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Anticorruption has become the fulcrum of conditionalities for unstable democracies. In the EU, antigraft packages formed the common denominator of stabilization policies for Romania, Bulgaria, the Western Balkans, Moldova, and Ukraine. Union conditionalities trailed broader international trends and campaigns. The shift led to a crescendo of institutional innovations. Discursively, it generated a degree of conceptual overlap: anticorruption, for peripheral stabilization purposes, equates with the rule of law. I argue that the exclusive stress on anticorruption as a panacea for the (semi)periphery is fraught with perplexities. Paradoxically, in systems that can be reliably described as corrupt, the policy has a propensity to be derailed from its ostensible purposes. This danger results partly from categorial tensions between RoL normativity, on the one hand, and, on the other, the ethical purism and policy quantification inextricably linked with anticorruption. In the context of peripheral crusades, tendencies towards legal instrumentalism and populist emotionalism are exponentially higher than in stable jurisdictions. Consequently, unidirectional attempts to stabilize such systems by way of repressive anticorruption backfire. Likelier results are instability or forms of stability that might not correspond to central, received understandings of how a rule of law liberal-democratic system should operate. By the same token, in the integrated transnational constitutional system located at the intersection of EU and Council of Europe guarantees, "reverse conformities" tend to upset core tenets and representations of the rule of law. The paper argues that anticorruption policies, albeit eminently useful, should be fettered by rule of law constraints, not equated with the notion of the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anticorruption is a prevalent global phenomenon and has yielded many good results. This study empirically tests the real effect of China's anticorruption on corporate acquisition premiums and explores its mechanisms. We find that after the exposure of and crackdown on corrupt provincial officials, firms without political connections had lower mergers and acquisitions (M&A) premiums than those with political connections. Cross‐sectional test results show that when firms are private or in areas with high marketization, the anticorruption event has a greater impact on their acquisition premiums. The channel test demonstrates that anticorruption reduces the value of political connections and improves the negotiation advantages of nonpolitically connected firms, enabling them to pay lower M&A premiums. Our findings indicate that anticorruption can create a considerably fair business environment. Moreover, we confirm the real effects of anticorruption on the distortion of resource allocation at the firm level. Finally, the results of this research have policy implications for the world's largest emerging market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politically connected firms critically rely on their sociopolitical capital to compete; however, a policy-induced loss of board political connections may pose a serious challenge for focal firms and prompt them to develop compensatory moves. Drawing upon resource dependence theory and the nonmarket strategy literature, we examine if and how focal firms may address this challenge through intensifying their bribery activities. Following a year 2013 policy shock that closed the revolving door between former government officials and connected firms in China, we identify a substantial increase of bribery expenditure in a sample of public corporations whose political independent directors were forced by the central government to resign in the subsequent years. Furthermore, we investigate how the strength of this response varies with a host of firm-level contingencies that capture dependence scope and dependence asymmetry in the business-government dyad at the time of the policy announcement. Our study contributes to strategy and governance literatures by demonstrating how firms restructure power relationships after the loss of board political capital. It also sheds light on the regulation of revolving doors under weak institutions by revealing the irony of a well-intentioned "anticorruption" government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While popular with voters, politicians rarely advance anticorruption policies because they can personally inconvenience them. When do the benefits of anticorruption reform outweigh the costs? I explore the role of electoral incentives by leveraging original data on over 600 anticorruption initiatives introduced to state legislatures in Mexico and an overlap between two reforms—one that required states to create local anticorruption systems and one that lifted an 80‐year‐old ban on reelection. Results show that legislators with reelection incentives were more likely to advance anticorruption initiatives and more likely to comply with the creation of local anticorruption systems. Findings underscore that while anticorruption reform is often met with resistance because corruption benefits those in power, electoral incentives can generate conditions under which reform takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One key question driving innovations in corruption studies is how anticorruption reforms can be more impactful and sustainable. This is critical to understand due to the detrimental impact of corrupt practices on equality, human rights, peace, and the rule of law. A significant body of research has shown that many anticorruption initiatives do not produce the expected effect, or they achieve results that fade after the intervention ceases. Seeking to understand how to improve anticorruption outcomes, scholars have turned to causal explanations of the persistence of corruption ranging from institutional settings and individual motives to informal practices and social norms. This article explores