Corruption through centuries: from the Roman and Russian Empires to the current time
Importance The paper provides a comprehensive and retrospective analysis of the fight against corruption in Italy and Russia from times of the Roman Empire and ancient Russia to the current days. Objectives The research pursues developing a conceptual framework for studying corruption as a worldwide social pathology, which represents a significant threat to the national security of all States. The research also presents a comprehensive overview on the most important NGO coordinating anti-corruption efforts of member States and their instruments, as well as, the role of Italy and Russia as members of The Council of Europe's Group of State against Corruption (GRECO) and Transparency International. We analyze corruption retrospectively from ancient Russia and the USSR to modern Russia. Methods The paper comprehensively reviews the notion of corruption in accordance with the most relevant sociological theories. We present two guidelines the contemporary sociological theories should follow, to construe the notion of corruption. First, the diachronic analysis starting from the ancient Greek and Roman legislation to the modern anti-corruption legislation. Second, the synchronic overview of the most important non-governmental organizations, which provide the main anti-corruption methodology and instruments. Conclusions and Relevance Based on interdisciplinary sociological, economic and legal approaches, we outline a broad retrospective and international panorama of the fight against corruption and analyze the main legal anti-corruption provisions, which were developed in the Roman Empire and ancient Russia, as well as, in modern Italy and Russia. We conclude that the fight against corruption should be conducted simultaneously in political, economical and social spheres since the corruption is deeply rooted in the relationship of the government and business and has a multifaceted and ramified character.