Never waste a crisis

Abstract

In the last five years, corruption scandals have rocked South America, leading to the indictment and conviction of top elected officials as well as civil and criminal charges against some of the region’s richest and most powerful corporations. The largest corruption investigation, the Operação Lava Jato (Operation Carwash) scandal in Brazil, has ensnared the former Brazilian president Lula da Silva, led to the arrest and conviction of industrial magnates, and uncovered similar bribery schemes in twelve other countries, including Peru, Argentina, Panama, and Venezuela. In the midst of these dramatic events, South American countries have passed some of the most noteworthy anti-corruption legislation in the region’s history. This chapter examines the wave of anti-corruption reforms and how international law, particularly anti-corruption treaties, has had an important influence on the content of these reforms. The chapter argues that the OECD Anti-Bribery Working Group, in particular, has acted as a political entrepreneur advocating for specific and meaningful reforms. The influence of international law was critical to ensuring that reforms adopted during a crisis were robust and that the opportunity presented by the crisis was not lost. This chapter holistically examines this reform process in South America and analyzes the role of international law and international organizations in these national anti-corruption efforts. The chapter also makes several important contributions to the growing field of anti-corruption law. First, it applies a theory of government decision-making during crises to the South American corruption crisis. Drawing on theories of reform during financial crises, this chapter explains how corruption crises present unique opportunities for popular reforms to take hold. Second, the chapter discusses how political entrepreneurs, including the international bodies responsible for implementing anti-corruption treaties, can use international law and global standards to promote meaningful reforms. Third, the chapter traces the process of reform through multiple South American countries to demonstrate how this process works. The chapter illustrates how countries that were members of the OECD Convention responded systematically differently to corruption crises than countries that were not. Finally, the chapter demonstrates how interwoven international and national law have become in the anti-corruption field. International law not only has influence by providing global rules, but also by offering credible policy recommendations in times of national crisis.