[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":570},["ShallowReactive",2],{"publication-quick-guide-44-corruption":3,"publication-quick-guide-44-corruption-editions":68,"author-links-quick-guide-44-corruption":69,"related-quick-guide-44-corruption":72},[4],{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":8,"date_created":9,"user_updated":8,"date_updated":10,"nid":7,"slug":11,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":7,"year":7,"publisher":15,"date_published":16,"external":17,"topic":7,"link_internal":18,"link_external":26,"featured":17,"topics":29,"languages":32,"type":34,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":36,"summary":38,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":39,"subtitle":7,"countries":40,"tags":41,"pdf":50,"authors":57,"translations_publications":63,"image":64,"og_image":66},2468,"published",null,"d22c72aa-896a-43ce-acca-4154ff70a25a","2026-10-12T12:32:47.000Z","2026-10-13T14:02:01.000Z","quick-guide-44-corruption","Quick Guide 44: Corruption","Corruption is a complex issue that resists simple definition. It takes many forms, is embedded in wider social, political and economic systems and is sustained through resilient informal networks. It also evolves and adapts constantly to outside pressure.\n\nThis Quick Guide explores corruption from different angles and sets out what this means for understanding and responding to it.\n\n![](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fassets\u002Fb678e2ed-933b-45dd-b76b-d312f6039323)\n\n## About this Quick Guide\n\nYou are free to share and republish this work under a Creative Commons [BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F) Licence. It is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Quick Guide series, [ISSN 2673-5229](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Quick+Guide).","Baez Camargo, Claudia. 2026. \"Corruption\". Quick Guide 44, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fquick-guide-44-corruption.","Basel Institute on Governance","2026-10-13",false,[19,22,25],{"url":20,"caption":21},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fcb77f0dc-b0bd-4342-862a-d53c25063d48\u002FQG44_Corruption.pdf?v=20261013133527000","Download PDF",{"url":23,"caption":24},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Quick+Guide","View all Quick Guides",{"url":7,"caption":7},[27],{"url":7,"caption":28},"View online on LEARN (available shortly)",[30,31],"Corruption Prevention and Public Governance","Prevention Research and Innovation",[33],"English",[35],"Quick Guide",[37],"Main page","Corruption is a complex issue that resists simple definition. It takes many forms, is embedded in wider systems, is sustained through informal networks and adapts constantly. This Quick Guide explores corruption from different angles and sets out what this means for understanding and responding to it.","",[],[42,46],{"tags_id":43},{"id":44,"name":45},982,"Anti-corruption",{"tags_id":47},{"id":48,"name":49},1306,"Governance",[51],{"directus_files_id":52},{"id":53,"filename_download":54,"title":12,"description":7,"modified_on":55,"uploaded_on":56},"cb77f0dc-b0bd-4342-862a-d53c25063d48","QG44_Corruption.pdf","2026-10-13T13:35:27.000Z","2026-10-13T13:33:48.000Z",[58],{"authors_id":59},{"id":60,"name":61,"image":62},295,"Dr Claudia Baez Camargo","708c19be-70e9-46d4-b42d-fe7bbc667225",[],{"id":65},"f31f1824-9791-49db-a974-d69e433987df",{"id":67},"8a206318-93a1-4647-8912-b2dc731adf36",[],{"295":70},{"slug":71,"image":62},"dr-claudia-baez-camargo",[73,150,203,260,297,343,385,439,485,531],{"id":74,"slug":75,"title":76,"status":6,"nid":7,"year":7,"body":77,"external":17,"topic":7,"language":78,"type":79,"date_published":81,"image":82,"citation":83,"publisher":15,"link_internal":84,"link_external":7,"authors":99,"countries":112,"tags":125,"pdf":138,"topics":140,"featured":17,"languages":141,"summary":142,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":143,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":8,"date_created":144,"user_updated":8,"date_updated":145,"main_points":39,"short_version":146,"subtitle":7,"og_image":147,"translations_publications":148,"link":149},2452,"pb-17-border-corruption","Policy Brief 17: Protecting border spaces from risks of corruption and criminal behaviours","Border spaces are designed to regulate movement and stop illicit trade, yet corruption often allows smuggling and trafficking to continue alongside legitimate commerce. This Policy Brief compares research findings from the port of Rotterdam and the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint between Bulgaria and Türkiye to examine how corruption and cross-border crime interact in border spaces.\n\nIt finds that stronger border controls, enhanced technology and new regulations do not necessarily suppress crime. Such interventions can produce unintended consequences, including new opportunities and incentives for corruption. Criminal actors adapt by changing both corruption and concealment strategies to avoid detection and protect their profits.\n\nThe brief sets out five recommendations for designing anti-corruption and border security reforms that anticipate this adaptation and evolution rather than being undermined by it.\n\n## About this Policy Brief\n\nThis publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Policy Brief series [ISSN 2624-9669](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002F?type=Policy+Brief). It is a Diamond Open Access publication, also hosted on the Basel University Library’s open publishing platform [eterna](https:\u002F\u002Feterna.unibas.ch\u002F) as part of our Basel Institute on Governance Policy Brief Journal, with DOI: [10.12685\u002Fbigpb.17.1-7](https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.12685\u002Fbigpb.17.1-7).\n\nYou may freely share or republish it under a Creative Commons [BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F) International licence.\n\nThis publication was written as part of the [FALCON](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F) (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project. FALCON is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance, as an associated partner without the right to receive funds directly from the European Research Executive Agency, has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).\n\nThe contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency or SERI.","en",[80],"Policy Brief","2026-08-25","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fcb511a30-f111-44d4-af53-1b6872f1a92d?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Jäger, Noémi, Jacopo Costa and Saba Kassa. 2026. ‘Protecting border spaces from risks of corruption and criminal behaviours’. Policy Brief 17, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: [baselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpb-17-border-corruption](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpb-17-border-corruption).",[85,87,90,93,96],{"url":86,"caption":21},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F3cae3fc6-c1e7-4483-9fb8-f050c241c6fc\u002FPB17_Border-corruption.pdf?v=20260825143544000",{"url":88,"caption":89},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58","View related Working Paper 58 (port of Rotterdam)",{"url":91,"caption":92},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fevolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession","Read related article (Kapitan Andreevo)",{"url":94,"caption":95},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-63-anticipatory-governance","View related Working Paper 63 (Anticipatory governance)",{"url":97,"caption":98},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Policy%20Brief","View all Policy Briefs",[100,104,108],{"authors_id":101},{"id":102,"name":103},584,"Noémi Jäger",{"authors_id":105},{"id":106,"name":107},304,"Dr Jacopo Costa",{"authors_id":109},{"id":110,"name":111},303,"Dr Saba Kassa",[113,117,121],{"countries_id":114},{"id":115,"name":116},163,"Netherlands",{"countries_id":118},{"id":119,"name":120},22,"Bulgaria",{"countries_id":122},{"id":123,"name":124},261,"European Union",[126,130,132,136],{"tags_id":127},{"id":128,"name":129},859,"Corruption risks",{"tags_id":131},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":133},{"id":134,"name":135},967,"Organised crime",{"tags_id":137},{"id":48,"name":49},[139],2561,[31,30],[33],"This Policy Brief compares findings of research on corruption at the port of Rotterdam and at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint between Bulgaria and Türkiye. It examines how corruption and cross-border crime interact in border spaces and what this means for enforcement efforts.",[37],"2026-08-24T15:58:51.000Z","2026-10-12T13:12:49.000Z","Formal border areas are designed to regulate the movement of goods and people and protect territories from the harms of illicit trade. Yet smuggling, trafficking, sanctions evasion and tax offences continue to flow through the same channels as legitimate commerce, often facilitated by corruption.