KickBack – The Global Anticorruption Podcast

Dr. Andreas Bågenholm (University of Gothenburg) and Dr. Rekha Diwakar (University of Sussex) join Prof. Dan Hough to discuss anti-corruption political parties. These parties have proliferated in different parts of the world in the last two decades. Andreas and Rekha draw on their research in Europe and India respectively to talk about where these parties come from and what they stand for. The group then look at how these parties have actually performed when they have entered into government, assessing in particular the track record of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. We learn how these parties tend to evolve over time and can even become caught up in accusations of corruption involving their own members.

In this episode Professor Dan Hough (Centre for the Study of Corruption) speaks to Professor Robert Klitgaard (Claremont Graduate University). Robert is a well-known and influential academic in the corruption field. He talks us through the origins of his ideas in applying institutional economic theory to understanding corruption issues, as originally set out in Controlling Corruption (1988). Robert then discusses other research interests and influences, including the anthropological literature on corruption and challenges related to elitism in developing and developed countries. Robert and Dan lastly talk about Robert's recent research in Bhutan and the lessons it might hold for other countries pursuing anti-corruption reforms. Details on Robert's previous and upcoming publications are available here: https://www.cgu.edu/people/robert-klitgaard/

In episode 102 Robert Barrington (Centre for the Study of Corruption), Guy Beringer KC (Hon) (Chair of the Taskforce on Business Ethics and the Legal Profession), Liz Dávid-Barrett (Centre for the Study of Corruption) and Tena Prelec (University of Rijeka) discuss the topic of so-called 'professional enablers'. Distinguishing between legal and illegal functions, the group discuss the types of activities related to corruption that the term might (and might not) encompass. They provide plenty of case examples from around the globe involving different types of professionals, such as accountants, consultants and lawyers. There is then a particular focus on the legal profession and the pathways available for raising professional standards. This includes a discussion some of the legal ethics issues raised by this topic.

Leading academics from the Centre for the Study of Corruption sit down to discuss what we learnt from Episode 100. The anniversary episode featured insights on the state of anti-corruption practice from some of the leading global thinkers in the field. Here, Robert Barrington, Liz Dávid-Barrett, Dan Hough and Sam Power debate some of the key questions raised, including: To what extent we should be optimistic about the future for anti-corruption work? What is the proper place for corruption theory in understanding key developments in the field? And what are the roles that different groups of actors can play in the next phase of anti-corruption initiatives?

For this special anniversary episode, Kickback invited leading thinkers from around the globe to comment on the state of practice in the corruption field. We asked each individual to respond to one of two questions: a) ​'what is one thing about corruption that you've changed your thinking on in the past 10 years?' b) 'what is the most significant development - positive or negative - in relation to corruption and corruption studies over the past thirty years?' We got some fascinating responses. Take the time to listen to them all in or jump to an individual's comments from the links below. Here are our esteemed contributors: Michael Johnston (2.34) - https://on.soundcloud.com/EM7ED Leena Koni Hoffmann (7.52) - https://on.soundcloud.com/HbLSy Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (10.24) - https://on.soundcloud.com/RXYf2 Paul Heywood (12.51) - https://on.soundcloud.com/dA5Hg Florencia Guerzovich (15.40) - https://on.soundcloud.com/6sbPW Joseph Pozsgai-Alvarez (18.16) - https://on.soundcloud.com/Q54rJ Jorge Alatorre (21.36) - https://on.soundcloud.com/yk8qf Delia Ferreira Rubio (23.33) - https://on.soundcloud.com/ojHVn Matthew Stephenson (26.55) - https://on.soundcloud.com/AwQ1Z Susan Rose-Ackerman (29.43) - https://on.soundcloud.com/9H4m3 John Githongo (32.15) - https://on.soundcloud.com/fzfjn Jon Quah (33.34) - https://on.soundcloud.com/mdSgr Laode Muhammad Syarif (36.12) - https://on.soundcloud.com/gu2mC To see categories of past episodes, go to our playlists page - https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/sets

Huma Yusuf speaks to Tom Shipley about the links between business integrity and environmental, social and governance (ESG). Huma is Director of Business Integrity at British International Investment, an impact investor, and a key public commentator on climate change in Pakistan. In this podcast, Huma describes how anti-corruption and business integrity fit into the global business agenda on ESG, breaking down some of the key concepts and debates in this area. She also talks about working with businesses in emerging markets on these topics and some of the key challenges that arise. Links to reports cited in the podcast are here: Transparency International (2022) "Investing with integrity",https://www.transparency.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/publications/Investing%20with%20Integrity%20-%20Transparency%20International%20UK.pdf World Economic Forum (2022) "Investing in integrity in an increasingly complex world: the role of anti-corruption amid the ESG revolution", https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Investing_in_Integrity_GFC_2022.pdf

This is the second episode of the 'Introduction to' series in which experts provide an overview of some of the key issues in the corruption field. In this episode Liz Dávid-Barrett, Dan Hough and Sam Power (all Centre for the Study of Corruption) discuss the leading theories for corruption analysis, including rational choice, collective action and social norms approaches. This is a valuable overview for researchers new to these topics. Further links to Kickback episodes with some of the leading theorists referenced are provided below. Susan Rose-Ackerman on the principal-agent theory of corruption, https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/1-episode-susan-rose-ackerman Bo Rothstein on corruption as a collective action problem: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/5-episode-bo-rothstein Diana Chigas and Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church on social norms: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/49-diana-chigas-and-cheyanne-scharbatke-church-on-social-norms-approaches-to-anti-corruption https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/49-diana-chigas-and-cheyanne-scharbatke-church-on-social-norms-approaches-to-anti-corruption And for the first 'introduction to' episode on corruption measurement, see: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/93-introduction-to-corruption-measurement-debates

Michela Wrong, journalist and author of It's Our Turn to Eat, speaks to Dr. Sam Power, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the Centre for the Study of Corruption. Named as the top book on corruption by The Guardian in 2023, It's Our Turn to Eat tells the story of John Githongo, the Kenyan activist and whistleblower interviewed in Episode 96. Michela talks to Sam about the issues raised in the book as well as her other writing including Do Not Disturb, her latest book on the abuse of power by the Kagame regime in Rwanda.

The Kenyan anti-corruption campaigner and activist, John Githongo, speaks to Liz Dávid-Barrett (Centre for the Study of Corruption). The episode covers key moments in John's career including his involvement in the formation of Transparency International and time spent as Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in the Kenyan government in the early 2000s. John and Liz further discuss what lessons can be taken from Kenya's fight against corruption and the particularly the role of anti-corruption institutions.