the intersection of social norms and corruption as a contribution to improving anticorruption programming. It explains how norms impact our conceptual understanding of corruption and the vicious cycle that exists between corrupt practices and norms. Grounded in the belief that programming and social norm diagnosis need to be contextually driven, we lay out the nascent research on changing social norms that drive corruption and the consequences of ignoring them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Cultura Económica is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The subject of the research is the norms of international and domestic legislation on public procurement, on combating corruption, as well as scientific works on the prevention of corruption crimes and anti-corruption prevention.The purpose of the study is to determine the place of anti-corruption prevention in the system of preventing corruption crimes in the field of public procurement and to study its main directions.The objectives of the study are to analyze the existing approaches in the scientific literature to the characterization of the system for preventing corruption crimes in the field of public procurement, to consider the theoretical foundations of anti-corruption prevention, as well as to characterize the main directions of anti-corruption prevention in the field of public procurement.The work used dialectical, system-structural, formal-logical and other methods of scientific knowledge.The scientific novelty of the work lies in the consideration of issues of anti-corruption prevention in the field of public procurement that were not previously subject to research. The article defines the place of anti-corruption prevention in the system of preventing corruption crimes in the field of public procurement, substantiates the need for the development of anti-corruption prevention in this area, and describes its main directions. The author defines anti-corruption prevention in the field of public procurement as a system of non-coercive measures aimed at creating conditions that stimulate the anti-corruption behavior of public procurement entities. The paper identifies and characterizes five main areas of anti-corruption prevention in the field of public procurement: anti-corruption openness, anti-corruption public control, anti-corruption education, anti-corruption expertise and anti-corruption encouragement. These directions are implemented at three levels: general, group and individual.According to the results of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that in order to optimize the system of preventing corruption crimes in the field of public procurement, it is advisable to develop each of these areas of anti-corruption prevention. The development of the approach outlined in the article will ensure consistency in the analysis and reform of anti-corruption prevention in the field of public procurement.

This essay studies the evolution of India's anticorruption machinery and discourses of corruption from the 1940s to the 1960s as a tussle between the logics of bureaucracy and democracy playing out as part of decolonization. Anticorruption began as a way of safeguarding the British Government of India's war effort from wayward officials pilfering supplies. As the postcolonial government retooled coercive wartime laws and empowered an increasing number of bureaucrats to manage the economy for developmental purposes, anticorruption evolved into a key demonstration of accountability by the state to the Indian people. Meanwhile, discourses of corruption became increasingly politically potent as India's imperial subjects became voting citizens. These discourses created pressure for a reform of the anticorruption machinery. But the mechanisms resisted full democratization and continued to privilege the executive branch as they had in colonial times. Anticorruption mechanisms became used to subdue challenges to power that took place. They were themselves corrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-corruption education is needed to build children's character with integrity. Children are the next generation of the nation who should have national insight and anti-corruption integrity. It cannot be denied that there are some areas that have problems related to the implementation of anti-corruption education for children. The same thing happened in Kesamben Village, Ngajum District, Malang Regency, where the village still needs teaching staff to provide the right method in teaching anti-corruption values for children. this service activity was carried out by the UNIRA Malang KKN-T team using a service learning (S-L) approach, with the ultimate goal of stimulating children to be able to map problems, find solutions and reflect on the results of activities. Based on the service activities that have been carried out, it is evident that all participants are very enthusiastic and can map problems and solutions to reflect back on the material that has been given.

Drawing on the reasoned action approach theory, the study aimed to examine the logical pattern involved in the development and manifestation of anti-corruption (ethical) intentions among accounting students. Data were collected from 447 Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Accounting) students in Ghana, using an explanatory correlational design and a simple random sampling technique. The results indicated that the ethical attitude of MBA (Accounting) students is primarily influenced by mimetic, coercive beliefs, and religiosity, with normative belief showing no significant contribution to shaping ethical attitudes. The findings imply that ethical attitude in accounting serves as a pertinent precursor to the anti-corruption intentions of MBA (Accounting) students. The study recommends that institutions should allow accounting students to uphold their religious values, and that efforts to enhance ethical accounting attitudes should be promoted to foster anti-corruption behaviours among accounting students.

