CORRUPTION PREVENTION IN UKRAINE THROUGH THE PRISM OF ELITE MENTALITY

The article considers the problem of corruption prevention from the perspective of the elite mentality and proves the necessity of cultivating a national anti-corruption culture in Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to consider the problem of corruption prevention from the perspective of the elite psyche and to prove the necessity of cultivating a national anti-corruption culture in Ukraine. Methodology. The synergetic method of scientific cognition allowed to study society and its anti-corruption institutions as a system characterised by transparency, diffusion, irregular connections, functional instability, whose development is non-linear under the influence of a wide range of often random factors, especially in its critical and unstable states. The phenomenological method is used to clarify the nature and mechanism of individual criminal behaviour of a corrupt official, the influence of factors of the fight against corruption crimes on its overall level and the level of effectiveness of the fight against corruption in individual states. The comparative method makes it possible to identify common and special phenomena in different socio-cultural systems through comparison. In the process of writing this article, the authors used philosophical, psychological, sociological and other literature related to the topic of this study, along with scientific works on criminology. Results. The article proves that a huge anti-corruption machine consisting of anti-corruption and repressive bodies with different status, functions and tasks in Ukraine is not an effective tool for fighting corruption. Practical implications. Today, repressive measures in the fight against corruption are effective only when combined with preventive measures. Value/originality. According to the theory proposed by the authors, the mission of social cultivation of the nation should be carried out by its elite. In the long run, the application of preventive measures will lead to the education of a virtuous generation of citizens. Virtuous citizens will form an elite that will cherish anti-corruption values. Conclusion. The authors of the article conclude that among all the ways to respond to such a multifactorial phenomenon as corruption, preventive steps are the most effective and inexpensive for the state. The results of the study will be useful for the governments of other countries that suffer from corruption.