“Multi-storey law”: subjectivity of liability for corruption

Objective : to identify objective and subjective factors of legal inequality in counteracting corruption. Methods : the article uses the universal dialectical method of cognition, as well as general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction) and specific scientific methods (comparative legal, historical, specific sociological, formal legal, systematic methods, questioning). Results : the philosophical-legal methodology of corruption research is quite productive. Fundamental research in the field of law allow differentiating between objective and subjective factors of corruption. The parameters of the legal culture development in society are an objective factor of the invulnerability of top-level corruption. The subjective factor is that the government agencies miss the anti-corruption potential characteristic of this stage of cultural development. The author offers a gradation of corruption by levels: grassroots, middle and higher level. Top-level corruption is proved to be the most latent and untouchable for criminal legal impact. The conducted research allowed formulating the main directions of anti-corruption practice: consistent elimination of the estate law rudiments and modeling of socio-legal mechanisms to fully realize the potential of this stage of ascent to law in counteracting corruption. The article presents the results of a public poll on the impunity of high-ranking officials involved in corruption. The anti-corruption strategies of foreign countries (China, Singapore, etc.) were studied as a comparative legal research. Scientific novelty : the work reveals the mechanism of stability of the estate law rudiments, which includes the following elements: a) the highest authorities ensure corruption impunity for a group of like-minded people, associates, executors of the supreme will; b) the elite is introduced into law-abiding behavior and deprived of corruption prospects. It was found that the effectiveness of anti-corruption practices depends on the possibility to overcome the boundaries established by estate law against destruction of its rudiments. Practical significance : the proposals and conclusions of the research can be used to improve criminal legislation and its application, as well as to form a scientific basis for interdisciplinary research on anti-corruption policy and practice.