Anti-corruption education as a factor of social security∗

The article considers an urgent scientific issue with a clear practical orientation and related to the anti-corruption education of the youth, which is defined as an important factor of social (public) security as an integral part of national security. The authors define anti-corruption education as a specific type of social activity of the authorities and civil society institutions, which aims at raising public awareness of the nature of corruption as a negative social phenomenon, of legal and social mechanisms to combat it, and at developing the anti-corruption worldview as an element of ‘social immunity’. There is a significant number of publications on the anti-corruption education, especially of the youth. They consider various aspects of this type of social activity, analyze its implementation, assess its efficiency, show the role of law enforcement agencies in the anti-corruption education of the youth, etc. However, representatives of the scientific-expert community have not yet considered the anti-corruption education in the perspective that the authors suggest. The authors, as members of the National Committee for Public Control, an interregional public organization promoting the implementation of anti-corruption programs, interpret anti-corruption education as a serious factor of social security, as an important tool for preventing radicalization of the youth consciousness. It is the radicalization that nourishes extremism and terrorism which are real threats to social (public) security. The article provides some recommendations for developing legislation of anti-corruption education. The authors believe that public authorities and civil society institutions should more actively (and not formally) involve the student youth in anti-corruption education and use the scientific-creative potential of the younger generation. © A.P. Vikhryan, M.V. Fedorov, 2020.