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by the Armenian king Tigran the Great, this bay became known as the Armenian Gulf.
15 Flateau C. Sandjak d'Alexandrette : pourquoi a-t-il été rattaché à la Turquie ? / Les clés du Moyen-Orient // 12/07/2013 // https:// www.lesclesdumoyenorient.com/Sandjak-d-Alexandrette-pourquoi-a.html (08.03.2020)
16 The city of Dortyol, which was predominantly inhabited by Turks, which was previously part of Turkey, was included in the vilayet.
17 Areshev A. Syria: Turkish military - in the battle formations of terrorists / / 20.02.2020 // Internet-journal Military-political analytics. (09.03.2020)
18 "We need to achieve this for the future of Turkey. After all, it is obvious that Syria will be divided one way or another" 04/09/2020 // https://inosmi.ru/politic/20200410/247240389.html (03.09.2020)
19 Bielefsky D. Disappointed in the West, the Turks dream of their former greatness// https://ia-centr.ru/experts/test/6666/ (10.03.2020)
ELENA DMITRIEVA. ADMINISTRATIVE CORRUPTION IN MODERN IRAQ // The review was written for the bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World."
Keywords: Iraq, powers of the state, administrative corruption, fight against corruption, Anti-corruption court, developing countries.
Elena Dmitrieva,
Senior Research Associate, INION RAN
Citation: Dmitrieva E. Administrative Corruption in Modern Iraq // Russia and the Moslem World, 2020, № 4 (310), P. 86-94. DOI: 10.31249/rmw/2020.04.06
Abstract. The problem of administrative corruption, as an integral part of corruption in general, has become especially urgent in modern Iraq. In recent decades, the level of corruption in all spheres of Iraqi society has increased significantly. The authors of the articles consider certain aspects and overall situation with administrative corruption in Iraq, investigate the causes of its occurrence and propose measures to combat this phenomenon.
Introduction
From the legislative point of view, the concept of "administrative corruption" is considered as a fraudulent misrepresentation of the established process of implementing existing laws, in order to provide benefits to interested parties. Administrative corruption, as an integral part of corruption in general, is a global phenomenon that poses a threat to the socioeconomic life of society and administrative activities of any state. This negative phenomenon, which firmly came into vital problems of many countries of the world, is a cause for concern and requires development of appropriate effective measures to counter it at the legislative and executive levels.
The growing level of administrative corruption in Iraq is one of the most pressing problems today, as it poses a real threat to the socio-economic and political situation in the country, destroys the economic and financial fundamentals of the Iraqi state and negatively affects its business reputation in the world community. Despite the fact that the origins of corruption in Iraq recede into the past, over the past decade its level has increased markedly, it has penetrated into all spheres of public life and politics of the country (administrative bodies, political parties, the army, etc.). If the authorities do not take any measures to combat this negative phenomenon, then Iraq will not be able to regain its authority and position in the Middle East in the future.
Causes and characteristics of administrative corruption
in Iraq
Corruption in Iraq has a long history and references to it can be found in the sources of Sumerian civilization. Already in those days, there was phenomenon of the use of power and public office to receive bribes and there were indicated penalties for such acts, from fines to death penalty. Omar Huskhiyar Mohammed Ali in the article "The content of the phenomenon of
administrative corruption in the law of the Republic of Iraq" [1], examining the historical, political, socio-economic conditions of corruption in Iraq, notes that in the history of the country this phenomenon was especially widespread during the period of Ottoman and British occupation. During the period of monarchist rule in Iraq, the authorities' policy led to establishment of the principles of nepotism, to religious discrimination against people, which contributed to the growth of corruption among highranking government officials.
The author of the article draws particular attention to the fact that in the last decade of the twentieth century, the corruption network entangled all Iraqi state institutions. Due to the decline in income, the devaluation of the Iraqi dinar, the inhabitants of the country were forced to use all the savings to satisfy their vital requirements. At the same time, it is impossible to ignore other reasons that brought forward the aggravation of corruption - this is an implementation of projects that were not socially useful and did not have economic benefits by the authorities. Such projects include construction of palaces, river delimitation projects, creation of lakes, etc., which led only to Iraqi debts growth, a decline in public incomes, general social unrest, crisis phenomena in society and a simultaneous increase in corruption practices among civil service workers.
As for Iraq's reputation in terms of administrative corruption, the author assesses it as not the best and makes disappointing conclusions: administrative corruption persists and covers a network of judicial authorities, security ministries, and service sector.
Speaking about consequences of corruption, the author notes that corruption can give impetus to revolutions and uprisings that have recently been gaining strength: a wave of protests and riots in the Arab world (the so-called "Arab Spring") was held under the slogan of the fight against corruption. A number of researchers, based on an analysis of recent events, concluded that the main causes of administrative corruption in
the sphere of Islamic law are in the existing political system, chaos and instability in countries, as well as in ineffectiveness of control systems peculiar to totalitarian regimes. Such control dominated all aspects of citizens' lives, but did not protect against corruption.
A detailed analysis of the causes of administrative corruption in Iraq is dedicated to an article by Omar Huskhiyar Mohammed Ali "The causes and conditions for the existence of administrative corruption in the Republic of Iraq" [2]. The author shows that the causes of administrative corruption vary from one society to another, depending on existing cultures and values. A study of the phenomenon of corruption shows that it is related to the degree of economic and social development of society and is more actively spreading in developing countries and countries that are shifting from one political and economic system to another. Weak resources of the country, putting of major assets for sale, low wages lead to corruption, especially among high-ranking officials, since officials in this process usually have large powers, which creates conditions for corruption and illegal earnings.
According to the author, the main causes of administrative corruption can be presented in the form of the following blocks.
1. The reasons of political nature are general deviations related to the rules of government in the state, including a lack of freedoms and democratic system, as well as an information vacuum, insufficient control and not well-established relations between the administration and the public. Political reasons are based on the absence of a stable and effective political system. Weakness of the highest political authority is the reason for weakness of the competent regulating agencies (police, prosecution offices, courts) in detecting corruption and ineffectiveness of these activities.
2. Legal reasons are perversion of laws and regulations due to ambiguity or inconsistency, which leads to deviation from the implementation of the law by law enforcement officers seeking to obtain financial benefits illegally. These causes create a legal
vacuum. Legal grounds are also the result of contradiction of legislation at the level of the center and regions.
3. Economic reasons are impromptu economic policy and poor distribution of wealth, resources and income, or the burden of government without proper control by the authorities, that leads to a violation of equitable distribution of wealth among people, wherefore the funds are concentrated in a small group of people.
4. Social reasons are a set of consequences and circumstances that surround the actor and force him to show antisocial behavior. They are: effects of war and related nihilistic behavior in society; spread of poverty, lack of culture, morality and moral guides; gap between national values and rules adopted in the state's administrative bodies, which are often borrowed from foreign systems, and are different from national values.
5. Administrative reasons are lack of publicity, "transparency" in administrative work in decision-making by the authorities, redundancy of administrative functions; low efficiency of internal and external control over the activities of management bodies and their officials; imperfection of direct communication and feedback mechanisms between citizens and authorities.
Summarizing the above information, there is no doubt that administrative corruption is a dangerous phenomenon that threatens the national security of any state. Identification, prevention and suppression of administrative corruption require joint efforts of executive, legislative and judicial bodies, especially law enforcement agencies, which, in their work, should ensure blocking an elimination of the above reasons and factors which generate administrative corruption.
The author of the article believes that in order to determine measures to counter administrative corruption, it is important to clearly frame a term of this phenomenon, and a clear scientific terminology definition is necessary. Thus, in social terms, corruption means a violation of social norms from the point of view of public interest, or from an economic point of view.
Psychologists defined corruption as an imbalance in the system of personality and society, leading to a deviation of behavior in a corresponding system. According to the World Bank, corruption is the use of a public function to achieve special benefits or to misappropriate a public office, that is, an official, for personal advantage. Corruption is also defined as investment in public services, forcing auditors to pay part of the money or gifts in kind to an employee to execute their operations. Another trend is that corruption is not limited to abuse of public powers in public sector, but is widespread in private sector and in civil society institutions. Administrative corruption can also be defined as deviation from the legal duties laid on a public official and following personal interests rather than public ones.
The author considers all the above definitions of administrative corruption insufficiently complete and proposes his version of such a definition as a set of illegal actions committed by a public servant for the purpose of benefiting himself or others, which cause damage to public and private interests [1].
Implementation of anti-corruption strategies in Iraq created for developing countries.