\n\nAs part of the Horizon Europe [FALCON project](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F), the Basel Institute's Prevention, Research and Innovation team studied two major border spaces: the port of Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe, and the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint between Bulgaria and Türkiye, one of the EU's key external land borders. Both have strengthened their control capacity through modernised infrastructure, new detection technologies, improved data sharing and better trained personnel.\n\nThis Policy Brief compares the findings from that research to examine how corruption and cross-border crime interact and evolve in response to strengthened enforcement.\n\nIn both cases, tighter controls did not suppress illicit activity so much as reshape it. When concealment stops working, corruption becomes more important for bypassing inspections. When corruption gets too risky, concealment methods grow more innovative. When collusive arrangements with officials break down, corruption may turn coercive, or criminals may seek out new insiders. They may even change trafficking routes altogether.\n\nThe brief concludes with five recommendations for policymakers and practitioners, centred on the need to anticipate how criminal and corrupt strategies evolve in response to reforms:\n- Develop a strong understanding of underlying criminal dynamics in border spaces by mapping the stakeholders and their relationships, interests and incentives.\n- Build an anti-corruption framework using data-driven red flags and risk indicators.\n- Incorporate anti-corruption measures into efforts against trafficking and other cross-border crimes.\n- Design reforms and interventions with attention to how criminals may respond to them.\n- Adopt foresight techniques and anticipatory governance approaches to anticipate how corruption may evolve.","693afaed-084c-4590-aafd-c2d51b28adf7",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpb-17-border-corruption",{"id":151,"slug":152,"title":153,"status":6,"nid":7,"year":7,"body":154,"external":17,"topic":7,"language":78,"type":155,"date_published":157,"image":158,"citation":159,"publisher":15,"link_internal":160,"link_external":7,"authors":167,"countries":174,"tags":181,"pdf":190,"topics":193,"featured":17,"languages":194,"summary":195,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":196,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":8,"date_created":197,"user_updated":8,"date_updated":198,"main_points":7,"short_version":199,"subtitle":200,"og_image":201,"translations_publications":202,"link":94},2451,"wp-63-anticipatory-governance","Working Paper 63: Anticipating future corruption","This Working Paper explores how insights from foresight and anticipatory governance can strengthen anti-corruption approaches and initiatives. It aims to:\n\n- explain why it is important to understand corruption as a challenge that arises in complex social systems and consider the implications of this for the fight against corruption;\n- present key approaches in foresight and anticipatory governance; and\n- show how insights from these approaches can help develop and implement more forward-looking and adaptive anti-corruption strategies by anticipating unintended consequences and identifying future risks and opportunities.\n\n## About this Working Paper\nThis paper is published as part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper series, [ISSN: 2624-9650](\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002F?type=Working+Paper). It is a Diamond Open Access publication, also hosted on the Basel University Library’s open publishing platform [eterna](https:\u002F\u002Feterna.unibas.ch\u002F) as part of our Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Journal, with DOI: [10.12685\u002Fbigwp.2026.63.1-31](https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.12685\u002Fbigwp.2026.63.1-31).\n\nYou may share or republish it under a Creative Commons [BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002Fdeed.en) International Licence.\n\nThis Working Paper was written as part of the FALCON (Fight Against Largescale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project. FALCON is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance, as an associated partner without the right to receive funds directly from the European Research Executive Agency, has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).\n\nThe contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency or SERI.\n\nCover image: generated with Magnfic",[156],"Working Paper","2026-08-19","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fce72f4a9-81fa-4dae-a0a2-c9cdb8cc855d?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Costa, Jacopo, Claudia Baez Camargo and Saba Kassa. 2026. 'Anticipating future corruption: Strengthening anti-corruption through foresight and anticipatory governance'. Working Paper 63, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-63-anticipatory-governance.",[161,164],{"url":162,"caption":163},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Flearning\u002Fevents\u002Fcorruption-2-0-3-0-4-0-what-s-next-2942","View related webinar",{"url":165,"caption":166},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Working%20Paper","View all Working Papers",[168,170,172],{"authors_id":169},{"id":106,"name":107},{"authors_id":171},{"id":60,"name":61},{"authors_id":173},{"id":110,"name":111},[175,177,179],{"countries_id":176},{"id":115,"name":116},{"countries_id":178},{"id":119,"name":120},{"countries_id":180},{"id":123,"name":124},[182,184,186,188],{"tags_id":183},{"id":128,"name":129},{"tags_id":185},{"id":134,"name":135},{"tags_id":187},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":189},{"id":48,"name":49},[191,192],2560,2559,[31,30],[33],"This Working Paper explores how insights from foresight and anticipatory governance can inform anti-corruption efforts that are more forward-looking and adaptive.",[37],"2026-08-06T10:03:53.000Z","2026-10-12T13:12:24.000Z","## Executive summary\n\nCorruption is a complex problem. It emerges within broad political, economic and social contexts, and is sustained by the actors that are part of those systems. Corruption is not just an anomaly or the result of a few bad apples. It is a functional tool for achieving goals and is enacted through networks whose members and strategies change over time. Traditional anti-corruption approaches that aim to reduce isolated and individual corrupt behaviour are therefore increasingly seen as ineffective in addressing corruption as a dynamic and evolving phenomenon. What is needed are adaptive anti-corruption interventions.\n\nThis Working Paper explores how insights from foresight and anticipatory governance – approaches geared towards addressing complex problems – can inform the design and implementation of more forward-looking and adaptive anti-corruption strategies. Strategic foresight, i.e. the systematic exploration of multiple possible futures, and anticipatory governance, i.e. the institutional embedding of foresight in policy cycles, offer a suite of practical tools. Examples of such tools include:\n\n- Cross-impact analysis: assesses how different variables react to each other and how this could influence potential outcomes.\n- Horizon scanning: monitors emerging trends and signals of change.\n- Trend analysis: tracks macro-level changes.\n- Scenario building: projects plausible futures.