Whistleblowing Laws Against Corruption in the Russian Federation and in the USA

Whistleblowing plays a significant role as a method of countering corruption in the public sector of foreign countries. However, this practice is not widely applied in the Russian Federation. There is still little agreement on the necessity to implement a developed system of whistleblowers’ protection in the Russian public sector. This paper focuses on the relation between whistleblowers’ legal protection and public servants' incentives to perform official disclosures. It also explores the influence of low level of whistleblowers' legal protection on the probability of reprisals against civil servants by state bodies. The study reviews American practices of making official disclosures in the public sector. The paper is based mainly on qualitative methods by conducting in-depth expert interviews and content analysis of media publications. Also statistical data and data of sociological surveys are analyzed within the study. We find that the low prevalence of making official disclosures in the public sector is closely related to the low level of whistleblowers’ legal protection. Furthermore, the study reveals particular measures for whistleblowers’ protection building on the American experience that might be included in Russian civil service legislation. The paper closes with proposals for amendments to the current civil service legislation in the Russian Federation. Keywords: whistleblowers’ legal protection, official disclosures, civil service legislation, public sector, in-depth expert interviews, content analysis