Challenges in the Next Stage of Anti - corruption Daniel

It is a Thursday in October 1994, at the Kiev World Bank Resident Office weekly roundtable debate with the media, public officials and civil society. The topic this afternoon in this participatory postSoviet fora is the ever-latent potential for economic reform and recovery. The newly appointed Vice-Premier in charge of the Economy, a reformist, is engaged in a heated discussion on the government intentions to reform, arguing that this time it is in earnest. The skepticism among many of the roundtable participants is palpable, and made rather explicit when one participant reminds the group of the continued poor record in implementing reforms—since independence in late 1991, in fact. One of the most prominent journalists in the country challenges the Vice-Premier by pointing out that no matter what macroeconomic reforms the new Cabinet manages to implement, the prospects for growth remain dim. This, the journalist eloquently states, is because growth will only come from a thriving private sector. Yet no such prospects exist, he says, because of Ukraine’s private Mafia, which extracts a high toll on any private enterprise. The new Vice-Premier calmly concurs with the need to focus on small enterprises in the emerging private sector. Furthermore, he agrees that there is a private Mafia, which extracts a “tax” from pri-