Summary

The objective of preventing corruption is to preclude any factors favourable for corruption in the organisation and exercise of public power. Corruption is not only confined to the purchasability of officials and bribery, although it is narrower in meaning than the concept of moral degradation. What is regarded as a corruptive behaviour largely depends on the traditions and political tendencies of a country. The author focuses on determining the legal aspects of corruption which are particularly important for the purposes of preventing it.
The author examines different definitions of corruption: a bureaucratic definition of corruption (primarily favoured by the Council of Europe and Joseph S. Nye) and a sociological definition (by C. Brünner) and criticisms directed at such definitions. The author is seeking an answer to the question which of these approaches has been followed by the Estonian Anti-corruption Act in defining corruption. Finding that the definition employed in the Estonian Act contains elements of both a bureaucratic and sociological approach, the author points out the internal conflicts of such a legal definition. The author argues that the concept of prevention of corruption should be based on the sociological approach which gives regard to the linguistic definition of corruption as well as the problems of a transition period.