-corruption itself and empowerment, civil society and public accountability as a means of fighting corruption.

KEYWORDS:

• Government manifestos
• anti-corruption policies
• political salience

Notes on contributors

Emilia Sicakova-Beblava is the Director of Institute of Public Policy at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. She is also the Chairperson of the Board of Transparency International Slovakia.

Miroslav Beblavy is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, Belgium.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Agency for Support of Research and Development of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic [APVV-0880-12].