Regulatory Policy in the Relational Economy of a Warring State: The Research Methodology

The aim of the article is to reveal the methodological foundations for creating a general characterization of the state and prospects of regulatory policy regarding the Ukrainian economy, which situates in a context of wartime. Research methods include the application of the relational economy conception, generalization of global experience in managing a wartime economy, institutional methodology (the conception of extractive and inclusive institutions), observation, generalization, progressing from the abstract to the concrete, unity of logical and historical, as well as quantitative and qualitative approaches. The limitations of a significant number of existing research on regulatory policy are revealed, characterized primarily by a descriptive-empirical nature of analysis based on the consideration of formal norms and rules for the development and implementation of regulatory policy in the economic sphere, while ignoring informal practices of regulatory influence. Based on the combination of institutional analysis methodology and the conception of relational economics, it is concluded that the current regulatory policy in Ukraine is being developed and implemented not in accordance with the existing legal framework, but under the decisive influence of clan-oligarchic groups that have seized dominant positions in politics and the economy and subordinated these spheres to their self-serving interests to the detriment of societal interests. Based on the theoretical model of the mafia-ruled country, it is concluded that the existing safeguards against corruption risks in the implementation of State regulatory policy, as contained in the current legal framework, are neutralized by mechanisms of informal ties among the political elite, «new» oligarchic groups, law enforcement, and the judicial system, united by a common aspiration for the systematic extraction of economic, political, judicial, and law enforcement rents based on the hidden redistribution of financial flows. The main factors contributing to the enhancement of the destructive influence of mafia-like foundations in building the regulatory impact system on the economic system and the effectiveness of providing for the military sector (both in the rear and on the front) have been identified: the use of restrictions on the rights and freedoms of citizens by mafia clans during martial law to increase the level of opacity in public procurement (especially for military purposes); the removal of the system of external humanitarian aid from public oversight; arbitrary use of sanction legislation for extrajudicial redistribution of property; blocking the operations of opposition media; the shadowing of foreign economic activities based on fictitious export-import operations; and a personnel policy of appointing individuals with tarnished reputations to key positions related to the distribution and redistribution of financial flows, combined with frequent personnel reshuffles.