Overview

Based upon surveys and interviews with government officials and citizens, this book focuses on issues such as bribery, corruption, inefficiency and freedom of information in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The authors go beyond an analysis of public perceptions and behaviour and look at public attitudes towards proposals for reform. They reveal how the problem of citizens' interactions with officials varies in kind as well as in degree across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Full Product Details

Author:   William L. Miller (Professor of Politics, Glasgow University) ,  Åse B. Grødeland (Research Fellow, Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research) ,  Tatyana Y. Koshechkina (International Director, GfK-GB, London)
Publisher:   Central European University Press
Imprint:   Central European University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.90cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.699kg
ISBN:  

9789639116986

ISBN 10:   963911698
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   01 November 2000
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Stock Indefinitely
Availability:   Out of stock  

Table of Contents

List of Tables List of Figures Preface and Acknowledgements 1. Coping with Government: Democratic Ideals and Street-Level Bureaucrats The Democratic Ideal: A ‘Complete Democracy’ Should Public-Sector Corruption Be Condemned? Does Street-Level Corruption Matter? Do History and Culture Exclude the Possibility of Reform? Why Surveys? What Surveys? Plan of the Book Appendix: The Study Design Notes 2. Context: An Unfinished Transition The Democratisation of Local Government Privatisation and Restitution Economic and Moral Chaos The Political Context Public Perspectives on the Unfinished Transition Conclusion: Victims of a Necessary Transition Notes 3. Public Perceptions and Public Experience of Officials Public Perceptions of Politicians and Top Government Officials Public Perceptions of Street-Level Officials Public Perceptions of Comparative Corruption Public Perceptions of the Need to Use Contacts and Bribes Public Perceptions of Officials’ Motives and Feelings Public Experience of Dealing with Officials Experience of Being Treated with Respect Experience of Favourable Treatment Experience of Fair (or Unfair) Treatment Experience of Extortion The Most Frequent or Most Annoying Problems When Dealing with Street-Level Officials Public Satisfaction with Street-Level Officials Conclusion: Extremely Negative Perceptions, Moderately Negative Experiences Notes 4. Citizen Strategies for Dealing with Officials How Citizens in Focus-Groups Discussed Strategies for Dealing With Officials Different Strategies for Different Objectives: Fair Treatment or Favours Different Strategies in Gossip and Personal Experience Public Perceptions of the Strategies Needed to Deal with Officials: Gossip and Hearsay Personal Experience of Using Different Strategies: Reported Behaviour Combinations of Strategies Influences on Citizens’ Choice of Strategies All Strategies Correlate with Citizen Dissatisfaction Conclusion: Increased Argument, Not Bribery, Is the Main Response to Ill-Treatment Notes 5. Willing Givers? A Moral Imperative to Obey the Law? Public Condemnation of the Use of Contacts, Presents and Bribes A Permanent Part of Our Country’s History and Culture? Would Citizens Give Bribes If Asked, or Accept Them If Offered? Feelings about Giving Bribes: Happy, Angry, Worried or Ashamed? Public Experience of Actually Giving Presents and Bribes to Officials A Difference between Presents and Bribes? The Significance of Size, Timing and Motivation Did ‘Values and Norms’ Affect Behaviour? The Impact of Attempted Extortion The Independent Effects of Values and Extortion: A Regression Analysis Conclusion: Extortion Always Works, but Values Sometimes Moderate Its Impact Notes 6. ‘Try Harder’ or ‘Give Up’: The Choice for Ethnic Minorities? A General Curvilinear Model of Response to Stress Eight Diverse Minorities Negative Attitudes towards Ethnic Minorities: Cross-Country and Cross-Minority Comparisons Suspicions of Ethnic Discrimination Actual Experience of Biased Treatment Comparative International Perspectives Ethnic Values and Norms Ethnic Behaviour The ‘Ecological Effect’: The Impact of Context Conclusion: Most Ethnic Minorities Are Located in the ‘Try Harder’ Zone, but Gypsies in the ‘Give Up’ Zone, and Turks on the Boundary Appendix: The Ethnic Samples Notes 7. Street-Level Bureaucrats: Caught between State and Citizen Officials ‘As Citizens’--in Relation to Other Officials Officials ‘As Employees’--in Relation to the State Officials ‘As Officials’--in Relation to Their Clients How Did Their Experience ‘As Employees’ Affect Officials’ Relationships with Clients? Conclusion: Benign and Pernicious Institutional Cultures Notes 8. Willing Takers? Temptations, Excuses and Justifications Doubts, Fears and Inhibitions Confessions Opportunity and Motivation Why Did Some Officials Accept while Others Did Not? A Causal Model Conclusion: Bargaining Power Rather Than Poverty Leads to Bribe Taking Notes 9. A Culture of Corruption? Support, Priorities and Prospects for Reform Is Reform Possible? Perceptions of Government Commitment to Reform Expert Opinion: Six Prescriptions Public Opinion on Reform--As Expressed in Focus-Group Discussions A Ten-Item Menu of Reform: Public Opinion and the Reactions of Street-Level Officials Priorities: The Single Most Effective Reform Reform Packages Resistance to Reform Alternative Ways of Encouraging Officials Downsizing the State Training and Guidance Reform Itself As the Problem? Public Support for International Pressure Why Do People Within the Same Country Have Different Views About Reform? Diagnosis and Prescription Analytic Perspectives: Focusing Reforms on Situations Rather Than Participants Could ‘Glorious Summer’ Follow the ‘Winter of Discontent’? Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

Any casual visitor to Central Europe knows how pervasive the perception (and probably the reality) of corruption is. This is, then, a very welcome addition to the literature. Its strength is the focus on ordinary citizens and how they cope with bureaucracy at their level - and on the larger issue of consolidating democracy. This is no expose of elite scandal but a close study of citizen encounters in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. An important chapter on ethnic minorities and officials is welcome. ... This volume will be most accessible to advanced social scientists. ... will benefit many as it shows variation between countries. * Choice * Die meisten Studien zur Demokratisierung im postkommunistischen Europa konzentrieren sich auf Entwicklungen auf der nationalen politischen Ebene. Eine bedeutende Ausnahme ist A Culture of Corruption. * Osteuropa * This excellent and thorough study, consisting of nine chapters, undertakes the ambitious task of getting emprirical data on what the authors call 'bureaucratic encounters' between citizens and state officers in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Ukraine... This long-awaited study is an outstanding contribution to political science ...certainly comparable to the classic 'Civic Culture' by Almond and Verba, and an indispensible source of research and inspiration in any political science library * Political Studies * ...a valuable addition to the literature on corruption in general and on corruption in transitional eastern Europe, in particular ... an excellent survey of how civil society in eastern Europe copes with an endemic social and political condtion, corruption (in its conventional defintion of official self-dealing). Anyone interested in the eventual shape of east European society would do well to consider this volume. * Slavic Review *

Author Information

William L. Miller is ‘Edward Caird’ Professor of Politics at Glasgow University and a Fellow of the British Academy Åse B. Grødeland is researching EU membership conditionality and corruption at the Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research, Oslo. Tatyana Y.Koshechkina is International Director at GfK-GB, London.

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