Assessment of Corruption Level as a Component of Governance Indicator: International Experience and Russian Practices

Abstract

As corruptions is one of the most important problems in most modern states, its assessment forms an important part of integral governance indicator. Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), a technique, worked out by The World Bank, is widely used in the international level. Since 2019 the technique “Methodology of Conducting Sociological Surveys for Corruption Assessment in the Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation” (further in the text — Methodology of the Russian Federation Government), adopted by the Government Decree of the Russian Federation, is used in the national level. The main purpose of the present research is to evaluate how the national methodology of corruption assessment reflects the quality of governance in this sphere. The research focuses on the main techniques for corruption assessment in different levels. The study analyses the main scientific statements for corruption assessment as a component of integral quality indicator of governance. Secondary data of corruption survey’s findings formed the information and empirical base of the research. The novelty of the study is in developing original author’s approach towards methodological aspects of comprehensive governance assessment. It was found that the national methodology is an alternative approach, characterizing the quality of governance in this sphere. The research revealed several drawbacks of the indicative methodology issued by the World Bank. The Methodology of the Russian Federation Government more appropriately reflects the corruption level and more accurately characterizes the governance quality in the sphere of fighting corruption in the regions of the Russian Federation.