Taking Stock of 30 Years of CEE Transformation: Institutionalisation of Public Sector Integrity Management in Estonia

The article takes an in-depth look at integrity management reforms in the context of Central and Eastern European post-communist transformation. Despite the centrality of integrity management for post-communist administrative change, there is only limited longitudinal research on the topic and no ready-made theoretical frameworks available for analysis. The article tackles both gaps. By relying on an analytical framework that combines values-based and compliance-based systems, integrity management functions, and factors of institutional change, the study examines the institutionalisation of public sector integrity management in Estonia. The article concludes that the development of the Estonian system and its evolution from an initial compliance-based approach towards a more values-based approach has been shaped by a combination of factors: the desire to overcome the country’s communist legacy, pressure and examples from the international level, and the strategies of politico-administrative actors. Reliance on a system with “softer” instruments has been facilitated by radical changes in the initial phase of transformation, a decrease in the level of corruption, the constraints of a decentralised administrative system, and an increase in administrative capacity and expertise.