SPECIFICS OF HUMAN NATURE AND STRONG FACTORS IN COUNTERING CORRUPTION

Abstract

Today corruption among those in power is traditionally seen as a legal, sociocultural or economic problem. However, Russian and foreign social science literature has no works revealing its natural roots. Such a view of the fundamentals of corruption is still considered to be contrary to the idea of a social nature of a person. Meanwhile, nearly 2,500 years ago, Aristotle clearly called the sapiens “a political animal”, emphasizing that human nature is integral to building people’s life together. That is why, in the author’s opinion, a group of hierarchical tendencies, inherited from hominid ancestors and developed historically in every possible way, is, in particular, preserved in the man’s species nature. It also invites human individuals to self-serving manipulation of power and people’s subordination in order to build “food chains” between them and gain vital resources and benefits kleptocratically. Thus, the governance of society and building order therein based on corrupt methods erases the seemingly unshakable sociocultural borderline between a man and his animal ancestors. The article emphasizes that corruption exists not only because of imperfection of, relic and predatory components of human nature, but, most importantly, because of legal, ethical and economic reasons. But the state anti-corruption policy should also consider the natural qualities of a human being.