Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

What is the “Anti-corruption” Norm in Global Politics?

Norm Robustness and Contestation in the Transnational Governance of Corruption

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Corruption and Norms

Part of the book series: Political Corruption and Governance ((PCG))

Abstract

In their investigation of anti-corruption at the global level, Gutterman and Lohaus address the robustness of the norm and instances of contestation. Judging by United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC)’s wide ratification, public opinion, and the spread of anti-corruption laws, the norm is very robust. Yet low levels of compliance and mixed reactions to norm violations raise some doubts about its impact. Anti-corruption is particularly contested in three dimensions: First, it clashes with notions of sovereignty. Second, developing states in particular engage in applicatory contestation as they criticize corruption measurements and conflicts with local norms. Peer review in the United Nations also raises concerns. As a third point of contestation, the chapter addresses the evolution of anti-corruption advocacy, now that activists seek to broaden the norm beyond its relatively narrow, transactional focus on bribery.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.track.unodc.org/LegalLibrary/Pages/AllLegalResources.aspx

  2. 2.

    As Deitelhoff and Zimmermann have pointed out, applicatory contestation might be “validity contestation in disguise.”

  3. 3.

    http://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/overview

  4. 4.

    http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/pdf/cc.pdf

  5. 5.

    Staying with the analogy to human rights, the controversy about the International Criminal Court seems to follow a similar logic.

  6. 6.

    http://www.integrityinitiatives.org

References

  • Abbott, Kenneth W., and Duncan Snidal. 2002. Values and Interests: International Legalization in the Fight Against Corruption. The Journal of Legal Studies 31: 141–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnone, Marco, and Leonardo S. Borlini. 2014. Corruption: Economic Analysis and International Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Associated Press. 2017. Romanian Protesters Get Key Concession, Seek More Changes. The New York Times, February 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, Hannes. 2016. A Failure of Governmentality: Why Transparency International Underestimated Corruption in Ben Ali’s Tunisia. Third World Quarterly 38: 467–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloomfield, Alan, and Shirley V. Scott. 2016. Norm Antipreneurs and the Politics of Resistance to Global Normative Change. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, Tanja A., Andreas Stahn, and Yasemin Pamuk. 2010. The European Union and the Fight against Corruption in Its near Abroad: Can It Make a Difference? Global Crime 11: 122–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bukovansky, Mlada. 2002. Corruption Is Bad: Normative Dimensions of the Anti-Corruption Movement. Canberra: Australia National University, Department of International Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. The Hollowness of Anti-Corruption Discourse. Review of International Political Economy 13: 181–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buscaglia, Edgardo. 2011. On Best and Not so Good Practices for Addressing High-Level Corruption Worldwide: An Empirical Assessment. In International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, ed. Susan Rose-Ackerman and Tina Søreide, vol. 2, 453–477. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casey, Nicholas, and Andrea Zarate. 2017. Corruption Scandals with Brazilian Roots Cascade Across Latin America. The New York Times, February 13. https://nyti.ms/2kEI39g. Accessed 22 June 2017.

  • Cheng, Christine S., and Dominik Zaum. 2008. Introduction – Key Themes in Peacebuilding and Corruption. International Peacekeeping 15: 301–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, W.M. 2015. Institutionalizing a Global Anti-Corruption Regime: Perverse Effects on Country Outcomes, 1984–2012. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 56: 53–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Kevin, Angelina Fisher, Benedict Kingsbury, and Sally Engle Merry. 2012. Governance by Indicators: Global Power through Classification and Rankings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • De Jaegere, Samuel. 2012. Principles for Anti-Corruption Agencies: A Game Changer. Jindal Journal of Public Policy 1: 79–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deitelhoff, Nicole, and Lisbeth Zimmermann. 2013. Things We Lost in the Fire: How Different Types of Contestation Affect the Validity of International Norms. PRIF Working Papers, 18. Frankfurt am Main. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-455201. Accessed 11 November 2016.

