Corruption Studies for the Twenty-First Century: Paradigm Shifts and Innovative Approaches

Abstract

Slavonic and East European Review, 95, 1, 2017 Corruption Studies for the TwentyFirst Century: Paradigm Shifts and Innovative Approaches ALENA LEDENEVA, ROXANA BRATU and PHILIPP KÖKER The key question currently driving innovations in corruption studies is why anti-corruption reforms do not work. The explanatory factors for the disappointing outcomes of anti-corruption interventions over the last twenty-five years include those associated with: 1) understanding and modelling of corrupt practices; 2) measurement and monitoring; and 3) policy design and implementation. This special issue emerges from the international seminar series on innovations in corruption studies in Europe and beyond held by the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London, between October 2015 and March 2016. The purpose of the series, which brought together researchers of the project ‘Anticorruption Policies Revisited: Global Trends and European Responses to the Challenges of Corruption’ (ANTICORRP), was to highlight innovations in the field of corruption studies regarding theory, methodology, analysis and policy. The articles in this issue represent a sample of the wider academic debates but focus on integrating expertise relating to Central and Eastern Europe Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at UCL SSEES, Roxana Bratu is an ANTICORRP Postdoctoral Research Associate in Global and European Anti-Corruption Policies at UCL SSEES (2012–17) and Philipp Köker is a Senior Research Fellow in Politics and International Relations in the School of Psychology, Politics and Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University, and ANTICORRP Fellow at UCL SSEES from 2012 to 2016. The authors wish to thank the European Commission and the SSEES Centre for European Politics, Security and Integration for their financial support of the series, and all participants in the seminars for their constructive comments, useful suggestions and insightful contributions to the general discussion. The authors likewise gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the anonymous SEER reviewers, SEER Deputy Editor Dr Barbara Wyllie, General Editor Professor Martyn Rady and the SEER Editorial Board. ALENA LEDENEVA, ROXANA BRATU & PHILIPP KÖKER 2 — the domain of Slavonic and East European Review (SEER) — into a comparative framework. The outcome reflects the openness of the authors to work across area and discipline and to ensure cross-fertilization between area studies and the social sciences in general. Such network-based research has been enabled by funding from the European Commission.1 Wider ANTICORRP findings include a historical analysis of corrupt practices,2 how they are reflected in the media,3 how they surface in measurement,4 how they relate both to good governance and to organized crime5 and how they differ locally, regionally and globally.6 In this special issue, we interpret ‘corruption studies’ narrowly, meaning academic discourse, separate from government policy, media or activist discourses. Rather, we focus on the challenges in corruption studies and the emergence of cross-discipline and cross-area analyses in order to accommodate the complexity and context-bound nature of corruption. 1. The challenges of defining and modelling corruption One of the earlier academic definitions postulates that corruption is ‘the intentional misperformance or neglect of a recognized duty, or the unwarranted exercise of power, with the motive of gaining some 1 Grant No. 290529, ‘Anticorruption Policies Revisited: Global Trends and European Responses to the Challenges of Corruption’. 2 Mette Frisk Jensen and James Kennedy (eds), ‘Two literature reviews on the pre-modern and modern categories of cases respectively’, ANTICORRP Deliverable D2.1, August 2013 [accessed 24 October 2016]. 3 Paolo Mancini (ed.), ‘A comparative research on the print press coverage of corruption’, ANTICORRP Deliverable D6.1, June 2016 [accessed 24 October 2016]. 4 Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (ed.), ‘A comparative assessment of regional trends and aspects related to control of corruption’, ANTICORRP Deliverable D3.2.1, February 2014 [accessed 24 October 2016]; Jana Warkotsch (ed.), ‘Case study reports on control of corruption and EU funds’, ANTICORRP Deliverable D8.2, February 2016 [accessed 24 October 2016]. 5 Salvatore Sberna and Alberto Vannucci (eds), ‘Integrated report on the link between political corruption and organised crime’, ANTICORRP Deliverable D9.1, February 2015 [accessed 24 October 2016]. 6 Davide Torsello (ed.), ‘Comparative country reports on institutional performance’, ANTICORRP Deliverable D4.1, June 2014 [accessed 24 October 2016]; Lena Wängnerud, ‘Case...