Absenteeism among primary health-care (PHC) workers in Nigeria is widespread and is a major obstacle to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). There is increasing research on the forms it takes and what drives them, but limited evidence on how to address it. The dominant approach has involved government-led topdown solutions (vertical approach). However, these have rarely been successful in countries such as Nigeria. This paper explores alternative approaches based on grassroots (horizontal) approaches. Data collected from interviews with 40 PHC stakeholders in Enugu, Nigeria, were organized in thematic clusters that explored the contribution of horizontal interventions to solving absenteeism in primary health-care facilities. We applied phenomenology to analyze the lived (practical) experiences of respondents. Absenteeism by PHC workers was prevalent and is encouraged by the complex configuration of the PHC system and its operating environment, which constrains topdown interventions. We identified several horizontal approaches that may create effective incentives and compulsions to reduce absenteeism, which include leveraging community resources to improve security of facilities, tapping the resources of philanthropic individuals and organizations to provide accommodation for health workers, and engaging trained health workers as volunteers or placeholders to address shortages of health-care staff. Nevertheless, a holistic response to absenteeism must complement horizontal approaches with vertical measures, with the government supporting and encouraging the health system to develop self-enforcing mechanisms to tackle absenteeism.

Studies indicate that the success of anticorruption reforms depends upon the support of civil society actors (CSAs), whereas bottom-up initiatives need a certain degree of vertical integration with political elites to bring about long-lasting change. Indeed, anticorruption is a multi-actor field populated by political parties, the media, NGOs, interest groups, and social movements. Each of these actors shapes the outcome of the anticorruption struggle, bringing to the fore its logic, goals, strategies, and, most importantly, its discourses. Studies on frames and discourses have shown how corruption narratives inform policymaking. However, few studies have examined institutional and civil society anticorruption frames and their impact on anticorruption policies simultaneously. Focusing on the Italian case through a frame analysis of parties', regulatory agencies', and CSAs' documents, newspapers, and interviews, this work looks at processes of frame alignment and frame disputes between civic and institutional actors and tries to assess their impact in shaping the Whistleblowing Protection Act (2017). The article aims at reintroducing the analysis of grassroots frames alongside institutional ones to understand the impact of discourses on anticorruption policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paralleling dramatic shifts in Malaysian politics since the 1980s have been the twists and turns in the life of Anwar Ibrahim, who became prime minister after decades of striving in November 2022. From student firebrand to wily political strategist, Anwar has been both insider and outsider, balancing principles and ambition, from the streets to prison to parliament, and back around again. Throughout, he has done surely more than anyone else to coax Malaysia along new sociopolitical paths, helping to elevate both conservative Islamism and progressive political liberalism, in novel combinations. His critics are fierce; his fans at least as much so—but his legacy is undeniable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: This study examines whether different entrepreneurship subsidies signal initial public offering (IPO) firms' quality to external investors. We employ a quasi‐natural experiment by exploiting the exogenous, staggered introduction of "Eight‐Point Code" inspections to Chinese provinces, which anticorruption campaign impacts how subsidies match firm quality. Based on a difference‐in‐differences analysis of 584 IPOs, we find that research and development (R&D) subsidies match highly innovative firms regardless of government corruption, but investors interpret R&D subsidies as a quality signal only when government corruption is low. High‐growth subsidies match high‐growth firms only when government corruption is low; however, investors do not interpret high‐growth subsidies as a quality signal regardless of government corruption. Our study contributes by examining subsidy–firm matching and investors' interpretations to isolate the signaling effect of entrepreneurship subsidies. Managerial Summary: Do initial public offering (IPO) investors interpret different entrepreneurship subsidies as signals of entrepreneurial firms' quality? We find that when government corruption is high, research and development (R&D) subsidies are matched to high‐quality firms, but high‐growth (HG) subsidies are not; nevertheless, because of dubious subsidy–firm matching under high corruption, neither R&D nor HG subsidies signal firm quality to IPO investors. When government corruption is low, both R&D and HG subsidies are matched to high‐quality firms; however, because of the distinct nature of innovation and growth, IPO investors interpret only R&D subsidies as a signal of quality, ignoring HG subsidies. Our findings suggest that investors' interpretations of entrepreneurship subsidies depend on subsidy type as well as subsidy–firm matching under different anticorruption regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive examination of the evidence available, contained in U.S. government statements, English-language media accounts, and hacked Telegram chats among Brazilian prosecutors, indicates that the United States was closely involved in the "long coup" that removed the left from power in Brazil in 2016 and secured the election of the far-right in 2018. Just as after Brazil's U.S.