Legal aspects of preventing and combating political corruption in Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to comprehensively study political corruption as a phenomenon of social life in terms of legal aspects of its prevention and counteraction. The content of the publication is determined by the specifics of the subject of research and reflects the interdisciplinary approach to the disclosure of the topic. The article presents a comprehensive study of political, managerial and legal aspects of understanding political corruption. Emphasis is placed on the essence (nature) of political corruption as a phenomenon of the political process, and therefore - on the lack of a common conceptual understanding of the concept of "political corruption". It is emphasized that the concepts of "corruption" and "political corruption" are not identical in content or legal characteristics. The political aspect of corruption is an insufficient basis for extending the legal signs of corruption to actions that have signs of political corruption. It is argued that the task of legal science is to identify the causes, establish the preconditions and find the most effective measures to prevent and specify the means of combating political corruption. It is established that, unlike corrupt acts, types of behavior in the field of political corruption are not covered by legal liability measures. This is due to the lack of legal definition of "political corruption" in the current legislation. However, within the framework of normative regulation of relations in the field of state funding of political parties, a legal mechanism for preventing political corruption in Ukraine has been formed and operates. This led to the conclusion that due to the establishment of requirements and restrictions on the financing of political parties, the introduction of transparency and accountability of political parties and election campaigns, the legislator launched state control over the finances of political parties represented by the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption and to administrative or criminal liability for the relevant offenses. In view of this, emphasis is placed on the importance of understanding the legal aspects of political corruption, influencing political parties through finances, strengthening the financial discipline of political parties, improving the system of state control over the financing of political parties, and ensuring responsibility for violations in political financing. The scientific novelty of the article is the legal analysis of actions in the field of political corruption in terms of the introduction of legal mechanisms to prevent its manifestations. The practical significance of the article is related to the possibility of further use of its materials in the educational process, conducting interdisciplinary research on the phenomenon of political corruption and forming proposals for improving the legislative mechanisms of state control over the financial activities of political parties.