Alena Ledeneva, professor of political sciencies and humanities for Slovene and East European Studies at the Unviersity College in London, held last night a lecture at the Facutlty of Organisational Sciences in Belgrade on the subject: Anti-corruption theory and practice: corrupted systems, double standards and informal administration. The lecture was based on experiences and analysis that she described in her new book: "May Russia modernize itself: System, strength of networks and informal addminstratiion", published this year by Cambridge University Press. Speaking about what makes the anti-corruption struggle sucessful, Ledeneva emphasized that in many post-communist countries anti-corruption evolves only apparently. "One of important preconditions of successful struggle against corruption is a twist in populace consciousness, forming the atmosphere of corruption intolerance at all levels. This is a serious task, but there are world practices in this area, which should be studied. Apart from that, it is very important to include in anti-corruption the capacities of informal contacts of those people who are heading this struggle", said Ledeneva, who is an expert for anti-corruption issues in transition countries, Russia and global affairs, and global administration, as well as the expert for economy, economic crime and informal practice of corporate management. According to her, in order to successfully eradicate the corruption, or at least to reduce it to acceptable level, it is necesssary to establish personal example and to penalize it, which would be sufficient warning to others. "When court proceedings concerning corruption are at issue, special attention should be paid to preparation of valid evidence against suspects. If, due to lack of evidence, the court issues verdicts only based on political will, it may threaten credibility of the entire judicial system", Ledeneva stated. She underlined it was good that Serbia joined the European Integrations process, since harmonization with European practices and laws also influences reduction of corrupion level in the country. Her lecture was supported by NIS within its program of social responsibility "Energy of Knowledge", which includes different forms of cooperation with universities and other scientific institutions. This program is carried out by NIS with the intention of contributing to development of Serbian society through implementation of best world practices. Struggle agianst corruption, which was the subject of the lecture of the reknown expert, Alena Ledeneva, is currently one of the most current themes of Serbian policy and priority in Serbian Government's work. Initiating interest of citizens for this issue, especially interest among young experts for organisational sciences, NIS is promoting real values of business activity, working on prevention of corruption in future, thus showing considerable level of social responsibility. Professor Ledenova was presented also the gratitude for holding this lecture in front of the full theatre at the Faculty of Organisational Sciences. Her lecture was awarded with an aplause by the students, while professor Ledeneva left two copies of her new book for the Faculty's library. In this way, her ideas about anti-corruption can be read also by students who did not attend the lecture.