Dr. Magnus Öhman, senior political finance adviser at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, speaks to the Kickback team. Magnus discusses the challenges of corruption and political trust against the wider global context of increased democratic backsliding. There is specific focus on approaches to tackling the problem of illicit finance in politics, including the potential of artificial intelligence for improving transparency.

Grant Walton, Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy (Australian National University, speaks to Dan Hough about his research on corruption in Papua New Guinea (PNG). A key focus for Grant has been to explore what people understand by corruption in PNG and how this compares to Western understandings of the term. The disconnection between the two has implications for how we approach messaging on countering corruption which risks being ineffective or even backfiring if it does not account for local understandings. Grant also outlines the formal state anti-corruption institutions in place in PNG, leading to discussion on the appropriate roles for external actors in supporting these institutions. Publications mentioned by Grant in the podcast can be found on his research profile, here: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/academic/grant-walton?tb=publication

Professor Dan Hough (University of Sussex), Professor Elizabeth Dávid-Barrett (University of Sussex/ International Anti-Corruption Academy) and Dr. Roxana Bratu (King's College London) provide an introduction to corruption measurement debates. They explore questions like: How has measurement of corruption changed over the three decades? What are the best tools currently available for measuring corruption? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these tools? What are 'proxy indicators' for measuring corruption? What do users actually want from corruption measurement tools?

Andrew Wedeman, Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University, speaks to Professor Dan Hough about the politics of anti-corruption campaigns in China. Andrew analyses the anti-corruption campaign instigated by President Xi Jinping and also puts this into historical perspective. Andrew and Dan discuss the effects this campaign has had on Chinese society at all levels and whether there really is any evidence of progress in controlling corruption in the country. Andrew additionally talks about some of the challenges in researching these issues and where research on this topic could go next in China.

Cheri-Leigh Erasmus, Global Director of Learning at the Accountability Lab, speaks to Dan Hough, Professor of Politics at the Centre for the Study of Corruption. She describes Accountability Lab's distinctive approach to building integrity in the civil service with examples from across the globe. She shares some lessons from this work and offers plenty of ideas for how to engage new audiences in anti-corruption work. You can see more on the work of Accountability Lab here, https://accountabilitylab.org/

Claudia Baez Camargo, Head of Public Governance at the Basel Institute, talks to Liz Dávid-Barrett about her work on applying social norms theory to analysing corruption issues. The episode takes in examples of applied research in East Africa and Ukraine, while Claudia's thinking on corruption is also influenced by her upbringing in Mexico. Claudia describes some successes in altering social norms around corruption in health settings but equally some of the challenges in sustaining these initiatives. In addition, Claudia talks about her work analysing informal networks of corrupt actors as well as how we might use insights from behavioural science to improve anti-corruption interventions.

This episode features Cecilia Müller Torbrand, CEO of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN). She speaks to Liz Dávid-Barrett about the work of MACN, a network of shipping businesses which has been making some real headway in reducing corruption risks in this sector. The MACN story offers lots of valuable lessons for researchers and practitioners. Cecilia talks about how MACN has succeeded in framing its messaging around trade and commerce to engage government and the private sector in anti-corruption work. She also describes the incredible data MACN has compiled on corruption incidents and risks in the sector, which it uses to push for change. Detailed examples from Argentina and Nigeria show how the model works in practice and provide evidenced examples of change.

Luís de Sousa, deputy director and research fellow at ICS-ULisboa, speaks to Robert Barrington, professor of anti-corruption practice at the Centre for the Study of Corruption, on a range of topics. Luís is well-known for his research on anti-corruption agencies and in the episode he discusses country cases and conditions for success. This is also the first Kickback episode to discuss Portugal in depth. Lessons from Portugal on the politicization of anti-corruption measures, the role of external actors in reform, and the importance of local government will be of real interest to researchers and practitioners working in comparable contexts.

In this episode recorded on the margins of the International Anti-Corruption Conference, Paul Massaro, senior policy advisor for the U.S. Helsinki Commission, speaks to Liz Dávid-Barrett. Paul discusses the drivers behind the Enablers Act and the role of the US in countering kleptocracy. The conversation also covers the effectiveness of international sanctions on corruption and the importance of counter-kleptocracy work to ending the war in Ukraine.

Kicking off 2023 we were delighted to have Dame Margaret Hodge join us to talk about integrity issues in the UK. She speaks to Dr. Sam Power, Senior Lecturer at the Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption, to talk about her fascinating route into politics and how this naturally led her to focus on integrity. The episode covers corruption issues in the UK including the UK's role in wider international patterns of corruption. Margaret and Sam discuss some practical responses to these issues which will be of real interest to reformers in the UK and other countries facing similar challenges.

This episode from the margins of the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Washington DC features Shannon Green, Executive Director of USAID's Anti-Corruption Task Force. Shannon talks to Liz Dávid-Barrett about the agency's new anti-corruption strategy. They also focus on the challenge of fighting kleptocracies and USAID's new dekleptification guide. Here are links to the resources discussed USAID anti-corruption strategy: https://www.usaid.gov/anti-corruption/policy USAID dekleptification guide: https://www.usaid.gov/anti-corruption/dekleptification

We are delighted to announce that the Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC) at the University of Sussex is the new home of Kickback. The centre will be hosting the podcast over the next three years. We look forward to continuing the great work of the original Kickback team and welcoming an interesting range of guests from across the anti-corruption community. Robert Barrington talks more about the handover in a blog for the CSC (link below). In this episode, Matthew Stephenson talks to Liz Dávid-Barrett about what we have learnt from Kickback so far. He also offers his thoughts on the major themes and challenges the anti-corruption field should be tackling. These include 'the political economy of anti-corruption reform' as well as the proper place for theory in anti-corruption work. We additionally take this opportunity to ask Matthew about his latest research. He talks about a recent paper on the US experience of anti-corruption which provides some evidence to support an incremental theory of anti-corruption reform in contrast to 'big bang' explanations. There will be new episodes coming from the CSC in the new year so stay posted! Blog on the handover from Robert Barrington - https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/centre-for-the-study-of-corruption/2022/12/06/kickback-the-global-anti-corruption-podcast-now-hosted-by-the-csc/ Here are links to papers discussed by Matthew - Taming systemic corruption: The American experience and its implications for contemporary debates - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X21003703 - co-authored with Mariano-Florentino Cuèllar Corruption as a self-reinforcing trap - https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36810

Ahead of the Qatar World Cup, we welcome Maggie Murphy, CEO of Lewes Football Club and a former Senior Global Advocacy Manager at Transparency International. She speaks to Dan Hough, self-professed football obsessive and Professor of Politics at Sussex University. Maggie takes us through her journey from anti-corruption campaigning to football management. She and Dan discuss the ethical problems affecting football, including the FIFA scandal, and how these issues exacerbate inequity between the men's and women's games. Maggie offers an alternative vision for ethical club management which we can all buy into.