-backed 1964 coup, this evidence has largely been ignored by U.S. scholars. Latin Americanists would do well to return to the anti-imperialist tradition that established our field as a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy. Um exame abrangente das evidências disponíveis, contidas em declarações do governo dos EUA, relatos da mídia em inglês e bate-papos hackeados no Telegram entre promotores da justiça no Brasil, indica que os Estados Unidos estiveram intimamente envolvidos no "longo golpe" que removeu a esquerda do poder no Brasil em 2016 e garantiu a eleição da extrema-direita em 2018. Tal como depois do golpe de Estado de 1964 apoiado pelos EUA, esta evidência tem sido amplamente ignorada pelos académicos norte-americanos. Os latino-americanistas fariam bem em regressar à tradição anti-imperialista que estabeleceu o nosso campo como um dos principais críticos da política externa dos EUA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the campus nowdays there is no special subject for anticorruption. Wereas anticorruption subject is much needed by students due to with it students can play a role actively for campaign anticorruption. The thing can be done and enable appropriate with those conditions is to integrate civics educations subject to anticorruption. During the Covid-19, the trend using technology on all aspect of life increase. Therefore, so that students have integrity character so needed civics education textbook based anticorruption education integrated ICT (information, communication, dan technology). This research aim to describe validity and practicality civics education textbook based anticorruption integrated ICT. The kind of research is needed RnD (Research and Development) with 4D Model approach (define, design, develop, and disseminate). Reserch respondent use teacher candidate student consist of 5 majors. Data collection technique use expert validation, interview, and students responses. Data are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The result of validation showed that textbook declared valid with contents 8 chapters and integrated to anticorruption comprehensive. Book material is wrotten structured accurated and deep. Language is used also easy understood with diction varied and interactive. Content of textbook equipped with pictures, chart, and illustration wich could facilitate several of students learning style. The result of testing also showed that textbook practical used in the learning. Students can easy to understand and think in line to essensial material in the textbook. Moreover, textbook also easy brougth, read, and saved.

Vietnam in 2022 was beset with numerous dramatic political developments and diplomatic uncertainties but also recorded significant economic achievements. Changes in the top echelons of power took place in an unprecedented manner due to the intensifying anticorruption campaign, exposing the malleability of elite Vietnamese governing institutions and shrinking the space for civil society organizations. Meanwhile, Vietnam was recognized for its outstanding recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with remarkable economic performance. The country's "bamboo diplomacy" was put under stress amid challenges caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the US--China strategic rivalry. Navigating the turbulence and uncertainty of domestic and international affairs while maintaining the momentum of economic recovery will be the main challenge for Vietnam in 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Absenteeism among primary health-care (PHC) workers in Nigeria is widespread and is a major obstacle to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). There is increasing research on the forms it takes and what drives them, but limited evidence on how to address it. The dominant approach has involved government-led topdown solutions (vertical approach). However, these have rarely been successful in countries such as Nigeria. This paper explores alternative approaches based on grassroots (horizontal) approaches. Data collected from interviews with 40 PHC stakeholders in Enugu, Nigeria, were organized in thematic clusters that explored the contribution of horizontal interventions to solving absenteeism in primary health-care facilities. We applied phenomenology to analyze the lived (practical) experiences of respondents. Absenteeism by PHC workers was prevalent and is encouraged by the complex configuration of the PHC system and its operating environment, which constrains topdown interventions. We identified several horizontal approaches that may create effective incentives and compulsions to reduce absenteeism, which include leveraging community resources to improve security of facilities, tapping the resources of philanthropic individuals and organizations to provide accommodation for health workers, and engaging trained health workers as volunteers or placeholders to address shortages of health-care staff. Nevertheless, a holistic response to absenteeism must complement horizontal approaches with vertical measures, with the government supporting and encouraging the health system to develop self-enforcing mechanisms to tackle absenteeism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 stretched health systems, exacerbated by concerns about those that are corrupt and lack equity. Twelve (12) health workers and 12 hospital social workers across Nigeria were purposively sampled and virtually interviewed to explore unaccountability and corruption effects on COVID-19 responses. Findings show that corruption and unaccountability negatively affected responses of frontline health workers to the pandemic. Lack of social care and justice services for patients and health workers across health facilities in Nigeria worsened the negative effects. Effectively mainstreaming social care and justice services into Nigeria's healthcare led by well-trained social workers will improve the health sector via anticorruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the historical meaning of corruption and its forms of contrast in late medieval Bologna. It focuses on understanding the different and changing notions this form of classifiable crime, performed by public officers, assumed in the three main statutes produced in the city between the late Thirteenth and early Fourteenth