\n\nApplying foresight and anticipatory governance methods can support more effective detection of corruption problems and inform how we respond to them. They help us better understand how actors within a system respond to each other and to changes in the environment, such as new enforcement efforts or major societal and political transformations.\n\nThese insights are critical for designing and implementing interventions that regularly review underlying assumptions, anticipate backlash or corruption displacement, and are more effective, resilient and responsive to their context. This is important because change is non-linear, meaning the outcomes of anti-corruption interventions may be uncertain.\n\nThe ways in which foresight and anticipatory governance can strengthen anti-corruption strategies are illustrated using real-life case studies of border corruption at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the Kapitan Andreevo land border checkpoint between Bulgaria and Türkiye.\n\nIn both settings, well-intentioned efforts to strengthen enforcement (for example, enhanced border controls and EU accession-related regulatory changes) inadvertently fuelled new corruption risks, higher bribes and more sophisticated criminal strategies. Yet, the examples also illustrate very practically how incorporating insights from foresight and anticipatory governance approaches can help anti-corruption practitioners anticipate these consequences, track behavioural signals and adapt interventions before harm occurs.\n\nThe paper proposes a three-step framework:\n\n- **Mapping the system**: Understand corruption as emerging from a complex system of actors, incentives and context.\n- **Anticipating actor responses and unintended consequences**: Use foresight tools to work out how actors may react to a reform, and to build indicators that catch both risks and progress early.\n- **Scanning the horizon for trends, new risks and opportunities**: Track macro-level (political, economic, legal, technological, societal) shifts that create new corruption risks or open windows for reform.\n\nAt the same time, the paper emphasises that artificial intelligence tools and other technological innovations can support all three steps, for instance by accelerating scenario generation, processing large volumes of data or modelling how actors might respond to an anti-corruption intervention.\n\nNevertheless, the paper underlines that foresight and anticipatory governance are not panaceas. Corruption thrives in conditions of irreducible uncertainty, and an element of unpredictability will always persist. Beyond the tools they offer, these approaches are valuable because they prompt us to ask different questions. Why does corruption persist here? Who benefits from the status quo? What signals would indicate changing behaviour? How might actors adapt to a new reform?\n\nThe following key recommendations for policymakers and anti-corruption practitioners emerge from the analysis:\n\n- Shift the focus of anti-corruption intervention design and implementation from linear to adaptive forms.\n- Adopt a complexity lens from the outset of an anti-corruption intervention.\n- Incorporate foresight and anticipatory thinking into the design of anti-corruption interventions.\n- Fine-tune the scale of foresight and anticipatory governance work according to the context, the knowledge of those involved and the resources available.\n- Consider how AI tools and other technological solutions can support foresight and anticipatory governance objectives, while also recognising their limitations.\n","Strengthening anti-corruption through foresight and anticipatory governance","c1e2e61c-1ee5-4d6a-a747-3684a5fcd7c7",[],{"id":204,"slug":205,"title":206,"status":6,"nid":207,"year":208,"body":209,"external":17,"topic":210,"language":78,"type":213,"date_published":214,"image":215,"citation":39,"publisher":15,"link_internal":216,"link_external":223,"authors":227,"countries":234,"tags":235,"pdf":248,"topics":251,"featured":252,"languages":253,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":255,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":257,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":258,"link":259},2389,"qg36","Quick Guide 36: Corruption and security",2756,2025,"How does corruption threaten national and international security, both directly and indirectly? Can viewing it through the lens of power offer deeper insights? And what might we achieve by framing corruption as a security concern?\n\nThis quick guide gives a short introduction to this complex issue as part of a two-part series on corruption, security and strategic corruption.\n\n### About this Quick Guide\n\nYou are free to share and republish this work under a Creative Commons [BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F) Licence. It is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Quick Guide series, [ISSN 2673-5229](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002F?type=Quick+Guide).",[211,212],"Prevention","Research and Innovation",[35],"2025-02-09","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F7b63372a-9595-47eb-8bb8-88a3df6b9912?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840",[217,220],{"url":218,"caption":219},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg37"," View related Quick Guide to strategic corruption",{"url":221,"caption":222},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Quick%20Guide"," View all Quick Guides",[224],{"url":225,"caption":226},"https:\u002F\u002Flearn.baselgovernance.org\u002Fcourse\u002Fview.php?id=260","View online on LEARN",[228,230],{"authors_id":229},{"id":110,"name":111},{"authors_id":231},{"id":232,"name":233},296,"Monica Guy",[],[236,238,240,244],{"tags_id":237},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":239},{"id":134,"name":135},{"tags_id":241},{"id":242,"name":243},1376,"Defence and security",{"tags_id":245},{"id":246,"name":247},973,"Corruption",[249,250],2512,2430,[31,30],true,[33],"03bebfd8-0b40-4a2a-820d-b9d9c13b9de6","2025-02-10T11:05:56.000Z","dfef11db-1bc6-47e9-a61d-93443995484b","2026-09-10T09:04:46.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg36",{"id":261,"slug":262,"title":263,"status":6,"nid":264,"year":265,"body":266,"external":17,"topic":267,"language":78,"type":269,"date_published":270,"image":271,"citation":39,"publisher":15,"link_internal":272,"link_external":274,"authors":277,"countries":282,"tags":283,"pdf":289,"topics":291,"featured":17,"languages":292,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":293,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":294,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":295,"link":296},2367,"qg32","Quick Guide 32: Corruption and human rights",2700,2024,"The relationships between corruption and human rights are complex but cry out for exploring. Could anti-corruption benefit from a human rights perspective? How can the two communities work better together – and what are some risks and challenges?\n\nThis Quick Guide gives a brief introduction to the ideas of the Basel Institute’s Vice-President, Professor Anne Peters, and some of our initial work at the intersection of corruption and human rights.\n\n### About this Quick Guide\n\nThis work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F). It is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Quick Guide series, [ISSN 2673-5229](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications?type=2428).",[268],"Human rights",[35],"2024-10-07","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fb0e49414-bd4a-4f3d-a55b-0caf6e45bcf8?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840",[273],{"url":221,"caption":222},[275],{"url":276,"caption":226},"https:\u002F\u002Flearn.baselgovernance.org\u002Fcourse\u002Fview.php?id=240",[278],{"authors_id":279},{"id":280,"name":281},380,"Prof Anne Peters",[],[284,286],{"tags_id":285},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":287},{"id":288,"name":268},932,[290],2405,[31,30],[33],"2024-10-07T10:05:06.000Z","2026-09-11T10:17:41.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg32",{"id":298,"slug":299,"title":300,"status":6,"nid":301,"year":302,"body":303,"external":17,"topic":7,"language":78,"type":304,"date_published":306,"image":307,"citation":308,"publisher":7,"link_internal":309,"link_external":312,"authors":316,"countries":325,"tags":328,"pdf":333,"topics":335,"featured":17,"languages":336,"summary":337,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":338,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":339,"date_created":340,"user_updated":8,"date_updated":341,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":342,"link":91},2437,"evolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession","The Evolution of Corruption and Crimes at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint: The Impact of EU Accession",2960,2026,"Published in the _Journal of Illicit Trade, Financial Crime, and Compliance_, this article examines how Bulgaria’s 2007 accession to the European Union transformed illegal activities and corruption at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.\n\nWhile the introduction of stricter EU regulations and advanced surveillance technology aimed to secure the border, these measures had the effect of transforming criminal strategies and corruption. The authors detail a shift from blatant smuggling to more sophisticated financial frauds, VAT carousel schemes and the illicit privatisation of public border functions.\n\nThe article highlights that in some cases, it was the bribery schemes that evolved to bypass new standards. In other cases – particularly involving drug trafficking and the smuggling of human beings – it was the criminal strategies that transformed, including advanced concealment methods or new smuggling routes.\n\nThe study also offers a nuanced perspective on the relationship between corruption and criminal activites at border checkpoints: stronger capacity to counter criminal activities could lead to an increase in the risk of corruption, while a more coherent anti corruption framework could trigger criminal activities to evolve. Ultimately, the article argues that anti-crime and anti-corruption policies must account for this evolutionary nature.",[305],"Article","2026-05-01","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F2a662dae-21a7-4e84-971d-1c8a70f4754b?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Costa J, Camargo CB, Jäger N, Kassa S. The Evolution of Corruption and Crimes at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint: The Impact of EU Accession. J Illicit Trade Financ Crime Compli. 2026; 2: 30-46.\nDOI: https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.65879\u002F3070-6122.2026.2.03.",[310],{"url":311,"caption":21},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Ff4dc810d-6a45-47c3-ac38-970f08711caf\u002FJITFCC-Vol2-2026-Kapitan-Andreevo-BCP-Impact-of-EU-accession.pdf?v=20260601223425000",[313],{"url":314,"caption":315},"https:\u002F\u002Fjitfccjournal.com\u002Findex.php\u002Fjitfcc\u002Farticle\u002Fview\u002F16","View on Journal website",[317,319,321,323],{"authors_id":318},{"id":106,"name":107},{"authors_id":320},{"id":60,"name":61},{"authors_id":322},{"id":102,"name":103},{"authors_id":324},{"id":110,"name":111},[326],{"countries_id":327},{"id":119,"name":120},[329,331],{"tags_id":330},{"id":128,"name":129},{"tags_id":332},{"id":44,"name":45},[334],2492,[31,30],[33],"Published in the Journal of Illicit Trade, Financial Crime, and Compliance, this article examines how Bulgaria’s 2007 accession to the European Union transformed illegal activities and corruption at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.",[37],"3d9ff205-1640-4f34-b5b6-86977f51bbd6","2026-06-01T22:10:25.000Z","2026-10-13T11:18:58.000Z",[],{"id":344,"slug":345,"title":346,"status":6,"nid":347,"year":302,"body":348,"external":17,"topic":349,"language":78,"type":350,"date_published":351,"image":352,"citation":353,"publisher":354,"link_internal":355,"link_external":356,"authors":363,"countries":368,"tags":373,"pdf":378,"topics":379,"featured":17,"languages":380,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":381,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":382,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":383,"link":384},2435,"conceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy","Conceptualizing the evolution of corruption: an empirical analysis from Italy",2911,"In a new peer-reviewed journal article, Jacopo Costa and Claudia Baez Camargo look into why and how corruption evolves over time, drawing on an empirical analysis from Italy. The article was published in *Trends in Organized Crime*.\n\n### Abstract\n\nCorruption evolves over time. This paper investigates why and how this evolution happens. The analysis has employed a combination of qualitative network and document analysis to explore the configuration of corruption in two moments in Italy and the changes that have happened in between them.\n\nThe findings have disclosed that a higher efficiency of the activities of the criminal-justice chain, the transformation of the critical actors and the reform of legal frameworks and governance systems have been critical in determining the evolution of corruption.\n\nThe added value of the research lies in its ability to examine these transformative mechanisms within a conceptual framework that keeps together the fact that corruption is networked and that networks evolve over time.\n",[211,212],[305],"2026-02-03","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F8fdd73a7-79ec-4940-aa53-01a9f94922f2?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Costa, J., Baez Camargo, C. Conceptualizing the evolution of corruption: an empirical analysis from Italy. *Trends Organ Crim* (2026). \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1007\u002Fs12117-025-09586-0\">https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1007\u002Fs12117-025-09586-0\u003C\u002Fa>","Springer Nature (Trends in Organized Crime)",[],[357,360],{"url":358,"caption":359},"https:\u002F\u002Frdcu.be\u002Fe1Z0q","Access full-text view-only version",{"url":361,"caption":362},"https:\u002F\u002Flink.springer.com\u002Farticle\u002F10.1007\u002Fs12117-025-09586-0"," View on publisher website",[364,366],{"authors_id":365},{"id":106,"name":107},{"authors_id":367},{"id":60,"name":61},[369],{"countries_id":370},{"id":371,"name":372},108,"Italy",[374,376],{"tags_id":375},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":377},{"id":134,"name":135},[],[31,30],[33],"2026-02-27T15:11:33.000Z","2026-09-10T09:04:54.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fconceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy",{"id":386,"slug":387,"title":388,"status":6,"nid":389,"year":302,"body":390,"external":17,"topic":391,"language":78,"type":392,"date_published":394,"image":395,"citation":39,"publisher":396,"link_internal":397,"link_external":400,"authors":404,"countries":411,"tags":416,"pdf":429,"topics":431,"featured":17,"languages":432,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":433,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":434,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":435,"main_points":436,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":437,"link":438},2432,"political-economy-weeds-embracing-complexity-anti-corruption-work-lessons-learned-anti","Political economy in the weeds: Embracing complexity in anti-corruption work – lessons learned from an anti-corruption programme in Malawi",2910,"In this joint paper with Adam Smith International, authors Claudia Baez Camargo and Renee Kantelberg show how anti-corruption efforts require more than mere technical fixes, such as capacity building for civil society alone, to drive lasting change.\n\nAnti-corruption work is often embedded in complex, politically charged environments. This requires thinking and working politically. Engaging with complex social and economic systems also means recognising that change is not linear or even predictable. What to do then?\n\nOur years of anti-corruption research have demonstrated the centrality of having local stakeholders be in the driver’s seat for identifying priorities and finding solutions. This is how we have worked in Malawi in the Malawi Anti-Corruption Civil Society Support (MACCSS) project, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and implemented with Adam Smith International.\n\nThis publication shares practical lessons and successes in applying this approach in the MACCSS project. It illustrates our joint efforts to navigate uncertainty and ground anti-corruption efforts in trust, resilience and local leadership. The key takeaways for practitioners who design or implement anti-corruption programmes (paraphrased) are:\n\n\n- **Embrace complexity.** Change is adaption and pivoting to reality, which is not linear. In governance programmes, unexpected developments and temporary reversals are signs that systems are shifting.\n- **Local ownership matters.** When partners are in the driver’s seat, impact and sustainability improve. This is true even if the route diverges from initial plans.\n- **Facilitation over funding.** Hands-on mentoring and relationship brokering build deeper capabilities than unidirectional training, grants and results frameworks.\n- **Learning by doing.** Regular reflection converts experience into strategy; failures become data for adaptation.\n- **Build trust and coalitions.** Reform depends on a collective effort with credible institutions and sister anti-corruption programmes. It also requires nurturing emergent anti-corruption networks, rather than merely building the capacity of individual actors.\n- **Resilience grows from below.** Sustainable accountability takes root when communities see anti-corruption as linked to livelihoods and services, not as an abstract governance agenda.\n- **Gender and inclusion strengthen legitimacy.** Integrating gender and social inclusion (GESI) principles by addressing corruption in mining, infrastructure and agriculture – sectors critical for women and marginalised groups – broadens both the reach and credibility of anti-corruption efforts.\n\n\nUltimately, the MACCSS experience reinforces a simple but profound insight: **anti-corruption work is not about perfect plans but about adaptive partnerships.** Change happens through relationships, experimentation and persistence. The task is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to navigate it with integrity and learning at the core. ",[211,212],[393],"Report","2026-01-28","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe9075f1f-8dbe-4009-980b-baaae82f9c49?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Adam Smith International",[398],{"url":399,"caption":21},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe6975c19-6d95-4a68-92b8-005985243ceb\u002FPolitical-Economy-in-the-weeds-ASI-MACCSS.pdf?v=20260128170537000",[401],{"url":402,"caption":403},"https:\u002F\u002Fadamsmithinternational.com\u002Farticles\u002Fpolitical-economy-in-the-weeds-embracing-complexity-in-anti-corruption-work\u002F#resource:all"," View on Adam Smith International website",[405,407],{"authors_id":406},{"id":60,"name":61},{"authors_id":408},{"id":409,"name":410},580,"Renee Kantelberg",[412],{"countries_id":413},{"id":414,"name":415},153,"Malawi",[417,419,423,427],{"tags_id":418},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":420},{"id":421,"name":422},1375,"Civil society",{"tags_id":424},{"id":425,"name":426},1372,"Training",{"tags_id":428},{"id":128,"name":129},[430],2488,[31,30],[33],"\u003C!-- image -->\n\n## POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE WEEDS\n\n## EMBRACING COMPLEXITY IN ANTI-CORRUPTION WORK\n\nBy Renee Kantelberg and Claudia Baez-Camargo\n\n## Introduction\n\nThe Malawi Anti-Corruption Civil Society Support (MACCSS) programme provides a powerful case for understanding how anti-corruption  (AC)  efforts  unfold  in  complex,  politically  charged  environments.  Jointly  funded  by  the  UK  Foreign, Commonwealth  and  Development  Office  (FCDO)  and  USAID,  MACCSS  (2024-2026)  combines  grants  and  technical assistance worth £1.75 million to strengthen civil society's role in promoting accountability. The initiative works through a  portfolio  of  civil  society  issue-focused  interventions  with  national  and  district  partners  across  sectors  such  as agriculture, mining, constituency development funds, justice and infrastructure.\n\nMalawi serves as both an opportunity-rich testing ground for systems-change initiatives and a cautionary case illustrating the constraints and pressure points such reforms face. This blend of promise and challenge renders Malawi pivotal for understanding governance transformations in comparable contexts. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with corruption deeply embedded in its political and bureaucratic systems. Decades of clientelist politics, weak enforcement institutions  and  low  public-sector  pay  have  entrenched  behaviours  where  access  to  state  resources  is  viewed  as  an entitlement to extract rents for their own benefit and that of particular interests. In the wake of the September 2025 elections, these longstanding dynamics continue to shape the operating environment. Consequently, MACCSS's mandate remains unchanged: to equip committed civil-society organisations from national bodies to rural district groups with the knowledge, networks, and confidence to serve as policy-reform champions, watchdogs, and mobilisers of citizen voice and national advocacy priorities.\n\nAt first glance, the logic of working with civil society in contexts where state capacities are weak is straightforward: if CSOs are  trained  in  strategic  advocacy,  intervention  design,  operational  planning  and  media  engagement,  they  will become  effective  in  exposing  and  preventing  corruption,  thus  fulfilling  their  assumed  watchdog  function.  Yet  the experience of implementation shows that capacity alone does not guarantee influence and that change is difficult and non-linear. The real story of MACCSS lies in how its partners are learning to 'work in the weeds' - embracing uncertainty, adapting to shifting power dynamics, and building alliances that make accountability and anti-corruption transformation possible.\n\n## The Strategy: Ambition and Assumptions\n\nMACCSS's design draws from the classic anti-corruption playbook, which is reflected in the programme's strategy (Theory of  Change),  which  suggests  that  enhancing  CSO  technical  and  organisational  capacity  results  in  greater  citizen engagement and oversight and, ultimately, in reduced opportunities and incentives for corruption.\n\nConsequently, capacity building is pursued through three interdependent strands:\n\n- ∞ Financial resources - seed funding \u002F grants £10,000 - £50,000 to locally designed interventions.\n- ∞ Technical support -  training and mentoring in advocacy, media work, Political Economy Analysis, Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI), and thematic areas such as mining or procurement.\n- ∞ Organisational strengthening -  support  for  financial  management,  grant  compliance,  safeguarding,  MEL,  and other core systems essential for sustainable CSO operations.\n- ∞ Learning - facilitation and convening of peer exchanges where national and district level partners jointly reflect, share evidence and refine strategies.\n\nJust observing the above, it would be tempting to assume that technical support and trainings are enough to build stronger organisations and that the recipients of the support will automatically be able to translate skills into action and\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n## ASI\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\nresults.  Experience,  however,  shows  that  this  logic  fails  to  grasp  the  incremental  and  iterative  nature  of  building competencies, while also underestimating the political nature of corruption and the depth of systemic inertia. What MACCSS is revealing is that effectiveness depends less on training or resources than on learning by doing, building relationships, moving with opportunities and the capacity to adapt.\n\n## Working in the Weeds: Navigating Complexity and Adapting Practice\n\nAn overarching lesson from the MACCSS programme is that in practice, progress is messy and contested, which should not be surprising. As in many other countries, power in Malawi is acquired, shared and maintained through networks of patronage,  built  and  cemented  on  non-transparent  deals  that  cut  across  the  state,  business  and  political  parties. Corruption  trickles  down  to  the  grassroots,  where  public  service  providers  and  street  level  bureaucrats  routinely manoeuvre the prerogatives stemming from their official mandates to extract benefits and resources for themselves and their social networks.  Therefore, corruption in Malawi is woven into the political settlement itself and embedded in social norms that normalise and lend acceptability to corruption. As a result, when anti-corruption efforts begin to bite, they often provoke pushback: investigations stall, whistle-blowers face intimidation, and reform champions are side-lined or even threatened. The experience of the Zuneth Sattar case, in which high-level prosecutions led to institutional backlash, illustrates how success can generate its own resistance.\n\nCivil society faces additional constraints. Many organisations operate on shoestring budgets and remain dependent on donor funding, which is often project-based and problematises the continuity of their endeavours. Corruption fatigue also reflects public scepticism among intended beneficiaries that activism will not change anything. Legal restrictions on public-interest litigation, slow access to information, and the risk of regulatory reprisals further limit civic space. At district level, organisational inertia is strong: as one partner admitted, 'this is how we have always done things.'\n\n## From capacity building to facilitated partnership\n\nHere the lessons of MACCSS validate those of many other FCDO governance programmes in that conventional grant making  and  capacity  building  too  often  produces  donor-compliant  but  citizen-disconnected  CSOs.  Grants  managed without attention to the contextual conditions and needs can constrain flexibility, distort incentives, and monetise the engagement. MACCSS learned from this and adopted a facilitated partnership approach , deploying mixed local teams to broker relationships among civil society, media and AC institutions, and FCDO sister programmes while encouraging CSO implementing partners to be in the driver's seat in deciding priorities, providing them a safe space to innovate and to build their capacities through learning by doing. The focus shifted from funding activities to nurturing trust, reflection and adaptive learning within a cohort of champions.\n\nERROR! NO The Accountability Working Group (AWG) - made up of our core partner organisations, together with regular learning exchanges, sits at the centre of our work. MACCSS understands its role as a facilitation hub; encouraging trust building, peer exchanges and the emergence of coordinated action, decidedly moving away from focusing and insisting on preestablished  good  governance  practices  and  an  emphasis  on  procedures  and  delivery  mechanisms.  MACCSS-hosted convenings bring together partner CSOs, journalists \u002F media, communities and duty bearers to co-create interventions, share evidence and reflect on progress along with challenges. The emphasis is on brokering relationships and supporting iterative experimentation, not on enforcing rigid workplans. Mentoring and technical accompaniment are complemented by targeted and demand-led training, and small, flexible funding support is provided to pilot critical ideas whose design evolves as lessons and proof of concept emerge. Learning by doing and reflection\n\nFor MACCSS and its partners real capacity is being built iteratively, through cycles of action and reflection. The MACCSS Monitoring, Reporting, Evaluation and Learning (MREL) system promotes 'utilisation-focused' learning loops following the self-reinforcing logic of implementation, analysis, discussions and, adaptation. Quarterly Pause and Reflect meetings with the AWG provide a collective space to share not only achievements but also setbacks, echoing MACCSS core principle that mistakes are data and information that tell us something to consider . These reflection processes strengthen partners' confidence  and  sense  of  agency.    Gradually,  shifts  are  becoming  visible:  district  networks  collaborating  instead  of competing;  local  journalists  and  activists  pooling  evidence  from  civil  society  work;  civil  servants  recognising  that transparency can strengthen, not threaten, their legitimacy. These may seem like small wins, yet they build the bottomup resilience that sustains reform beyond donor and MACCSS project cycles.\n\nEmbracing uncertainty\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n## ASI\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\nWorking this way demands tolerance for ambiguity and deviation from plans. Anti-corruption work that matters will always provoke contestation. MACCSS is still unfolding, but it demonstrates that technically skilled support and facilitation, pace that  is  set  by  the  stakeholders  themselves,  moving  on  needs  and  emerging  gaps  as  well  as  patience  and  political awareness are all more effective than rigid top-down management. Progress depends less on control than on cultivating curiosity and responsiveness with a relational approach that puts partners always in the driving seat. MACCSS recognises that grants alone can distort incentives encouraging compliance rather than collaboration.\n\nBy combining seed funding with tailored technical mentoring and facilitation, partners gain the freedom to adapt their strategies as contexts shift, as was experienced during the September 2025 election period when political will and action waned. Yet,  partners  acted  strategically  during  that  election  period  to  influence  the  Anti-Corruption  agenda  through political manifestos, providing evidence where doors opened by politicians. An indicative example of the success achieved through these means was the fact that the AWG was able to get several key questions into the 2025 Presidential Debate that reflected on issues related to corruption in specific sectors.\n\nSetbacks and detours are expected in the process, just as opportunities are; embracing the political landscape mix (and pivoting) is what partners know and do so well.\n\n## Key Lessons Learned\n\n- 1. Embrace complexity. Change is adaption and pivoting to reality, which is not linear. In governance programmes, unexpected developments and temporary reversals are signs that systems are shifting.\n- 2. Local ownership matters. When partners are in the driver's seat, as in MACCSS's co-creation of interventions, impact and sustainability improve, even if the route diverges from initial plans.\n- 3. Facilitation over funding. Hands-on mentoring and relationship-brokering build deeper capabilities than unidirectional training, grants and results frameworks.\n- 4. Learning by doing. Regular reflection converts experience into strategy; failures become data for adaptation.\n- 5. Build trust and coalitions. Engagement with credible institutions such as the Ombudsman, with champions in the state and in FCDO sister programmes, and leaning on the collective experience of the AWG, altogether shows that reform depends on collective effort, on nurturing emergent anti-corruption networks, rather than on building the capacity of individual actors.\n- 6. Resilience  grows  from  below. District  alliances  illustrate  that  sustainable  accountability  takes  root  when communities see anti-corruption as linked to livelihoods and services, not as an abstract governance agenda.\n- 7. Gender and inclusion strengthen legitimacy. Integrating GESI principles by addressing corruption in mining, infrastructure,  agriculture,  sectors  critical  for  women  and  marginalised  groups  broadens  both  the  reach  and credibility of anti-corruption efforts.\n\nERROR! NO Implications for Malawi and Beyond MACCSS demonstrates the  value  of working  politically  and  adaptively in  anti-corruption  programming  with  local stakeholders driving the agenda and the development of local approaches that work in Malawi for and by Malawians. Technical solutions and training alone cannot overcome entrenched incentives; transformation emerges from iterative learning, trust-building, and responsiveness to context. For donors, this means funding models that prioritise flexibility, process,  reflection  and  a  willingness  to  be  surprised  by  unexpected  gains  as  much  as  outputs  and  indicators.  For practitioners, it means patience, humility and a willingness to depart from the usual approaches and find out how to 'work with the grain' of local systems rather than against them.\n\nAs Malawi moves ahead of the 2025 elections result, the programme continues to focus on citizen energy with CSOs and media bringing collectively concrete accountability demands. The long-term vision is a network of capable, connected CSOs and local champions who can sustain anti-corruption momentum with decreasing external support.\n\nUltimately, the MACCSS experience reinforces a simple but profound insight: anti-corruption work is not about perfect plans but about adaptive partnerships. Change happens through relationships, experimentation and persistence. The task is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to navigate it with integrity and learning at the core.\n\n\u003C!-- image -->","2026-01-28T17:05:36.000Z","2026-09-10T09:04:53.000Z","- **Embrace complexity.** Change is adaption and pivoting to reality, which is not linear. In governance programmes, unexpected developments and temporary reversals are signs that systems are shifting.\n- **Local ownership matters.** When partners are in the driver’s seat, impact and sustainability improve. This is true even if the route diverges from initial plans.\n- **Facilitation over funding.** Hands-on mentoring and relationship brokering build deeper capabilities than unidirectional training, grants and results frameworks.\n- **Learning by doing.** Regular reflection converts experience into strategy; failures become data for adaptation.\n- **Build trust and coalitions.** Reform depends on a collective effort with credible institutions and sister anti-corruption programmes. It also requires nurturing emergent anti-corruption networks, rather than merely building the capacity of individual actors.\n- **Resilience grows from below.** Sustainable accountability takes root when communities see anti-corruption as linked to livelihoods and services, not as an abstract governance agenda.\n- **Gender and inclusion strengthen legitimacy.** Integrating gender and social inclusion (GESI) principles by addressing corruption in mining, infrastructure and agriculture – sectors critical for women and marginalised groups – broadens both the reach and credibility of anti-corruption efforts.",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpolitical-economy-weeds-embracing-complexity-anti-corruption-work-lessons-learned-anti",{"id":440,"slug":441,"title":442,"status":6,"nid":443,"year":208,"body":444,"external":17,"topic":445,"language":78,"type":447,"date_published":448,"image":449,"citation":450,"publisher":15,"link_internal":451,"link_external":455,"authors":456,"countries":461,"tags":462,"pdf":474,"topics":477,"featured":17,"languages":478,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":479,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":480,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":481,"main_points":7,"short_version":482,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":483,"link":484},2425,"wp-60","Working Paper 60: Understanding the enemy: Insights from corrupt networks to improve anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives",2867,"Corruption is not simply about individual misconduct. It is a networked phenomenon that arises from entrenched social, economic and political interactions. It is orchestrated through coordination between groups and clusters of individuals.\n\nThis Working Paper explores the networked nature of corruption and the opportunities this presents for anti-corruption efforts. The aim is to understand how shifting the unit of analysis from individuals to networks helps to understand the persistence and resilience of corruption, while opening up new anti-corruption perspectives.\n\nA meta-analysis of findings from more than 15 years of research on informal networks and corruption underpins the conceptualisation of corrupt networks. The paper argues that a focus on networks helps to shed light on the functionality of corruption – from petty bribery to large-scale public procurement fraud – and the underlying social norms that enable it.\n\nUnderstanding the structures, functions and modus operandi of the informal networks associated with corruption and applying the network logic to anti-corruption strategies can help to achieve better outcomes. The paper specifically looks at anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives, suggesting that these should emulate positive aspects of informal networks.\n\n### About this Working Paper\n\nThis paper is published as part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper series, [ISSN: 2624-9650](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002F?type=Working+Paper). It is a Diamond Open Access publication, also hosted on the Basel University Library’s open publishing platform [eterna](https:\u002F\u002Feterna.unibas.ch\u002F) as part of our Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Journal, with DOI: [10.12685\u002Fbigwp.2025.60.1-32](https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.12685\u002Fbigwp.2025.60.1-32).\n\nYou may share or republish it under a Creative Commons [BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002Fdeed.en) International Licence.\n\nThe contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Basel Institute on Governance, its donors and partners, or the University of Basel.\n\n",[446,211,212],"Collective Action",[156],"2025-11-04","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F3fc6640b-79d3-481c-a74c-fc1979923c1b?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Baez Camargo, Claudia, and Jacopo Costa. 2025. 'Understanding the enemy: Insights from corrupt networks to improve anticorruption Collective Action initiatives.' Working Paper 60, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-60\">baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-60\u003C\u002Fa>.",[452],{"url":453,"caption":454},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002F?type=Working+Paper"," View all Working Papers",[],[457,459],{"authors_id":458},{"id":60,"name":61},{"authors_id":460},{"id":106,"name":107},[],[463,466,468,472],{"tags_id":464},{"id":465,"name":446},909,{"tags_id":467},{"id":44,"name":45},{"tags_id":469},{"id":470,"name":471},1309,"Informality",{"tags_id":473},{"id":134,"name":135},[475,476],2481,2480,[446,31,30],[33],[37,446],"2025-11-04T17:05:36.000Z","2026-09-10T09:04:52.000Z","This Working Paper reflects on the networked nature of corruption and the\nlessons that can be learned from studying it. Particularly, it provides insights into\nthe opportunities and challenges of designing and implementing anti-corruption\nCollective Action initiatives.\n\nThe authors consider corruption not as a series of isolated acts by individuals,\nbut as the outcome of complex, resilient informal networks embedded within\nsocio-political, economic and cultural structures. Within this framework, they\ninvestigate how shifting the unit of analysis from individuals to networks can\nimprove our understanding of the persistence of corruption and create new\nperspectives to promote better anti-corruption outcomes and impacts.\n\nDrawing on over 15 years of empirical research across diverse countries and\nregions, the authors argue that corruption must be viewed through a network\nlens. This approach reveals how informal connections facilitate rule subversion,\nproblem-solving and goal achievement where formal institutions are weak or\nineffective.\n\nThe paper contends that a focus on networks sheds light on the functionality\nof corruption and the underlying social norms enabling corrupt exchanges.\nUnderstanding the structures, functions and modus operandi of the informal\nnetworks associated with corruption can help design better anti-corruption\ninitiatives.\n\nThe Working Paper contributes to the existing literature on corruption strategies\nand anti-corruption activities.\n\n**First**, the authors explore how **informal networks rooted in trust, reciprocity\nand social norms can serve practical functions**, including accessing public\nservices, boosting business profitability and winning elections. The strength\nof informal networks lies in their adaptability, internal organisation and\nembeddedness in local cultures.\n\nThe authors identify **six core roles in informal networks** that pursue corrupt\nobjectives: seekers, doers, brokers, facilitators, intermediaries and instigators.