Towards a Fresh Engagement in Rule-of-Law Cooperation: Supporting the Compliance Movement in Russia

Rule-of-law dialogue between the West and Russia has effectively run into a dead end. This paper attempts to open up a new perspective by addressing the corporation as a sub-unit of society. Observing that Russia, before adopting a comprehensive legal framework for risk management in Summer 2018, has had almost 20 years of experience in various approaches to risk management and corporate compliance, the question is whether corporate law has finally reached the point of shedding some of the characteristic features of Russian law in general to turn the corporate sphere into a space in which citizens are able to pursue their business interests in a safe and legally protected manner. Thus, we may be on the eve of witnessing the emergence of a rule-of-law culture outside the traditional domain of citizen-state relations. This would open up avenues for a renewed dialogue on rule of law between the West and Russia.