In the first of a series of episodes hosted by the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, we welcome Daniel Kaufmann. Daniel is a senior fellow at Results for Development (R4D) and President Emeritus at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). He is also a former Director of the World Bank where he headed programmes related to corruption and governance. He is well-known in the anti-corruption field for his work co-developing leading global indices, including the Worldwide Governance Indicators. In this episode Daniel speaks to Liz Dávid-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity at the University of Sussex, about his route into this field. As leading scholars on state capture, Daniel and Liz talk through the origins of the term in the 1990s and how the concept has evolved since then. The discussion takes us through several cases including countries in the Balkans, South Africa, the UK and US. The conversation finishes on the challenging measuring the problem of state capture.

We welcome Andrii Borovyk (@Borovyk_UA), Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine, and Gretta Fenner (@gretweets), the managing director of the Basel Institute for Governance. Andrii and Gretta describe their background and how they ended up in their current positions. How the invasion changed anti-corruption work within Ukraine, how reconstruction efforts have already begun, and which corruption risks need to be taken care of to ensure effective reconstruction efforts, emphasizing the need for powerful anti-corruption institutions, better conditionalities as well as open, accessible, and centralized public information repositories. The interview discusses the approach towards conditionalities taken by the IMF, how they change in times of war, and the importance of the donors' abilities to trace the money spent. Finally, the three discuss the need for an inspector general for Ukraine and whether to create new or strengthen existing anti-corruption institutions. Links during the episode: Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity More information about the different anti-corruption institutions in Ukraine: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/11-episode-daria-kaleniuk-final Strategic corruption in the context of Ukraine and Europe: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/70-episode-oksana-huss-joseph-pozsgai-alvarez-on-the-war-in-ukraine The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU): https://nabu.gov.ua/en Joint paper by Basel Institute of Governance and TI Ukraine: https://baselgovernance.org/publications/ukraine-recovery-conference-anti-corruption-critical-condition-sustainable-recovery Prozorro Public Procurement Platform: https://prozorro.gov.ua/en Open Contracting Partnership: https://www.open-contracting.org/ Post-war reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/59-jodi-vittori-on-corruption-and-the-us-military-operation-in-afghanistan & https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/60-kate-bateman-on-the-special-inspector-general-for-afghanistan-reconstruction

We welcome Mihaly Fazekas, assistant professor at the Central European University, Department of Public Policy, who works on a range of topics related to corruption. The interview covers how how his own personal experience with bad public infrastructure inspired him to conduct corruption research, why he believes that corruption research would benefit from a better understanding of what are actually ymeasuring when we study corruption and the importance of investigative journalism (for example the invesgtative journalism center direct36; https://www.direkt36.hu/en/). Mihaly then makes a compelling pitch why public procurement offers a relevant and interesting subject for corruption researchers. The enf of the interview deals with the intersection between big data, technology and corruption, such as whether new corruption risks emanate from Artificial Intelligence and how AI conversely might be used to fight corruption. Concrete examples mentioned: the e-procurement portal Dozorro in Ukraine: https://oecd-opsi.org/innovations/dozorro/ Mihaly’s pick of the podcast: the classic computer game civilization II: https://civilization.com/de-DE/civilization-2/ Further reading on AI and anti-corruption: Fazekas, M., & Kocsis, G. (2020). Uncovering high-level corruption: cross-national objective corruption risk indicators using public procurement data. British Journal of Political Science, 50(1), 155-164. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/uncovering-highlevel-corruption-crossnational-objective-corruption-risk-indicators-using-public-procurement-data/8A1742693965AA92BE4D2BA53EADFDF0 Abdou, A., Basdevant, O., David-Barrett, E., & Fazekas, M. (2022). Assessing Vulnerabilities to Corruption in Public Procurement and Their Price Impact. IMF Working Papers, 2022(094). https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2022/094/article-A001-en.xml Adam, I., & Fazekas, M. (2021). Are emerging technologies helping win the fight against corruption? A review of the state of evidence. Information Economics and Policy, 57, 100950. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016762452100038X Köbis, N., Starke, C., & Rahwan, I. (2022). The promise and perils of using artificial intelligence to fight corruption. Nature Machine Intelligence, 4(5), 418-424. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-022-00489-1.epdf?sharing_token=EdeuqUBk2oKscPxws-8D8tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MSvwdFseOcM6qa-7nxQYsZYARiqghH2fBcU3_YVcnprrGjCkjAT_ckOEcdYz5UF1qnHidcuHymvw9CuowLifDJHoE1fGJ8XeL2AP-YJttRiF8JbxMcwgUWCUAzAK5ZbBE%3D

Michel Sapin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Sapin) served as a Minister of Finance in France from 1992 to 1993 and 2014 to 2017 and now works as a Senior Advisor for Franklin Lawyers with a specialization in anti-corruption laws. Valentina Lana is a Lecturer at the Sciences Po law school in Paris. Matthew Stephenson interviews the two to discuss the French anti-corruption law known as the la loi Sapin II. They cover why France’s approach towards anti-corruption changed when Michel worked for the government and the importance of the notion of “public interest” in the process. The interview also touches on the surprises and disappointing aspects of the law and how it differs from US legislation against corruption. The three discuss how the French approach toward anti-corruption can inspire other nations to follow suit. If you want to read more about France’s anti-corruption turn-around law, you can find Valentina’s and Michel’s guest post on the Global Anti-corruption blog: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2022/04/14/guest-post-frances-anticorruption-turnaround-and-the-path-forward/

We are thrilled to welcome Ray Fisman (@RFisman), Professor of Economics at Boston University, long-standing corruption expert and author of Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691144696/economic-gangsters) (with Ed Miguel) and Corruption: What everybody needs to know (https://books.google.de/books/about/Corruption.html?id=XdVKDgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y) (with Miriam Golden). Matthew and Ray sat down to discuss the classic question whether corruption always hinders development, which types of corruption are particularly harmful, conversations that inspired Ray’s career and Ray’s more recent work on the hidden influence of political connections. You can find all the referenced papers below: Professor Louis T. Wells (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_T._Wells) whose work on Indonesia influenced Ray Samuel Huntington (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_P._Huntington) who coined the idea that corruption may grease the wheels Moncur Olsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancur_Olson) who introduced the distinction between some forms of centralized corruption being like a stationary bandit while other less centralized are like roving bandits Andrej Shleifer and Robert Vishny’s famous QJE paper entitled Corruptionhttps://academic.oup.com/qje/article/108/3/599/1881822?login=true Benjamin Olken and Patrick Barron’s work in Aceh introducing the idea of a toll booth theory of corruption https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/599707?casa_token=FXxoxMmoqHYAAAAA%3ARSJD5IXWK31c7PjQO_vIuBlNTyZPOCRhiszsBLnTd_j0Sn8rbN5kPkO-aK4bj_zLiKYaHe0xBLeN Shang-Jin Wei’s work on the varying prices of bribes https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/sw2446 New York Times Article of mine collapse in China: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/world/asia/china-mine-disaster.html Ray & Marianne Bertrand’s work on hidden influence of political connectedness: https://gcgc.global/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/5.-Yegen_Politics_Ownership_compressed.pdf https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20180615

