Conclusion

Abstract

Corruption and money laundering have increasingly come to the top of the international policy agenda (if not the symbiotic relations between them). There is no guarantee they will stay there, however. These kinds of crime undoubtedly cause massive harm at present and with all likelihood will continue to do so in the future. But this is not sufficient to ensure that they will always enjoy the prominence they do currently. There is no necessary correlation between the quantity of human suffering attributable to a given policy problem and the political priority that problem receives. For example, diarrhea from dirty water kills millions each year, but clean drinking water does not receive the priority commensurate with its impact. The constellation of changing domestic interests, evolving intellectual fashions, coalition-building within international organizations, and serendipitous links examined in chapter I that brought corruption and money laundering to center stage at the international level may well shift and realign, throwing the spotlight elsewhere. Exogenous shocks or waning attention may see these concerns displaced by a new crisis or challenge. One interviewee remarked how the question of international cooperation in response to global climate change is already beginning to preoccupy policymakers in a way that tends to marginalize other issues, including corruption and money laundering.