  • ———. 2016. A Phoenix Tale? The Dynamics of Norm Robustness. Paper Presented at the 57th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, Atlanta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnemore, Martha, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. International Norm Dynamics and Political Change. International Organization 52: 887–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friman, H. Richard. 2015. The Politics of Leverage in International Relations: Name, Shame, and Sanction, Palgrave Studies in International Relations. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Funaki, Yoshino, and Blair Glencorse. 2014. Anti-Corruption or Accountability? International Efforts in Post-Conflict Liberia. Third World Quarterly 35: 836–854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galtung, Frederik. 2000. A Global Network to Curb Corruption: The Experience of Transparency International. In The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society, ed. Ann Florini, 17–47. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, Barbara C., Kathleen A. Lacey, and Jutta Birmele. 1999. On the Threshold of the Adoption of Global Antibribery Legislation: A Critical Analysis of Current Domestic and International Efforts Toward the Reduction of Business Corruption. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 32: 1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynn, Patrick, Stephen J. Kobrin, and Moisés Naím. 1997. The Globalization of Corruption. In Corruption and the Global Economy, ed. Kimberly Ann Elliott, 7–27. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Group of States against Corruption. Welcome to the GRECO Website. http://www.coe.int/web/greco. Accessed 15 June 2017.

  • Gutterman, Ellen. 2014. The Legitimacy of Transnational NGOs: Lessons from the Experience of Transparency International in Germany and France. Review of International Studies 40: 391–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016a. Banning Bribes Abroad: U.S. Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Osgoode Hall Law Journal 53: 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016b. Corruption in the Global Economy. In International Political Economy, ed. Greg Anderson and Christopher John Kukucha, 456–475. Don Mills: Oxford University Press Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday, Terence C., Michael Levi, and Peter Reuter. 2014. Global Surveillance of Dirty Money: Assessing Assessments of Regimes to Control Money-Laundering and Combat the Financing of Terrorism. Center on Law and Globalization, January 30. http://www.lexglobal.org/files/Report_Global%20Surveillance%20of%20Dirty%20Money%201.30.2014.pdf. Accessed 5 July 2016.

  • Heckel, Heather, and Jennifer McCoy. 2001. The Emergence of a Global Anti-Corruption Norm. International Politics 38: 65–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heywood, Paul M., and Jonathan Rose. 2014. “Close but No Cigar”: The Measurement of Corruption. Journal of Public Policy 34: 507–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hindess, Barry. 2005. Investigating International Anti-Corruption. Third World Quarterly 26: 1389–1398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huntington, Samuel P. 1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Integrity Initiatives International. Integrity Initiatives International. http://www.integrityinitiatives.org. Accessed 17 June 2017.

  • International Anti-Corruption Conference. IACC Series. https://iaccseries.org. Accessed 11 November 2016.

  • Jakobi, Anja P. 2013. Common Goods and Evils? The Formation of Global Crime Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Joutsen, Matti. 2011. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption. In Handbook of Global Research and Practice in Corruption, ed. Adam Graycar and Russell Smith, 303–318. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joutsen, Matti, and Adam Graycar. 2012. When Experts and Diplomats Agree: Negotiating Peer Review of the UN Convention Against Corruption. Global Governance 18: 425–439.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaczmarek, Sarah C., and Abraham L. Newman. 2011. The Long Arm of the Law: Extraterritoriality and the National Implementation of Foreign Bribery Legislation. International Organization 65: 745–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, Judith G., and Beth A. Simmons. 2015. Politics by Number: Indicators as Social Pressure in International Relations. American Journal of Political Science 59: 55–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Hun Joon, and J.C. Sharman. 2014. Accounts and Accountability: Corruption, Human Rights, and Individual Accountability Norms. International Organization 68: 417–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klotz, Audie Jeanne. 1999. Norms in International Relations: The Struggle Against Apartheid. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knack, Stephen. 2007. Measuring Corruption: A Critique of Indicators in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Journal of Public Policy 27: 255–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehler, Mike, The FCPA’s Record-Breaking Year (May 20, 2017). Connecticut Law Review (forthcoming). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2971529

  • Leys, Colin. 1965. What Is the Problem About Corruption? The Journal of Modern African Studies 3: 215–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, Jonas, and Camilla Orjuela. 2014. Corruption in the Aftermath of War: An Introduction. Third World Quarterly 35: 723–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, Paulette, Beth A. Simmons, and Brandon Stewart. 2011. The Global Diffusion of Law: Transnational Crime and the Case of Human Trafficking. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network, August 15. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2289428. Accessed 16 February 2017.