Today, we welcome investigative journalist Frederik Obermaier (@f_obermaier). In the interview, we cover the Suisse Secrets (https://www.occrp.org/en/suisse-secrets/). Frederik also mentions the China Cables uncovering surveillance and mass internment without charge or trial of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, China (https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/). We also discuss the Swiss Bank Secrecy Law and its infamous article 47 undermining Media Freedom in Switzerland): https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/may/02/swiss-consider-amending-banking-secrecy-laws-amid-un-pressure Pop-culture references in the interview: The Laundromat(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuBRcfe4bSo) Frederik's pick of the podcast: Money Men (Dan McCrum) about the Wirecard Scandal: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/144/1444756/money-men/9781787635043.html

We welcome back Gary Kalman, director of Transparency International’s United States Office, for the third time. Find out more about the coalition at us.transparency.org (00:40) - Progress the U.S. is making on the fight against global corruption, and the role of U.S. entities in facilitating corruption (05:19) - The White House Anti Corruption strategy document (“United States Strategy on Countering Corruption”: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/United-States-Strategy-on-Countering-Corruption.pdf) (10:43) - The influence of Transparency International on U.S. decisions and support for anti-corruption missions in other countries (14:14) - The Summit for Democracy (19:28) - Comparison to the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit (24:00) - Maintaining and expanding bipartisan support for anti corruption and anti money laundering initiatives (31:00) - The ENABLERS Act (41:07) - The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act and The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act) (47:32) - Global anti-bribery enforcement and the challenges the U.S has with information sharing (53:25) - FCPA violations and prosecutions (55:10) - The most important agenda items for Transparency International’s U.S. office

In this special episode, we welcome Anastasia Kirilenko to the podcast. She is an investigative journalist and the co-author of the documentary "Putin and the Mafia" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttM-O-j1AVs&t=462s). (02:55) - Kirilenko's background (06:59) - Documentary "Putin and the Mafia" (10:55) - Media restrictions in Russia (15:50) - The role of the civil society in Russia (20:32) - The role of oligarchs in Russian politics (28:24) - Informing Russian citizens through short wave radio (31:30) - How could the international anti-corruption community do?

In this special episode, Oksana Huss, who has been working on anticorruption in Ukraine for the last 10 years, talks with Svitlana Musiiaka, who is a lawyer based in Ukraine and Head of Research and Policy at NAKO. Musiiaka was previously Head of Corruption Detection in the Ministry of Health, and worked with the Prosecutors Office in Ukraine. (01:32) - Musiiaka’s career (06:37) - What is NAKO, and how it fits into Ukraine’s defence structure (https://nako.org.ua/en) (13:27) - Anticorruption developments in Ukraine (20:50) - NAKO and reform to change Soviet style ways (25:00) - Ukraine’s military history (28:24) - A constructive approach leading to successful collaboration (33:52) - The Soviet approach (37:30) - Transparency in the defence sector (45:08) - Reform in Ukraine and how Ukraine has held up its military strength against the Russian army (55:15) - Supporting Ukraine now

We welcome Oksana Nesterenko as part of our series on Ukraine. She is an Associate Professor of Law and the Executive Director of the Anti-corruption Research and Education Centre at National University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy. (01:06) - Nesterenko’s interest in anti-corruption and her work as an academic researcher and advocate (02:39) - The war for values (11:00) - The cultural and political threat of Ukraine; joining NATO and the threat to Putin’s regime (15:56) - Putin’s money and protecting his regime (25:00) - Zelenskyy as a politician and whether he held up to his anti-corruption promises (35:10) - What needs to be done by governments around the world to put a stop to dirty money (45:05) - Last words; money and war

As a continuation on our series about Ukraine, we welcome Igor logvinenko, an associate professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College. (01:14) - Igor’s background and his book, “Global Finance, Local Control: Corruption and Wealth in Contemporary Russia” (06:51) - Russia’s historical corruption and current financial integration into world business. (15:20) - The mark of change in a stabilised regime, British Petroleum existing Russian investments (18:15) - The impact of current sanctions, freezing Russia’s Central Bank, action by private companies: Ikea (25:07) - The use of targeted individual sanctions and asset seizures and their appropriateness as anticorruption tool. The Magnitsky Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act) (33:29) - The American financial system and the openness of western economies. Igor’s work with Casey Michel (listen to episode 66 of Kickback to hear from Casey) (49:40) - Looking ahead: the offshore jurisdiction of the U.S., the fundamental structure o the global financial system, and structural changes driven by local populations

We welcome Inna Melnykovska from the Political Science Department at Central European University. She is an expert on state business relations and crony capitalism in Eastern Europe. (01:50) - The direction of Inna’s research (06:00) - Political pluralism and the competition of big business in Ukrainian politics (08:50) - Putin and Ukraine’s competitive oligarchy (10:14) - The similarities and nuances between Russia and Ukraine (12:15) - President Zelenskyy’s fight against crony capitalists - the good and the bad (17:35) - Zelenskyy’s ties to oligarchs and the problems with complete de-oligarchization (21:00) - Putin’s motivation to invade Ukraine (26:54) - The relationship between Russia’s economic elite and Putin’s inner circle, and efforts of western sanctions (39:08) - Inna’s advice for western policies on sanctions and Russian businesses and elites (43:05) - Long term effects

