In June 2021, US President Joe Biden informed the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, that Ukraine had to bring corruption under control before it could be considered for admission to the West's principal military alliance. According to Transparency International's (TI's) Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt of all the post-Soviet and post-Communist states, while TI's most recent (2016) Global Corruption Barometer for Europe and Central Asia suggests that more Ukrainians consider corruption to be a major problem in their country than do the citizens of any other post-Soviet state apart from Moldova. Furthermore, the bribery rate (the percentage of respondents who have come into contact with and paid a bribe to one or more of eight state-run services in the previous twelve months) in Ukraine is higher than in all other post-Soviet states except Moldova and Tajikistan, while—at 38%—it is the same as in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. Erik Herron's detailed study of Ukrainian corruption and poor accountability is thus both timely and important. Another issue he addresses is of more general significance: why do what start as transitions towards democracy often falter or even fail. Normalization of corruption is, we read, a major factor.

Herron's book is divided into eight chapters. The first focuses on the meaning and nature of accountability, while the second hones in on the corruption situation in Ukraine and the policies that have been adopted to counter it. Chapters 3 through 5 consider, in turn, three types of accountability—vertical (between citizens and the political elite, notably via the election process), horizontal (among politicians themselves, with a particular focus on deputy requests, and between officials and oligarchs), and diagonal (how citizens work within vertical or horizontal accountability mechanisms, with a focus on CSOs and their largely unsuccessful attempts to limit illicit proxy voting in parliament). Since the concept is less familiar than either vertical or horizontal accountability, note that diagonal can also refer to the use of governmental oversight bodies and independent agencies such as ombudspersons. Chapter 6 is primarily concerned with the role of ersatz or “technical” parties, which arise primarily to assist other parties to run elections. In Chapter 7, Herron explores the new mechanisms that have been adopted in Ukraine since the Euromaidan “Revolution of Dignity,” such as the e-declarations of wealth for politicians, while Chapter 8 first summarizes the preceding findings, then draws comparisons with other post-Soviet states, before suggesting ways that the corruption situation could be improved.

The book has several strengths. One is that Herron has had considerable “hands-on” experience of election-monitoring in Ukraine, and is therefore able to tell the reader about various forms of electoral corruption from personal observation. Another is that he often compares the Ukrainian situation with that in other post-Soviet states: while he may have been a little harsh on Georgia's anti-corruption drive—seeing Estonia as the most successful post-communist state in fighting corruption is misleading, since it did not have a significant problem to start with—there is no question that Mikheil Saakashvili's approach was a rough and ready one. Third, the book is delightfully up-to-date, with analysis of what has been happening since Volodymyr Zelensky became president in May 2019. Fourth, Herron neatly encapsulates much of the problem in Ukraine with his reference to a “Faustian bargain”: a paradoxical situation whereby officials are prepared to accept the routinization of corruption as a necessary cost of getting democratic institutions to function properly. Finally, Herron not only analyzes the problem of political corruption in Ukraine, but also suggests four areas of reform: developing stable norms and framing the anti-corruption drive in non-confrontational language; reforming and streamlining the bureaucracy; introducing new and more effective incentives for integrity and disincentives for corruption; and securing the support of politicians, their parties, and oligarchs.

As with any book, this one has its imperfections. For instance, given the book's title, the concept of “normalization” could usefully be explored in greater depth (it is noteworthy that there is no dedicated entry for this term in the index—it can only be found under “Corruption”). The text is a little repetitive in places. And since the overall picture painted is such a basically depressing one—in part, as Herron argues, because of Russia's meddling—readers might expect more justification for the cautiously optimistic conclusions.

But these are minor criticisms. This is a well-researched and well-argued monograph that should be read by any scholar interested in contemporary Ukrainian politics.