The Strategic Use of Public Information in Anti-Corruption Agencies: Evidence from the Asia-Pacific Region

Abstract

In this era of anti-corruption policy-making, the Internet provides a potentially critical strategic resource for anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) aiming to promote organizational and policy learning. Realizing its potential is a creative challenge that will tap different types of capacities in the agency and its environment. We present a framework for understanding the information-related functions that underpin policy and organizational learning for ACAs, develop a rating criteria to assess strategic information usage, and then assess five ACAs in the Asia Pacific region on one aspect of strategic information usage: dissemination via the Internet. Agencies differ markedly in the degree to which their use of public information dissemination via the Internet is “strategic” in nature, pointing towards a new arena for capacity building and strategy development.