Exploring the reasons behind persistent low-level corruption in Hungary by looking into (the absence of) formally reported wrongdoings: “The less said, the better”.

Sammanfattning: This master thesis in Sociology of Law explored the persistency of low-level corruption in post-communist Hungary. By adopting an anthropological approach 20 unstructured in-depth interviews were conducted in Hungarian language. The main focus of the research was on how law actually works. The collected material suggested that inadequate legislation supports informal economic transactions (“bad regulation generates necessary corruption”). Therefore Ehrlich’s ‘living law’ and legal pluralism provided a theoretical framework. The results supported the idea that the phenomenon of petty corruption persisted and proliferated during the transition process, and kept growing despite the EU accession. Four main reasons were indentified for individuals taking part in informal transactions which fit into the 'survival tactic' literature of post-communist societies: ‘not enough salary’, ‘I have no choice, because the regulations are wrong’, 'I am pressured by my superior or the institute’, ‘just go with the flow’. The reasons behind the low frequency of formally reported wrong-doing were considered and it was suggested that citizens try to control corruption in informal ways. The lack of political will to implement adequate laws, and the civil social organisations never-ending fight to introduce legislation were presented. The research intends to contribute to the categorisation of petty corruption in Hungary, by establishing living law imperatives.