We are joined by Oksana Huss, postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Bologna, and Joseph Pozsgai-Alvarez, Associate Professor and specialist in anti-corruption studies at Osaka University, where we discuss the unfolding events in Ukraine through the lenses of corruption. We continue to think about the Ukrainian people, their suffering and the tragic loss of life during these recent events. (01:00) - Introduction (03:15) - Huss’ background of anti-corruption in Ukraine. Ukraine’s revolutions, decentralization reform (and challenges), and president Zelensky’s democratic election (11:30) - The cultural and economic threat that the developments in Ukraine posed on Russian elites. National identity, agency, and political influence of Ukrainian and Russian people. The primacy of economics in the values of the West (21:30) - The threat to national liberties. A new wave of authoritarianism exporting corruption to liberal democracies, and how this is broader than strategic corruption (32:05) - Forms of strategic corruption and the financial influence of Russia on Europe (37:20) - Ex-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and strategic corruption (42:59) - Optimism and the resilience of the Ukrainian army. How sanction efforts on Russia can be learnings for Japan in regards to China (53:58) - The effect of sanctions on Russian elites. Nuclear threats on Europe. Corruption as a network beyond national borders (1:01:44) - Separating the Russian elite and the Russian oligarchs. How to hit dirty money that enables the general Russian society to enter into more positive diplomatic ties with the West

00:00: Introduction and the beginnings of Caryn’s interest in corruption in Africa 04:24: Caryn discusses the principle agent problem from her paper “Corruption and collective action” with Heather Marquette (https://www.cmi.no/publications/5544-corruption-and-collective-action) 12:00: Caryn recognises three lenses of viewing corruption and fits them together: principle agent theory, collective action theory, and the functionality of corruption in solving problems 16:00: How to (not) craft messages against corruption, the effectiveness of awareness efforts, and combating corruption fatigue 21:36: The effects of addressing religious affiliations in anti-corruption messages, versus using community driven signalling or nationalist messages 23:36: Caryn’s study in Lagos: understanding corruption through a simulated bribery game (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/curse-of-good-intentions-why-anticorruption-messaging-can-encourage-bribery/CE180F511D68B5A4D14904ACFA3728F4) 25:48: A positive take on anti-corruption messaging: how using injunctive norms can be beneficial (Paper by Mattias Agerberg https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gove.12633) 30:02: The long term impact of anti-corruption messaging 34:40: Caryn discusses her study in South Africa researching the reduction of police bribery in the Limpopo province (https://dro.dur.ac.uk/29110/) 41:43 Reducing bribery amongst Ugandan healthcare workers and the functionality of bribery in this sector (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dpr.12533) 46:10: Caryn asks, what is our aim of reducing corruption? 50:00: Caryn’s pick of the podcast: an anti-corruption board game, Afghan street art, Kenyan graffiti artists, and more

We welcome Dr. Torplus ‘Nick’ Yomnak, whose anti-corruption work in Thailand has received international recognition, including the United States State Department’s 2021 Anti-Corruption Champion’s Award. He is the Founder and Chief Advisor of HAND Social Enterprise and Assistant Professor at Chulalongkorn University. 01:33: What led Nick to focus on corruption in research and activism 06:00: How anti-corruption research can be put into practice 10:18: Nick’s research; using open-source data of procurement information to locate signs of corruption 12:40: How the Thai government has reacted to Nick’s research, and the role of investigative journalists in publicizing information 16:25: The challenges of keeping up the pressure on corruption cases; the infamous Klong Dan Water Management corruption case (https://www.thaipbsworld.com/former-pcd-chief-and-two-officials-to-pay-10-5-billion-baht-in-infamous-klong-dan-case/) 23:38: The biggest corruption issues and challenges facing Thailand; what the 2021 Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) will mean for Thailand (https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021/) 29:39: Nick highlights why increased transparency is so important in beginning to fight corruption 35:15: Indonesia’s KPK and bribery investigations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Eradication_Commission) 38:37: The corruption case of Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister (https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2179752/thailand-acquits-deputy-prime-minister-luxury-watch-scandal), and how this event may actually signal progress

00:00: Introduction and what sparked Liz’s interest in corruption 02:20: What is state capture (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capture) 05:16: Liz discusses how state capture has been politically-driven in more recent developments 08:30: Can we compare state capture to an extreme form of lobbyism? Liz goes deeper into the definition of state capture and hones in on the intentionality aspect of state capture 10:58: Exposing machine politics: the Brazilian Car Wash Scandal (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Car_Wash ) as a revealing example on the systematic structure of state capture (Liz’s paper) 14:30: Liz looks into how state capture happens in order to understand how to prevent it 18:41: The alarming frequency of state capture in developed nations, specifically the U.K. 24:30: Our roles as citizens and academics to hold public officials accountable 29:18: Liz elaborates on her work on corruption in public procurement, and discusses how Big Data reveals the prevalence of this corruption (Paper by Liz David-Barrett and Mihály Fazekas https://ace.globalintegrity.org/anti-corruption-in-aid-funded-procurement/) 33:18: The displacement effect of imposing anti-corruption restrictions on the public procurement process (http://www.govtransparency.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/David-Barrett-Fazekas_Displacement-effects_20180914_GTI-WP-format.pdf) 34:27: The unintended effects of anticorruption measures. (Paper by Ray Fisman and Miriam Goldman https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327202630_Corruption_What_Everyone_Needs_to_KnowR_by_Ray_Fisman_and_Miriam_A_Golden_Oxford_University_Press_New_York_2017) 34:50: How anticorruption clubs target systemic corruption (Dive deeper by listening to episode 46 of Kickback with Lola Adekanye) 43:46: Liz gives recommendations to the research community, particularly young researchers in this area 46:24: How Liz collects examples of where music and art are used in anti-corruption campaigns, and Liz’s favourite example (Video of Colombian politicians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nacvZmMwZuo)

We welcome Casey Michelle, journalist and author of American Kleptocracy: How the US Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History. 00:56: Casey’s background and what let his interest in illicit finance, money laundering and kleptocracy 01:30: Casey discusses living in Kazakhstan as a school teacher and the country’s ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s corrupt government that sparked his interest in the topic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursultan_Nazarbayev#Allegations_of_corruption) 04:40: Matthew and Casey focus in on the provocative title of Casey’s book and what it suggests 06:21: The reason why Casey wrote his book 07:40: The three primary dynamics that created American offshore Kleptocracy as a source of income (the role of U.S. states, the treasury’s policy exceptions, and American enablers profiting from the financial flows) 15:36: Why the U.S. is Casey’s focus and how it compares to offshore havens for kleptocratic money 21:54: Taking the FinCEN files (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54226107) as an example of the scale of ignored suspicious activity reports 29:27: The role of American lawyers and law firms in illicit wealth 36:35: Casey highlights the recent movements in Congress to prevent enablers 39:30: The role of universities and their acceptance of donations from kleptocratic figures. Casey brings in the National Endowment for Democracy May 2021 report on reputation laundering (https://www.ned.org/reputation-laundering-in-the-university-sector-of-open-societies-working-paper/) 50:15: The long-term development of kleptocracy and money laundering, and honing in on the Trump organization 56:49: Money laundering as a partisan issue under the Trump organization 1:04:14: Casey thinks ahead about what we ought to strive for in this space