century: the statutes of 1250-1267, of 1288 and of 1335. Apart from providing a detailed account of all the different actions considered as corruptio in these normative texts, the paper goes further, comparing these dispositions with documents that can offer insights into the practical aspects of the phenomenon, such as chronicles and legal cases. pertaining to the ad maleficia courts [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rivista Italiana di Filosofia Politica is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the drivers for pushing for open data as a form of corruption control stems from the belief that in making government operations more transparent, it would be possible to hold public officials accountable for how public resources are spent. These large datasets would then be open to the public for scrutiny and analysis, resulting in lower levels of corruption. Though data quality has been largely studied and many advancements have been made, it has not been extensively applied to open data, with some aspects of data quality receiving more attention than others. One key aspect however—accuracy—seems to have been overlooked. This gap resulted in our inquiry: how is accurate open data produced and how might breakdowns in this process introduce opportunities for corruption? We study a government agency situated within the Brazilian Federal Government in order to understand in what ways is accuracy compromised. Adopting a distributed cognition (DCog) theoretical framework, we found that the production of open data is not a neutral activity, instead it is a distributed process performed by individuals and artifacts. This distributed cognitive process creates opportunities for data to be concealed and misrepresented. Two models mapping data production were generated, the combination of which provided an insight into how cognitive processes are distributed, how data flow, are transformed, stored, and processed, and what instances provide opportunities for data inaccuracies and misrepresentations to occur. The results obtained have the potential to aid policymakers in improving data accuracy.

The paper explores some normative challenges concerning the integration of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms into anticorruption in public institutions. The challenges emerge from the tensions between an approach treating ML algorithms as allies to an exclusively legalistic conception of anticorruption and an approach seeing them within an institutional ethics of office accountability. We explore two main challenges. One concerns the variable opacity of some ML algorithms, which may affect public officeholders’ capacity to account for institutional processes relying upon ML techniques. The other pinpoints the risk that automating certain institutional processes may weaken officeholders’ direct engagement to take forward-looking responsibility for the working of their institution. We discuss why both challenges matter to see how ML algorithms may enhance (and not hinder) institutional answerability practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting a recent anticorruption campaign in China, an event that incentivizes government officials to hide negative news from central inspection teams (CITs), we study whether market participants can counter that. We find that firm‐level information embedded in stock price actually increases during CIT visits, especially in regions with poor legal environments, stronger social connection, or state‐owned firms. Further, media coverage, analyst coverage, and corporate site visits by external stakeholders increase during the CIT visits. Collectively, our findings indicate that the market defeats local government officials' attempt to hide firm‐specific news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The police are the initial faces of law enforcement and commence the criminal justice process and thus hold significant responsibility for functioning law and order. As key representatives of the state, the integrity of the police in all societies is pivotal to retain public trust in the rule of law and the preservation of internal security. When police corruption is exposed or is perceived by the public to be prevalent, confidence in and communal relations with the police force become disjointed. Poor credibility of the police also negatively impacts on the legitimacy of the government. Negative public perceptions of both the police and government are particularly troublesome in violently divided societies or states undergoing armed conflict. The article focuses on the main causes and consequences of police corruption in hostile environments to introduce a range of prevention strategies to combat it and restore public confidence in policing and governance. The article suggests that a holistic anticorruption strategy, rather than a linear one, has the potential to raise awareness, increase pay to deter petty forms of corruption, install independent anticorruption agencies, and periodically rotate police officers to increase police integrity and loyalty for the host country. It is recommended that these multifaceted prevention strategies are needed within a police force that is faced with a violently divided society to reaffirm public support and deter support for armed anti-governmental oppositional groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What motivates front-line officials to curtail corruption? We contend that performance management can reinforce top-down accountability in authoritarian governments and help contain corruption at the local level. Drawing on a nationally representative panel data of approximately 120 villages in China, we find that when anticorruption is prescribed as a salient policy goal in the township-to-village performance evaluation, village officials are incentivized to curb corruption. We further present evidence that the mandate for maintaining social stability propels township-level governments to prioritize the anticorruption work in the performance evaluation of village officials given that corruption constitutes a crucial trigger for social unrest. Our study sheds light on the understanding