  • Lohaus, Mathis. 2016. Global Consensus on Corruption? International Organizations, Diffusion, and the Design of Agreements. Doctoral dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, Lucinda A., Sarah R. Lamoree, and John London. 2015. The “Demand Side” of Transnational Bribery and Corruption: Why Leveling the Playing Field on the Supply Side Isn’t Enough. Fordham Law Review 84: 563–599.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malito, Debora Valentina. 2014. Measuring Corruption Indicators and Indices. EUI Working Paper, RSCAS 2014/13. European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcoux, Christopher, and Johannes Urpelainen. 2013. Non-Compliance by Design: Moribund Hard Law in International Institutions. The Review of International Organizations 8: 163–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mauro, Paolo. 1997. Why Worry About Corruption? Economic Issues. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/EXTERNAL/PUBS/FT/ISSUES6/. Accessed 23 July 2013.

  • McMann, Kelly, Daniel Pemstein, Brigitte Seim, Jan Teorell, and Staffan I. Lindberg. 2016. Strategies of Validation: Assessing the Varieties of Democracy Corruption Data. Working Paper Series (23). Gothenburg: The Varieties of Democracy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mungiu-Pippidi, Alina. 2015. The Quest for Good Governance: How Societies Develop Control of Corruption. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mungiu-Pippidi, Alina, Masa Loncaric, Bianca Vaz Mundo, Sponza Braga, Ana Carolina, Michael Weinhardt, Angelica Pulido Solares, et al. 2011. Contextual Choices in Fighting Corruption: Lessons Learned: Report 4/2011 – Study. Oslo: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadelmann, Ethan. 1990. Global Prohibition Regimes: The Evolution of Norms in International Society. International Organization 44: 479–526.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naím, Moisés. 1995. Corruption Eruption. Brown Journal of World Affairs. http://carnegieendowment.org/1995/06/01/corruption-eruption/3248. Accessed 23 July 2013.

  • Niemann, Holger, and Henrik Schillinger. 2016. Contestation “All the Way Down”? The Grammar of Contestation in Norm Research. Review of International Studies: 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noonan, John Thomas. 1984. Bribes. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, J.S. 1967. Corruption and Political Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis. The American Political Science Review 61: 417–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 2000. No Longer Business as Usual: Fighting Bribery and Corruption. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. 2015 Data on Enforcement of the Anti-Bribery Convention. Paris: OECD Working Group on Bribery. http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/WGB-Enforcement-Data-2015.pdf. Accessed 23 June 2017.

  • Organization of American States. 2009. OAS – Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. http://www.oas.org/en/sla/dil/inter_american_treaties_B-58_against_Corruption.asp. Accessed 15 June 2017.

  • Palifka, Bonnie F. 2017. Why the Repeal of the U.S. Publish-What-You-Pay Rule Is a Major Setback for Combating Corruption in the Extractive Sector. The Global Anticorruption Blog, February 9. https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2017/02/09/why-the-repeal-of-the-u-s-publish-what-you-pay-rule-is-a-major-setback-for-combating-corruption-in-the-extractive-sector/. Accessed 22 June 2017.

