Fritz Heimann

Corruption undermines nearly all key legal and developmental priorities today, including the effective functioning of democratic institutions and honest elections; environmental protection; human rights and human security; international development programs; and fair competition for global trade and investment.

This book chronicles the global anticorruption steps taken since the movement advanced after the end of the Cold War. It provides a realistic assessment of the present state of affairs by critically evaluating what existing anticorruption programs and treaties have accomplished and documenting their shortcomings, while developing an action agenda for the next decade.

The authors argue that reformative action is imperative, and the forces of globalization and digital communication will level the playing field and erode the secrecy corruption requires. They define corruption, document its effects, discuss the initiatives that changed public perception, analyze the lessons learned, and then evaluate how to move forward with existing initiatives charting a new path with new, differentiated strategies.

To overcome corruption it is essential to combat extortion as well as bribery. There has been steady progress in curbing bribery through national laws implementing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

Extortion has not received comparable attention. Neither the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention nor the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the most widely enforced anti-corruption law, covers extortion. Extortion is covered by the UN Convention against Corruption, but implementation of that convention is still at an early stage.

Lack of effective action against extortion impairs the whole fight against corruption. Extortion and bribery are intimately connected, representing the two sides of every corrupt transaction.

The concept of high-level reporting mechanisms represents an innovative approach to dealing with the demand side of bribery. Pilot projects are important for demonstrating how well such mechanisms work in practice. After two years of experiences has been obtained, a review should be conducted, including identification of best practices.