In today's world, there are theories that describe corruption processes in developing countries. They can be useful in understanding the mechanisms for the emergence and spread of corruption in Iraq. This topic is devoted to the article by I.G. Davydenko and S.F.R. Rida "Adaptation of anti-corruption practices of developing countries to the environment of the Republic of Iraq" [3]. The authors systematized various anticorruption strategies (applied in countries such as Singapore, Chile), which have high adaptational potential for application to socio-economic and political conditions in Iraq.
On the basis of the analysis, the authors distinguish the following theories:
- "Ethical" theory considers corruption only as moral and ethical standards and points at the need to train such qualities in order to eradicate corruption;
- Functional structural theory sees the cause of corruption in excessive bureaucratic procedures;
- The theory of functional modernization considers corruption as a developmental disease that takes place during the transition of a country from the category of developing countries to industrial ones;
- The theory of dependence is based on the fact that the global capitalist system baulks progress in developing countries by imposing corruptive practices that allow to realize its interests and exercise political and economic control through a national-political ruling elite, designed to prevent the crystallization of the views of the broad masses on the existing economic and social reality.
Examining the experience of developing countries in combating corruption practices, the authors emphasize five institutional strategies that, if applied comprehensively, have proven their effectiveness in Singapore and Chile.
1. Raising salaries of public servants and improving the system of payment in the public sector.
2. Publicly available information on government spending. Possibility for citizens to study the financial activities of the government.
3. Reducing the bureaucratic component. Simplification of obtaining different permissions and registrations.
4. Improving the international legal framework to deter corruption in the context of globalization.
5. Applying information and digital technologies in relations between officials and citizens. Using the Internet has proved effective in reduction of corruption.
At the same time, the authors note that the reviewed mechanisms implemented in developing countries are not subject to accurate copying and distribution for the purpose of forming
an anti-corruption model in Iraq. The described experience allows us to distinguish two public-political aspects in Iraq: preventing and combating corruption. Education and social security policies are also relevant to Iraq as anti-corruption measures nowadays. In Iraq, they admit as an effective measure the need of advance of wages of government officials by implementing social programs to ensure a high standard of living for civil servants, which is a deterrent measure for corruption. Taking into account the experience of a number of developing countries, Iraq is implementing the practice of simplifying administrative procedures, limiting the number of documents necessary for obtaining public services, and digitalization of the public sector is a deterrent, in particular, the introduction of electronic payment systems as an alternative to the direct receiving of fines and fees. Procedures and results of administrative contracts are published on the Internet in the electronic business center. Iraq it is provided criminal liability for corruption related offences.
Conclusion
Summarizing the above, it's to be noted that administrative corruption is a dangerous phenomenon that threatens the national security of any state. The identification, prevention and suppression of administrative corruption requires joint efforts of the executive, legislative and judicial bodies and, above all, law enforcement agencies, which must promptly block the causes of administrative corruption.
There is a necessity to eliminate conflicts of function, that is, situations where state and municipal bodies simultaneously supervise, control and provide services.
It is important to regulate clearly the procedures of state regulation and deprive officials of the opportunity to arbitrarily interpret laws and make decisions, to depersonalize the interaction of public officers with citizens and organizations.
In the latter, only the development of digitalization of all spheres of Iraqi society will help defeat administrative corruption as a phenomenon. The study of the experience of the public services sector through distant information technologies let the Iraqi authorities use digitalization as an effective tool to reduce economic corruption.
Foreign anti-corruption experience deserves careful study in order to borrow and transfer anti-corruption strategies to local conditions, which have shown high effectiveness, but it is necessary to take into account the real situation and traditions of Iraq in order to get support and approval of the residents of the country. As a result of the analysis of anti-corruption strategies applied in developing countries of the world, it can be said that for the Republic of Iraq social (public sector payment system), state-administrative (system of permissive and prohibitive procedures in business sector) and state-legal (system of criminal sanctions for corruption crimes) factors of anti-corruption policy formation are relevant.
References
1 Omar Huskhiyar Mohammed Ali "The content of the phenomenon of administrative corruption in the law of the Republic of Iraq" // Science and education: economy; enterprise; law and governance. 2019. № 8 (111). C. 126-129.
2. Omar Huskhiyar Mohammed Ali "The causes and conditions for the existence of administrative corruption in the Republic of Iraq" / / North Caucasian Law bulletin. - 2019. - № 3. - P. 71-76.
3. Davydenko I.G., Rida S.F.R. "Adaptation of anti-corruption practices of developing countries to the environment of the Republic of Iraq" / / Theory and practice of social development. 2019. № 1 (131). P. 61-66.