  • Percy, Sarah. 2007. Mercenaries: The History of a Norm in International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Price, Richard M. 2007. The Chemical Weapons Taboo. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, Cecily. 2015. International Anti-Corruption Norms: Their Creation and Influence on Domestic Legal Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rose-Ackerman, Susan. 1999. Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, Steven. 2005. Integrity Warriors: Global Morality and the Anti-Corruption Movement in the Balkans. In Corruption: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. Dieter Haller and Cris Shore, 103–130. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, Rebecca. 2014. Legal Frontiers: Targeted Killing at the Borders of War. Journal of Human Rights 13: 12–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandholtz, Wayne. 2008. Dynamics of International Norm Change: Rules against Wartime Plunder. European Journal of International Relations 14: 101–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandholtz, Wayne, and Mark M. Gray. 2003. International Integration and National Corruption. International Organization 57: 761–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schroth, Peter W. 2005. The United Nations Convention Against Doing Anything Serious about Corruption. Journal of Legal Studies in Business 12: 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Søreide, Tina, Linda Gröning, and Rasmus Wandall. 2016. An Efficient Anticorruption Sanctions Regime? The Case of the World Bank. Chicago Journal of International Law 16: 523–552.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tannenwald, Nina. 1999. The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Normative Basis of Nuclear Non-Use. International Organization 53: 433–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Economist. 2016. Brazil’s Gargantuan Corruption Scandal Goes Global: American Authorities Reach a Record Bribery-Related Settlement with Two Huge Companies. The Economist, December 22. http://www.economist.com/node/21712445. Accessed 22 June 2017.

  • ———. 2017. The Odebrecht Scandal Brings Hope of Reform: Bello. The Economist, February 4. http://www.economist.com/node/21716105. Accessed 22 June 2017.

  • The World Bank Group. 2001. Anticorruption Home Page. http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/anticorrupt/index.cfm. Accessed 23 July 2013.

  • Transparency International. What Is Corruption? https://www.transparency.org/what-is-corruption. Accessed 22 June 2017.

  • Treisman, Daniel. 2007. What Have We Learned About the Causes of Corruption from Ten Years of Cross-National Empirical Research? Annual Review of Political Science 10: 211–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UK Foreign Office. 2002. Tackling Bribery and Corruption in International Trade. Speech by Foreign Office Minister of State Baroness Symons to the Global Business and Change, January 29, 2002. London: British Information Services. https://web.archive.org/web/20020929164506/http://www.britainusa.com:80/trade/xq/asp/SarticleType.1/Article_ID.2079/qx/articles_show.htm. Accessed 23 June 2017.

  • UN Global Compact. 2013. Transparency and Anti-Corruption. http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/anti-corruption.html. Accessed 22 June 2017.

  • UNECA. 2015. Report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: Commissioned by the AU/ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. UN Economic Commission for Africa: Addis Ababa.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. African Governance Report IV: Measuring Corruption in Africa: The International Dimension Matters. UN Economic Commission for Africa: Addis Ababa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Hongying, and James N. Rosenau. 2001. Transparency International and Corruption as an Issue of Global Governance. Global Governance 7: 25–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, Philippa. 2005. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption: Global Achievement or Missed Opportunity? Journal of International Economic Law 8: 191–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wedel, Janine R. 2012. Rethinking Corruption in an Age of Ambiguity. Annual Review of Law and Social Science 8: 453–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei, Shang-Jin. 1997. How Taxing Is Corruption on International Investors? National Bureau of Economic Research, May. http://www.nber.org/papers/w6030. Accessed 23 July 2013.

  • Weilert, Katarina A. 2015. United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)-After Ten Years of Being in Force. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law 19: 216–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener, Antje. 2014. A Theory of Contestation. Berlin: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, James, and Margaret Beare. 1999. The Business of Bribery: Globalization, Economic Liberalization, and the Problem of Corruption. Crime, Law and Social Change 32: 115–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windsor, Duane, and Kathleen A. Getz. 1999. Regional Market Integration and the Development of Global Norms for Enterprise Conduct: The Case of International Bribery. Business & Society 38: 415–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wouters, Jan, Cedric Ryngaert, and Ann Sofie Cloots. 2013. The International Legal Framework against Corruption: Achievements and Challenges. Melbourne Journal of International Law 14: 1–76.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Glendon College, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Ellen Gutterman

  2. Department of Political Science and Communication Studies, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Mathis Lohaus

Authors
  1. Ellen Gutterman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mathis Lohaus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ina Kubbe

  2. Law Faculty, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Annika Engelbert

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Gutterman, E., Lohaus, M. (2018). What is the “Anti-corruption” Norm in Global Politics?. In: Kubbe, I., Engelbert, A. (eds) Corruption and Norms. Political Corruption and Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66254-1_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation