“The scope of integrity and anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives has grown massively over the last 20 or so years. This is because companies, civil society and others have recognised that to tackle extortion and the payment of bribes requires more than an inward-looking ethics and compliance programme to ensure fair competition.”
Gemma Aiolfi, Senior Advisor, Legal and Compliance, Basel Institute on Governance
Stories, evidence and inspiration from the Basel Institute on Governance
At its core, Collective Action is a simple yet powerful concept: tackling corruption challenges together, rather than alone. Over the past two decades, anti-corruption Collective Action has grown from a niche idea to a recognised approach embedded in international standards, national strategies and corporate practices.
News
Peru’s Integrity Week celebrates transparency and good governance, including for the environment
While most of the world celebrates International Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December, Peru has kickstarted a new tradition: an entire week dedicated to integrity, transparency and anti-corruption events and celebrations.
The 5th International Collective Action Conference represented another significant milestone in the development of responsible and ethical business practices through anti-corruption Collective Action.
The conference, hosted by the Basel Institute with the support of the Siemens Integrity Initiative, took place on 24 and 25 June 2024 in Basel, Switzerland. This short conference report presents main insights, quotes as well as infographics and graphic recordings from the two-day event, which welcomed around 200 people from around the world and across all sectors.
Companies and business associations play an important role in preventing and reducing corruption in the markets where they operate – something that governments also want to achieve.
So how can governments and the private sector work together better to raise standards of integrity and fair business in specific countries and industries?
To answer this, our Collective Action team has worked with the people on the front lines of governments’ corruption prevent efforts – anti-corruption authorities – to develop practical guidance with real examples.
What can we learn from studying corrupt informal networks linking the public and private sectors? A lot – including how to build stronger multi-stakeholder partnerships against corruption through Collective Action.
This Policy Brief distils recommendations for Collective Action practitioners based on empirical insights on certain forms of corruption involving private-sector actors.
Publication
Conditions of Collective Commitment in Sector-Specific Coordinated Governance Initiatives
Although both the problem of corruption and its detrimental effects on society, economy, and environment has widely been recognized, corruption remains one of the most challenging problems of today. In light of globalization, the exclusive focus on compliance-oriented measures such as sharpening laws seems to be more and more ineffective.
Publication
Collective Action to tackle corruption
An important factor for success in anti-corruption Collective Action is that it should be a business-driven endeavour. That being said, the role of civil society must be recognised for its important contributions towards successful multi-stakeholder approaches against corruption.
This article from the Spring 2016 edition of Ethical Boardroom magazine looks at how building a strong coalition with civil society puts business on the front foot.
Publication
Non-State Actors as Standard Setters
This analysis of 'globalised' standard-setting processes draws together insights from law, political sciences, sociology and social anthropology to assess the authority and accountability of non-state actors and the legitimacy and effectiveness of the processes. The essays offer new understandings of current governance problems, including environmental and financial standards, rules for military contractors and complex public-private partnerships, such as those intended to protect critical information infrastructure.