Dan Hough is Professor of Politics (Politics), Head of Department of Politics (Politics) at the University of Sussex, founding director of the Center for the Study of Corruption and a football (soccer) aficionado. Find out how Dan’s 14th birthday played a pivotal role in him getting interested in corruption research. Spoiler alert, it includes Ben Johnson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Johnson_(Canadian_sprinter)) In his early work, Dan studied corruption in German politics, including the donations scandal surrounding former German chancellor Helmuth Kohl (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDU_donations_scandal). Another case that links sports and corruption that Dan mentions, refers to the Andrew Mangan betting scandal (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/7987807.stm). Matthew and Dan discuss why corruption researchers need (more) patience, how the success of different anti-corruption strategies depends on the context and the challenges of democratization and anti-corruption in Kenya. The two discuss incremental change in anti-corruption, Dan referring to Willy Brandt’s approach towards the former Soviet Union (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Brandt). The interview shifts towards discussing corruption in sports, whether we should care about it in the first place, and how big sports events can lead to “sports washing” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportswashing). Dan outlines the key difference between those who play sports to make money, versus those who make money to play sports, the importance of playing sports the right way to teach integrity. Matthew and Dan discuss social norms of corruption (lit review: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789904994/9781789904994.00010.xml) and the importance of how you treat referees (great podcast on that issue: https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/ref-you-suck/). The interview ends with Dan’s views about the responses to the Qatar2024 World cup and the doping allegations against the Russian Olympic athletes. Link to the CIPE award voting: https://t.co/LeTtNiPM6w?amp=1

We welcome one of the most important voices in the academic (anti-)corruption field: Michael Johnston, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Colgate University, who has written numerous books on corruption. (https://www.colgate.edu/about/directory/mjohnston). The interview covers Michael’s journey of becoming a corruption research pioneer, his conceptual framework of syndromes of corruption and how they might inform anti-corruption policies. Matthew and Michael discuss the developments of the anti-corruption “industry” over the past decades and Michael shares his views on the tools most useful to fight corruption: Politics and social networks. The interview ends with Michael candidly sharing which views about corruption he has changed his mind about and some advice for (young) anti-corruption scholars and practitioners. Further links: Michael’s most recent book (with Scott A. Fritzen) “The Conundrum of Corruption” can be found here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Conundrum-of-Corruption-Reform-for-Social-Justice/Johnston-Fritzen/p/book/9780367224547 Michael refers to research by Lawrence Lessig on institutional corruption, you can find more about it: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10519/Lessig

We welcome Peter Y. Solmssen who serves as the Chairman of the Non-trial Resolutions Subcommittee of the International Bar Association. The interview covers his unique role in serving as the general counsel after the allegations of foreign bribery against Siemens surfaced. Peter shares his views on the Siemens case in general and weighs in on why a successful and large company like Siemens developed systematic bribery schemes in the first place. Matthew and Peter discuss the benefits and challenges of administering penalties of foreign bribery not only to companies but also to individuals. Peter describes his wishlist of changes to the FCPA and how bribery schemes increasingly span across national borders need to be combatted. For more info on the Siemens scandal: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21siemens.html To find out more about Peter and his involvement in negotiating “the first internationally coordinated settlement of multiple foreign bribery prosecutions”, check out his Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Y._Solmssen. For a fascinating read about his family’s roots in Germany check out this Die Zeit article (in German): https://www.zeit.de/2010/37/Siemens-Vorstand-Solmssen/komplettansicht In March 2017, Peter co-authored the Report “On Combating Corruption and Fostering Integrity “ to the Secretary General of the OECD: https://www.oecd.org/corruption/HLAG-Corruption-Integrity-SG-Report-March-2017.pdf Together with Prof. Tina Soreide (https://www.nhh.no/en/employees/faculty/tina-soreide/), Peter has founded and coordinated “The Recommendation 6 Network” a working group consisting academics, lawyers, corporate officers and NGOs: https://www.nhh.no/en/research-centres/corporate-compliance-and-enforcement/about/guidelines-for-non-trial-resolutions/

We welcome Will Fitzgibbon (@WillFitzgibbon) to talk about the largest collaborative journalistic efforts on the Pandora Papers, revealing “inner workings of a shadow economy that benefits the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of everyone else.” More information on Pandora Papers: https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/global-investigation-tax-havens-offshore/ Will mentions previous data leaks: For more of our content on data leaks, check out our episodes with Frederik Obermaier on the Panama Papers https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/6-episode-frederik-obermaier?si=a0c379172d884b3bb74a986cafa5c3dd and the FinCen Files https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/39-frederik-obermaier-on-the-fincen-files-revealing-global-money-laundering-systems?si=40fc582fab9b43069087aa87fa4384dd Learn how in his work for ICIJ, Will uses artificial intelligence to sift through the massive databases. Will also describes how the impact of data leaks is measured and how the public response to data leaks can spur policy changes. He mentions the protests in Iceland following the Panama Papers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Icelandic_anti-government_protests. Picks of the Podcast: Documentary by Kenyian journalists on the revelations within the Pandora Papers about President Kenyatta: https://africauncensored.substack.com/p/watch-our-pandora-papers-documentary Washington Post Podcast on the US as a tax haven: https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/a-tax-haven-in-americas-heartland/?itid=lk_inline_manual_47 Video by Scilla Alleci (ICIJ) on environmental harms revealed in the Panama Papers https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/solvay-italy-new-jerey-chemical-plants-offshore/

This week we welcome Fernanda Odilla (@fe_odilla) and Anwesha Chakraborty (@anwesha8984) to talk about their research on how to use technology to assist bottom-up anti-corruption efforts. You can find more about their and Alice Mattoni’s work via https://site.unibo.it/bit-act/en/team/researchers What we cover in the podcast: Alice Mattoni’s BIT-ACT project, find more about it in our previous podcast with Alice: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/56-alice-mattoni-on-the-potential-of-digital-media-for-social-movements-against-corruption Fernanda mentions the car wash (“Lava Jato”) scandal and its backlash, find out more about it from the lead prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol (https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/2-episode-deltan-dallagnol and https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/55-michael-mohallem-on-lava-jato-and-anti-corruption-efforts-in-brazil 7:45 Whether the hype around digital tools to fight corruption are justified Anwesha mentions the Ipaidabribe website, you can find it here: http://www.ipaidabribe.com/ Which was founded by janaagraha, center for citizenship & democracy: https://www.janaagraha.org/home/ To find out about one of the tool that Fernanda’s does research research on, Operation love serenade, you can check out our previous episode with the founder Irio Musskopf: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/33-irio-musskopf-on-using-artificial-intelligence-to-fight-corruption 18:08 on the challenge to keep citizens engaged in collective action and whether the projects use a naming and shaming approach Fernanda mentions Operation Supervised Politics (in Portuguese): https://www.ops.net.br/ 27:25 on whether reporting platforms can backfire by indicating high descriptive norms 35:19 on how corruption fights back against anti-corruption and whether the problem is bigger on the local or national level 43:19- 43:31: quote → not only transparency…. 45:10: Anwesha and Fernanda sketch a utopian future how technology could help to reduce corruption 54:15 Picks of the podcast: Fernanda: Documentary about art forgery, called Made you look https://www.netflix.com/de/title/81406333 Book about Odebrecht: https://www.livrariadavila.com.br/a-organizacao--a-odebrecht-e-o-esquema-de-corrupcao-que-chocou-o-mundo-725368/p Anwesha: a documentary called An insignificant Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk-DlWrZsMg) that plays out like a political thriller And Bad Boy Billionaires https://www.netflix.com/de/title/80990073