of performance management, bureaucratic accountability, and anticorruption policies in authoritarian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anticorruption movement since 2012 has a deep impact on Chinese social governance and economic development. This paper examines the effect of anticorruption rules on the performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and suggests that perquisite consumption of SOEs has an implicit incentive for the executives. Although anticorruption rules restrict the excess perks of SOEs and reduce financial performance, it unexpectedly boosts SOEs' capital market value. A few mechanisms may be at work: (i) the diminishing marginal utility of executive perquisite consumption of SOEs; (ii) a refined macroeconomic environment leads to better performance in company value; and (iii) the decreased financing costs has a positive effect on the company value of SOEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides firm-level empirical evidence of the policy effects of China's anticorruption campaign on SOE (state-owned enterprise) entrepreneur behaviour and corporate governance. While conflicts between corruption monitoring and performance of SOEs do exist, the 2012 anticorruption movement has profoundly changed Chinese political entrepreneurs' power choice and accountability for SOE corporate governance. Specifically, this paper shows that the anticorruption measures have effectively reduced the sum of perks but aroused excessive asset extraction. When perk consumption has been seriously curtailed by the anticorruption rules, SOE executives' reversed expectation precipitates their opportunistic activities in SOE's tangible asset management and undermines SOE's long-term corporate value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fighting corruption is often seen as a crucial step toward building better institutions, but how it affects political selection remains less well understood. This article argues that in systems where corruption functions as an informal incentive for government to attract talent, anticorruption initiatives that curb rent-seeking opportunities may unintentionally weaken both the quality and the representativeness of the bureaucracy. The authors test this argument in China using an original nationwide survey of government officials and an identification strategy that exploits exogenous variations in enforcement levels created by the recent anticorruption campaign. The study finds that intensified enforcement has generated two potentially negative selection effects: a deterrence effect that lowers the average ability of newly recruited bureaucrats, and a compositional effect that discourages the entry of lower-class individuals in favor of those who are affluent and well connected. These findings highlight important hidden human capital costs of corruption elimination in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does punishment of corruption help to build public support in authoritarian regimes? We outline two primary mechanisms. Instrumentally, the ability to pursue anticorruption initiatives to the end signals government capacity. Deontologically, anticorruption punishment signals moral commitments. Through a novel experiment design for mediation analysis embedded in a series of conjoint experiments conducted in China, we find individual-level evidence to support both mechanisms. Specifically, we find that Chinese citizens positively view local government officials who punish their corrupt subordinates and that this positive view arises out of the perception that these officials are both competent in their jobs and morally committed to citizens' value. The preference for anticorruption punishment is substantial compared to other sources of public support in authoritarian regimes—economic performance, welfare provision, and institutions for political participation—suggesting that it could become a popular strategy among autocrats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the evolution of laws and institutions related to public sector accountability in Pakistan since its independence. It critically outlines a chronological legal history of the regulatory and institutions anti-corruption frameworks since 1860. It overviews the development phases of the promulgation, amendments, and annulment of such laws and points to the intent of the legislature and lawmakers in defining the scope of and promulgating these laws. In this regard, it outlines several different laws and seven evolution categories of accountability institutions. The authors also touch upon the influence of political government changes on such laws, especially through to contemporary political situation of Pakistan. In the later sections, there is a discussion on the international (comparative) context of accountability mechanisms followed up by conclusion. This paper offers a comprehensive review of accountability history vis-à-vis its institutional mechanisms and bodies, and serves as a source document for policy makers, academic researchers, and students of accountability in the context of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although first noted discussions at the United Nations (UN) level about corruption are reaching their 50th anniversary, the core of the UN activity against corruption has taken place in the last quarter of a century. The 2021 special debate at the UN General Assembly was an opportunity for the institution to pause and reflect about its role over this period in the international fight against corruption. It also presented a (partially missed) opportunity for the UN to renew its commitment and reconsider its approach for the next 25 years. This article provides first an overview of the UN activity against corruption, which relies on two main pillars. On the one hand, the well-known United Nations Convention Against Corruption (uncac)1 in force since 2005, which has received remarkable academic attention and is an example of success in terms of ratifications. On the other hand, the insertion in Sustainable Development Goal 16 of an anticorruption objective (16.5) and its related indicators, which is not as