Corruption as a political phenomenon: modern processes and technologies

The aim of the article is to analyze modern technologies of political corruption. To achieve this goal, the authors chose a neo-institutional methodological approach, characterized by the principle of methodological individualism. They use a number of scientific methods, such as methods of document analysis, political comparative studies, and the method of secondary analysis. The presented article examines the possibility of the presence of objective needs of the subjects of managerial decision-making in the processes of institutionalization of corruption relationships. According to the authors, the problems of the integration of political corruption into the administrative and political-legal subsystems lead to multiple functional distortions in the system of state institutions in the interests of latent structures. Political corruption is capable of cloning corruption networks, filling them with the institutional vacuum that has arisen as a result of the weakening of formal institutions. As the study shows, corruption networks consisting of representatives of elite groups of society integrated into latent structures (clienteles, parantelles), in a situation of dominance of non-patrimonial institutions, are able to redistribute a significant part of national resources in their own interests, damaging state interests and undermining national security. The authors note that real achievements in the fight against corruption become possible only if civil society interacts with public authorities and institutions, actualizing the values of civic activism in the socio-political participation of citizens.