We welcome Kate Bateman, @katebatemandc), senior expert in the Afghanistan program of the United States Institute of Peace (https://www.usip.org/regions/asia/afghanistan), formerly in the Lessons Learned Program at Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (www.sigar.mil) Quarterly report by SIGAR: https://www.sigar.mil/quarterlyreports/index.aspx?SSR=6 Corruption lessons learned report : https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-16-58-LL.pdf Building the ANDSF lessons learned report: https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-17-62-LL.pdf most recent Lesson Learned report “What We Need to Learn,” distilling the insights of previous reports: https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-21-46-LL.pdf Books by Sarah Chayes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Chayes#Books_and_other_works Previous Kickback Episode on the role of Corruption in Afghanistan: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/59-jodi-vittori-on-corruption-and-the-us-military-operation-in-afghanistan Recommended Podcast from Kate: https://www.cna.org/news/podcast Episodes 96 and 97.

We welcome Jodi Vittori, Professor of the Practice and Concentration Co-Chair for Global Politics and Security at Georgetown University and military veteran to the pod to talk about the role of corruption in Afghanistan. Warlord Inc. Report: https://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/HNT_Report.pdf Goldwater-Nichols Act: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater-Nichols_Act 2:45: what got Jodi interested in corruption 6:53: on what went wrong in Afghanistan even though the problem of widespread corruption has been acknowledged not just by (anti-)corruption experts 15:05: Jodi provides a history of military doctrines and outlines what the doctrine for Afghanistan should have been 27:50: on whether and how it is possible to reform (foreign) governance 32:15: Jodi discusses what the ideal timing is to implement good government reforms 38:53: On whether a hands-on versus hands-off approach is better able to tackle corruption post-conflict regions 47:55: a discussion about what militaries can and cannot/should not be doing 54:30: Jodi looks ahead and summarizes the key lessons drawn about the link between corruption and security from Afghanistan.

In this special episode of Kickback we air a roundtable discussion that took place at the 5th ICRN Forum (virtual; https://www.icrnetwork.org/what-we-do/conferences/icr-forum-virtual-2021/). For this event we welcome an exciting mix of researchers and practitioners to discuss how the two fields can learn from each other. This event was made possible by the amazing support of Global Integrity (https://www.globalintegrity.org/). You can find a description of the event below and a full transcript of the comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpSdB0HoI8s Description: Academics, also those studying corruption, are often accused of being in an ivory tower, far removed from real-world problems. Practitioners and policymakers, however, face criticism of not using empirically-validated methods to tackle corruption. The Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network believes in the spirit of building bridges and getting stakeholders to talk with rather than about each other. Furthermore, we believe that such insights should be shared widely. Therefore the event was open to the public. SPEAKERS: Heather Marquette is Professor of Development Politics and is currently seconded part-time to FCDO’s Research and Evidence Division as Senior Research Fellow (Governance and Conflict). Heather’s research, which has been funded by the British Academy/Global Challenges Research Fund, DFID, DFAT and the EU, focuses on corruption and anti-corruption interventions, development politics, aid and foreign policy and serious organised crime. Jonathan Cushing leads the work of the Global Health Programme at Transparency International, and joined the programme in 2019. Jonathan’s background is in public health, and he has extensive experience of working in and with governments, civil society organisations and the private sector in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa on health systems strengthening, and on improving the quality of care. He has also worked as a freelance consultant and with UK royal medical colleges. He possesses an Msc in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing, and speaks German and Nepali. Leslie Holmes has been a Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne since 1988, and was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus in 2014. He was President of the International Council for Central and East European Studies 2000-2005, President of the Australian Political Studies Association 1991-2, and President of the AustralasianAssociation for Communist and Post-Communist Studies 2005-7. He has been a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia since 1995, and regularly teaches advanced courses on corruption at the University of Bologna, the Graduate School of Social Research in Warsaw, and the International Anti-Corruption Academy in Vienna. MODERATOR: Johannes Tonn joined Global Integrity in 2013 and leads work on integrity and anti-corruption, including overseeing the Africa Integrity Indicators project and the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE) programme. He supports partners in designing and implementing problem-driven, data-informed, and learning-centered approaches to solving governance challenges and focuses on questions of how the field of anti-corruption practitioners can approach data use and usefulness in politically engaged ways to more effectively generate governance and development outcomes.

