Corruption is a problem in countries across the world, with developing countries often believed to be more prone to it, although there is no evidence to suggest this is the case。

However, in the transition from a state-planned economy to a market economy, private enterprises inevitably have an element of corruption, which manifests itself in the subordination of business to any level of government administration, as well as the patronage of the government over business structures。

There are two functions that corruption possesses. The first is its negative function impeding economic development. The second, less commonly acknowledged one, is corruption plays a role of lubricant to stabilize ties between business and political authorities. At the initial stage of the transition to a market economy, the second function plays the major role, as it makes up for imperfections in the legal regime。

Appropriation of corporate opportunities signifies the emergence of a unique form of mutually beneficial combination of private and state interests. But without this combination, the development of entrepreneurial initiative and free market reforms wouldn't be possible. During this period, the purpose of anti-corruption efforts is not to eradicate it, since the corruption is an integral way to boost economic activity and create a free economic area that is free from the State-planned system. Rather the aim is to keep the corruption within certain limits, as its rapid interdiction would mean elimination of entrepreneurial initiative and a return to the times before the transition begins。

Inevitably in the course of development comes the moment when corruption reaches a certain turning point, after which its functions and its role change. When a market economy has been established, the necessity for corruption, peculiar to the transitional stage, disappears. Having fulfilled its historical role, it begins to impede development of a new social system, dragging society back to the transition phase, as corruption can only exist as an intermediary between traditional and contemporary economic cultures。

As long as corruption exercises its originative function, society will tolerate it as a necessary or unavoidable evil so long as they benefit from rapid economic growth. However, when growth starts to slow, the awareness of social injustice will come to the fore and protests will occur. Hence, corruption will change from a factor that stabilizes relations between the state and business into a factor that destabilizes relations between the state and society。

As a new economic mechanism has been created in China and can develop independently on its own, eradicating corruption is necessary to restore and raise economic efficiency and growth rates. More importantly, eradicating corruption is necessary because its negative impacts, which were previously ignored because of high growth rates, are now undermining social stability and having a detrimental effect on the moral fabric of society。

The scale of corruption is high in other emerging economies, including Brazil, India and Russia, but what has attracted the world's attention to China, is the resolve the new leadership has shown in its efforts to fight corruption. It has introduced several measures to curb corruption, including tightening legislation, intensifying supervision, and strengthening the law, and as it consolidates the transformation to a new development mode and the country's modernization, the new leadership has shown it is determined to promote greater social justice. In the transition to a market economy, public servants have been able to exploit their role as facilitators for personal advantage, now the most urgent task is to deprive government bureaucracy of any improper privileges, and the leadership must back its words with action and show it is willing to tackle both the "tigers" and "flies" who violate the principle of social justice。

The CPC with its traditions of advancing the Party style, moral, ideological and political education campaigns is already primed for the fight against corruption. But it will be impossible to eradicate it without adhering to the principle of social justice. To overcome corruption it is necessary to embrace the old and new society at the same time and change the relations between the State, society and business to suit the changing circumstances。

The author is director of the Center of Political Research, the Russian Academy of Sciences。

By Andrey Vinogradov (China Daily)

腐敗是一個全球普遍的問題，人們習慣性認為發(fā)展中國家的腐敗現(xiàn)象更為嚴重，但并沒有證據(jù)證明事實就是如此。

但是，從計劃經(jīng)濟過渡到市場經(jīng)濟，私人企業(yè)無可避免地會出現(xiàn)腐敗現(xiàn)象，從各級政府隸屬企業(yè)到承蒙政府關(guān)照的企業(yè)莫不如是。

腐敗的作用有兩種。第一，腐敗阻礙經(jīng)濟發(fā)展;其次，也是鮮為人知的一點，腐敗是穩(wěn)固企業(yè)和政府機構(gòu)關(guān)系的潤滑劑。從計劃經(jīng)濟向市場經(jīng)濟過渡之初，第二種作用起主導地位，彌補了法律制度的不足之處。

挪用公司利益意味著出現(xiàn)了一種私企和國企雙方利益的新的特殊組合形式。如果缺乏這種組合形式，創(chuàng)業(yè)和自由市場改革就無從談起。在過渡時期，腐敗促進了經(jīng)濟繁榮、創(chuàng)造了不受計劃經(jīng)濟約束的自由經(jīng)濟領(lǐng)域，在這一時期，反對腐敗的目的并不是要消除腐敗。當然，要把腐敗控制在一定程度之內(nèi)，遏制腐敗意味著打擊創(chuàng)業(yè)精神，逼迫社會倒退至計劃經(jīng)濟時代。

我們絕不否認，在發(fā)展的過程中，腐敗的發(fā)展也會進入到一個轉(zhuǎn)折點，之后腐敗的功能和角色就發(fā)生了變化。市場經(jīng)濟確立以后，過渡階段對腐敗的基本需求消失了。完成歷史角色使命之后，腐敗開始阻礙新的社會制度的發(fā)展，令社會倒退到其充當傳統(tǒng)和現(xiàn)代經(jīng)濟文化中介的過渡階段。

只要腐敗一直發(fā)揮著其角色的原始功能，社會就會忍受既定程度的腐敗，將之視為經(jīng)濟快速發(fā)展過程中不可避免的一個因素。但是，經(jīng)濟增速一旦放緩，人們就會意識到社會存在不公，隨之進行抗議。因此，腐敗的角色也從企業(yè)和政府關(guān)系的協(xié)調(diào)者變?yōu)槠髽I(yè)和政府關(guān)系的破壞者。

中國已經(jīng)建立了一套新的經(jīng)濟機制，能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)獨立自主發(fā)展，因此根除腐敗是保持、提升經(jīng)濟效率和經(jīng)濟增速的基本要求。之前，由于經(jīng)濟高速發(fā)展，腐敗的消極作用被人忽視，如今腐敗已經(jīng)妨礙社會穩(wěn)定，對構(gòu)建良好的社會道德產(chǎn)生了不良影響。

其他國家，如巴西、印度和俄國等新興經(jīng)濟體的腐敗現(xiàn)象也比較嚴重，中國對待腐敗的態(tài)度吸引了世界各國的關(guān)注，新的領(lǐng)導層擺出出大力反腐的姿態(tài)，已經(jīng)采取多項舉措懲治腐敗，包括完善立法、加強監(jiān)管和執(zhí)法力度，這為過渡階段的發(fā)展和中國的現(xiàn)代化奠定了堅實的基礎(chǔ)，顯示了新的領(lǐng)導層促進社會公平的決心。在向市場經(jīng)濟過渡時期，公務(wù)員[微博]憑借自身優(yōu)勢謀取一己私利，而現(xiàn)在，當務(wù)之急則是要清除政府的官僚作風和特權(quán)，領(lǐng)導層也必須言而有信，彰顯出“‘蒼蠅’、‘老虎’一起打”的誠意。

中國共產(chǎn)黨歷來有加強黨風建設(shè)、道德建設(shè)、思想建設(shè)和政治教育的傳統(tǒng)，黨風廉政建設(shè)活動為打擊腐敗做好了前期準備。但如果不以維護社會公平為原則，就不可能根除腐敗現(xiàn)象。要想達成目標，適應(yīng)新舊社會過渡階段，調(diào)整政府、社會和企業(yè)之間的關(guān)系以適應(yīng)不斷變化的環(huán)境是很有必要的。

本文作者為俄羅斯科學院政治研究中心主任安德烈·維諾格拉多夫