widely acknowledged by anticorruption activists and scholars but serves as a recognition of the importance of tackling corruption in the development context. The article offers a historical contextualisation of both initiatives, analyses this dual approach and explores the impact of these initiatives in the global and domestic contexts. Based on previous research from the author, it highlights their joint value as a true global statement against corruption and an authoritative recognition of its damaging effects and their importance for peace, security, development, human rights and human wellbeing. The article presents, nevertheless, a critical analysis showing their shortcomings and the lack of a real effect of these instruments in overcoming or at least reducing corruption and kleptocracy at the international level. It proposes three different avenues within the UN mandate and fields of action that could guide newer initiatives. First, it explores the possibility of individual (non-criminal) ‘smart’ sanctions, modelled on the counter-terrorism regime driven by national governments, but assisted by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (unodc). Second, the article considers how the economic and trade dimension of the UN, especially at the regional economic commissions level, could be reinvigorated with a mandate to tackle corruption through economic instruments. Third, it analyses how an optional protocol to the uncac could give more ‘teeth’ to the Convention. The general conclusion is that the UN, within its existing powers, has significant potential to take anticorruption initiatives a step further as the current ones have almost exhausted their shelf life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object/Context: This article analyses and compares the ideological dimension of anticorruption discourses and policies in Colombia during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) and Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) and in Ecuador during the presidency of Rafael Correa (2007-2017). Methodology: We develop an ideological and discourse analysis of corruption discourses combining the theoretical framework of Laclau and Mouffe on discourse analysis with the morphological analysis of ideologies developed by Michael Freeden. We utilize this theoretical framework in order to analyze both qualitatively and quantitatively anticorruption discourses and policies. Conclusions: In the Colombian case the anticorruption discourse of presidents Uribe and Santos (2002-2018) legitimized a neoliberal order by articulating corruption as a phenomenon that belongs primarily to the public sphere. The government of Correa (2007-2017), however, identified corruption primarily with the private sector. As a consequence, his anticorruption discourse served to resist the neoliberal order and legitimize the ideology of the twenty first-century socialism. Originality: There are very few studies that unearth the ideological dimension of anticorruption discourses and policies. This paper seeks to fill this vacuum by utilizing an innovative theoretical framework that allows us to identify the ways in which anticorruption discourses and policies serve to legitimize and implement a political ideology

Does digitalization reduce corruption? What are the integrity benefits of government digitalization? While the correlation between digitalization and corruption is well established, there is less actionable evidence on the integrity dividends of specific digitalization reforms on different types of corruption and the policy channels through which they operate. These linkages are especially relevant in high corruption risk environments. This article unbundles the integrity dividends of digital reforms undertaken by governments around the world, accelerated by the pandemic. It analyzes the rise of data-driven integrity analytics as promising tools in the anticorruption space deployed by tech-savvy integrity actors. It also assesses the broader integrity benefits of the digitalization of government services and the automation of bureaucratic processes, which contribute to reducing bribe solicitation risks by front-office bureaucrats. It analyzes in particular the impact of digitalization on social transfers. It argues that government digitalization can be an implicit yet effective anticorruption strategy, with subtler yet deeper effects, but there needs to be greater synergies between digital reforms and anticorruption strategies.

Motivation: Bribery is common in Uganda's health sector, with an estimated one in four Ugandans who engage with the sector being asked to pay a bribe for services in 2010. Health workers in the public sector are badly paid, while significant numbers of well‐trained health workers emigrate to find better‐paid work. However, between 2010 and 2015, estimated rates of bribery halved in Ugandan health services. Purpose: Why did bribery in Uganda's health service fall so much in the 2010s? What does this mean for anticorruption research and practice? Approach and methods: In addition to reviewing relevant literature and documents, in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with service providers, users and experts were conducted in Uganda's Central, Eastern and Western provinces. Findings: The establishment of the Health Monitoring Unit (HMU) in 2009 has been a major factor in reducing bribery. It used highly visible, often controversial investigations based on a principal–agent approach to anticorruption. Its approach, however, also led to negative unintended consequences, including undermining morale among frontline health providers and probably also citizens' trust in health services. It is moreover questionable if the HMU's approach can be sustained. Policy Implications: To tackle frontline bribery effectively and sustainably, and so enhance service delivery, anticorruption interventions must consider the underlying functions and needs—such as compensating frontline staff for low wages—that bribery may help fill. Otherwise controls on corruption may result in more harm than the good they do in reducing corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]