\nThe coordination and division of tasks among these six roles make such informal\nnetworks effective in achieving their goals.\n\nIn addition, the authors unpack **the most important strategies these corrupt\ninformal networks rely on** for their functioning. These strategies are:\n\n- co-optation (recruitment and trust building);\n- control (discipline and compliance);\n- camouflage (concealment and legitimacy); and\n- coordination (task orchestration and adaptability).\n\n**Second**, the authors set out **concrete implications for anti-corruption\nactivities** based on insights on how informal networks operate. They state that\ntraditional top-down, normative approaches often fail due to the functionality\nof corruption (i.e., corruption is always a means to an end) and the social\nembeddedness of corrupt networks.\n\nThe authors propose to apply the network logic to anti-corruption strategies. This\npaper particularly focuses on **Collective Action initiatives** and suggests that\nthese should emulate positive aspects of informal networks. Collective Action\nrefers to collaborative efforts – typically involving businesses, civil society and\u002For\npublic institutions – to tackle corruption risks and shared integrity challenges that\nno single actor can resolve alone.\n\nThis means that, to be effective, these Collective Action initiatives must be\nbased on:\n\n- **Functional goals:** Set short-term, tangible goals aligned with participants’ interests.\n- **Strategic co-optation:** Recruit key stakeholders strategically, including those who are prone to corruption risks, by using trust-building mechanisms that can supply an added value to the stakeholders.\n- **Transparency and accountability:** Leverage mechanisms of peer pressure and reputation management that can ensure sustained commitment and engagement among participants and deter free-riding strategies.\n\nIn conclusion, to foster integrity in today’s fragmented and conflict-prone world,\nanti-corruption initiatives generally must shift from targeting individuals to\ntargeting the networks that sustain corruption. Sustainable change requires\nlocally rooted, trust-based collective efforts that provide functional, credible and\ncoordinated alternatives to illicit networks.\n\nIn this sense, Collective Action initiatives built on conceptualising corruption\nas a networked problem can be an effective solution for achieving\nanti-corruption goals",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-60",{"id":486,"slug":487,"title":488,"status":6,"nid":489,"year":490,"body":491,"external":17,"topic":492,"language":78,"type":494,"date_published":496,"image":497,"citation":498,"publisher":15,"link_internal":499,"link_external":503,"authors":504,"countries":509,"tags":514,"pdf":523,"topics":525,"featured":17,"languages":526,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":527,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":528,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":529,"link":530},2324,"research-case-5","Research Case Study 5: Harnessing behavioural approaches against corruption",2550,2023,"Social norms and behaviour change (SNBC) approaches are a promising complement to conventional anti-corruption strategies. Adopting a context-sensitive and nuanced approach is an essential ingredient for success.\n\nWe wanted to understand if and how behavioural approaches can promote anti-corruption outcomes, as well as conditions for success.\n\nTo do this we reviewed research from 2016–2022 on the use of behavioural approaches in anti-corruption practice. We also analysed our practical experience designing and piloting an intervention to tackle social norms of reciprocity which fuel bribery in health facilities in Tanzania.",[493],"Public Governance",[495],"Research Case Study","2023-12-05","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fa4b5e14a-9841-4feb-8411-335c9f972aba?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Baez Camargo, Claudia, and Saba Kassa. 2023. ‘Harnessing behavioural approaches against corruption.’ Research Case Study 5, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: baselgov- ernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fresearch-case-5.",[500],{"url":501,"caption":502},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Research%20Case%20Study"," View all research case studies",[],[505,507],{"authors_id":506},{"id":60,"name":61},{"authors_id":508},{"id":110,"name":111},[510],{"countries_id":511},{"id":512,"name":513},224,"Tanzania",[515,519,521],{"tags_id":516},{"id":517,"name":518},848,"Behavioural science",{"tags_id":520},{"id":470,"name":471},{"tags_id":522},{"id":44,"name":45},[524],2360,[30,31],[33],"2023-12-06T11:04:47.000Z","2026-09-10T09:04:36.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fresearch-case-5",{"id":532,"slug":533,"title":534,"status":6,"nid":535,"year":490,"body":536,"external":17,"topic":537,"language":78,"type":538,"date_published":539,"image":540,"citation":541,"publisher":15,"link_internal":542,"link_external":547,"authors":548,"countries":555,"tags":556,"pdf":561,"topics":563,"featured":17,"languages":564,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":565,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":254,"date_created":566,"user_updated":256,"date_updated":567,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"og_image":7,"translations_publications":568,"link":569},2291,"wp-45","Working Paper 45: Strategic anti-corruption communications – Guidance for behaviour change interventions",2462,"This Working Paper is intended to guide practitioners who are seeking to complement conventional anti-corruption measures by adopting a behavioural communications approach.\n\nIt aims to connect a typology of anti-corruption messages with behavioural change theories, and discuss their impact.\n\nSubsequently, it suggests practical implications for designing anti-corruption communication as part of behaviour change interventions. This includes outlining how to develop a robust Theory of Change as a means to enhance the success of such efforts.  \n\nThe guidance is based on a review of seven key topically pertinent studies that have been recently published. \n\n### About this paper\n\nThis publication is prepared as guidance for the USAID Indonesia Integrity Initiative (USAID INTEGRITAS).\n\nThis study is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of the Basel Institute on Governance and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.\n\n### Open-access licence and citation\n\nThe publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Series, [ISSN: 2624-9650](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002F?type=Working+Paper). It is a Diamond Open Access publication, also hosted on the Basel University Library’s open publishing platform [eterna](https:\u002F\u002Feterna.unibas.ch\u002F) as part of our Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Journal, with DOI: [10.12685\u002Fbigwp.2023.45.36](https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.12685\u002Fbigwp.2023.45.36).\n\nYou may share or republish the Working Paper under a Creative Commons [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F) licence.",[493],[156],"2023-06-13","https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F9472f8db-b06d-4af5-94ef-68380ff513f7?format=webp&quality=90&width=600&height=840","Baez-Camargo, Claudia, and Johanna Schönberg. 2023. ‘Strategic anti-corruption communications: a resource for practitioners.’ Working Paper 45, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-45.",[543,545],{"url":544,"caption":21},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcms\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fdaa576d0-6b9e-4c5b-9e42-de654239cce3\u002F240220-wp-45.pdf?v=20260611110939000",{"url":546,"caption":454},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Working%20Paper",[],[549,551],{"authors_id":550},{"id":60,"name":61},{"authors_id":552},{"id":553,"name":554},557,"Jude Johanna Schönberg",[],[557,559],{"tags_id":558},{"id":517,"name":518},{"tags_id":560},{"id":44,"name":45},[562],2553,[30,31],[33],[37],"2023-06-19T09:56:33.000Z","2026-09-10T09:04:32.000Z",[],"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-45",1791900620722]