57. Robert Barrington on anti-corruption legislation in the United Kingdom by KickBack

We welcome Alice Mattoni (@AliceEmme) to the podcast. Alice’s project webpage: https://site.unibo.it/bit-act/en AntiCorrp: https://anticorrp.eu/ Alice’s work with Donatella della Porta on social movements: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118541555.wbiepc010 Fridays for future: https://fridaysforfuture.org/ Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ The Tunisian street seller Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi who lit himself on fire, which became a catalyst of the Arab spring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi Paper Safety valve or pressure cooker? https://academic.oup.com/joc/article/62/2/212/4085784?login=true Connective action: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2012.670661 Pick of the podcast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_(2019_film) Previous Kickback interviews with Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalists: Frederik Obermaier I: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/6-episode-frederik-obermaier Frederik Obermaier II: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/39-frederik-obermaier-on-the-fincen-files-revealing-global-money-laundering-systems David Barboza: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/19-david-barboza-on-investigating-the-hidden-wealth-of-chinese-elites Further reading: Social Movement Outcomes: Bosi, Lorenzo, Marco Giugni, and Katrin Uba, eds. 2016. The Consequences of Social Movements. New York: Cambridge University Press. Protest diffusion: Porta, Donatella della, and Alice Mattoni. 2014. Spreading Protest: Social Movements in Times of Crisis. Colchester, UK: ECPR Press. Political translation: Doerr, Nicole. 2018. Political Translation: How Social Movement Democracies Survive. Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Collective action: Bennett, W. Lance, and Alexandra Segerberg. 2013. The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics. Cambridge University Press. Time stamps: 01:57: Alice on her background in research on social movement, her work on the ANTICORRP project and how collective action is the red thread throughout her work 8:06 What anti-corruption activists and scholars can learn from research on social movements, why it makes more sense to speak of outcomes rather than successes of social movements and the importance of framing behaviors as problematic issues 17:44: on whether a global movement against corruption is feasible 23:34: on the importance of making the negative consequences of corruption visible to spur social movements against it 28:21: on to deal with the dangers that come with conducting research on corruption on the ground and the ethics and safety protocols that Alice developed for her research and why some people do not want to be named an “anti-corruption” activist 35:07: on whether Kickback is an anti-corruption digital media 41:00: on the criticism that protest online is a mere form of slacktivism and the importance of connective actions 50:37: Alice’s pick of the podcast and the importance of investigative journalists in the fight against corruption

We welcome Michael Mohallem(@michaelmohallem). Links: Avaaz: https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/ TI BRazil: https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/brazil New Measures against corruption: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/tag/new-measures-against-corruption/ Lava Jato investigation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Car_Wash Previous Podcast with the lead prosecutor of Operation Lava Jato Deltan Dallagnol: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/2-episode-deltan-dallagnol Monthly loan scandal in Brazil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensal%C3%A3o_scandal Investigation against Lula: https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/14026-brazil-s-top-court-dismisses-convictions-against-lula-da-silva Sergio Moro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Moro Intercept messages: https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/brazil-lula-operation-car-wash-sergio-moro/ Blog post following Moro’s resignation: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2020/05/01/the-resignation-of-brazilian-justice-minister-sergio-moro-reflections-on-how-key-players-should-handle-this-political-crisis/

We welcome Nicola Bonucci, who is a Partner in the Global Trade and Investigations & White Collar Defense practices at Paul Hastings and previously served as the Director for Legal Affairs at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The interview takes a deep dive into the history behind the OECD anti-bribery convention covers the reasons for its success but Nicola also highlights some of the current shortcomings. Matthew Stephenson and Nicola discuss whether emerging economic nations should become part of the convention and why Article 5 of the convention is unique. At the end of the interview, Nicola shares his insights about his more recent work at Paul Hastings and the differences between working with and for governments versus working with and for companies.

We are excited to welcome Patrick Alley, the co-founder of Global Witness for an interview on his work that combines anti-corruption and pro-environmentalism. Patrick takes us back to the beginnings of Global Witness and outlines how, while working as an environmentalist in Cambodia, corruption became a major obstacle to achieve the primary environmental goals. He uses the famous BSGR scandal (see more info in the links) to describe how Global Witness works, how they collaborate with local partner organizations as well as with international powerhouses. Matthew and Patrick discuss the important role of banks in facilitating global corruption, such as in the Obiang case (see previous episode with Robert Manzanares). Patrick describes how the coalition of Publish What you Pay and the The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative came about, why having partners from the private sector is instrumental to achieving anti-corruption goals and how his work aligns with that of our previous guest, Gary Kalman. Links and References BSGR scandal: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/25/beny-steinmetz-settles-dispute-guinea-iron-ore-simandou Obiang case: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/32-robert-manzanares-on-leading-the-obiang-investigation-asset-recovery-a-michael-jackson-glove Publish What You Pay: https://www.pwyp.org/ The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: https://eiti.org/ Previous episodes with Gary Kalman: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/48gary-kalman-on-the-corporate-transparency-act-the-corruption-perception-index-score-in-the-usa https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/24-gary-kalman-on-beneficial-ownership-his-vision-for-transparency-international-usa

Tommy Thomas was the Attorney General of Malaysia and primarily responsible for the 1Malaysia Development Berhad case and has recently written the book “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness” about his time in office (see link below). He describes his path leading him to become the first practicing barrister to be appointed directly from the Malaysian Bar to be the Attorney General and which challenges he faced in the new job. The interview covers the role of the Malaysian anti-corruption agency MACC, the pros, and cons of investigative and prosecutorial authority for anti-corruption agencies, and the importance of the integrity of people holding office for the functioning of institutions. Matthew mentions the previous episodes on political institutions in the US, you can find them in the show notes. Thomy outlines his reform agenda for Malaysia including the proposal to separate the office of the attorney general from the office of the public prosecutor. The interview also covers the most recent developments in Malaysia leading to the resignation of Tommy in early 2020. In the end, Tommy and Matthew discuss the contested issue of asset return. Links: Tommy Thomas’ book: My Story: Justice in the Wilderness - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56895311-my-story More information about Tommy Thomas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Thomas_(barrister) More info on the 1MDB scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad_scandal Episodes on US political institutions: 48. Gary Kalman on the Corporate Transparency Act & the Corruption Perception Index score in the USA: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/48gary-kalman-on-the-corporate-transparency-act-the-corruption-perception-index-score-in-the-usa 45. Norm Eisen on the vulnerabilities and resilience of American political institutions: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/45-norm-eisen-on-the-vulnerabilities-and-resilience-of-american-political-institutions 43. Jack Goldsmith on his book "After Trump" & ways to avoid corruption in upcoming administrations: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/43-jack-goldsmith-on-his-book-after-trump-ways-to-avoid-corruption-in-upcoming-administrations A related podcast episode discussing international asset recovery 51. Thomas Stelzer on the Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency & Integrity https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/51-thomas-stelzer-on-the-panel-on-international-financial-accountability-transparency-integrity

Thomas Stelzer is the dean of the international anti-corruption academy (IACA) and panelist of the UN high-level panel on international financial accountability, transparency & integrity (FACTI). Thomas outlines how his extensive experience going back to being closely involved in the process of drafting and implementing UNCAC led him to his current position and his work for FACTI. The two discuss the overall purpose and goals of the recently released Report of the High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency & Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (links to full report and summary can be found below). They also touch on a few concrete points in more detail, such as the standardization of foreign bribery legislation mentioned, what type of beneficial ownership registries are most effective, and the challenge of achieving fairness in international asset recovery. Thomas reiterates the demand voiced in the report for more academic research to substantiate policy-making. Finally, he outlines the next steps to make sure that the report is implemented. References: FACTI report and summary can be found here: https://www.factipanel.org/ The (Anti-)Corruption Corpus for Corruption Researchers & Practitioners https://library.globalintegrity.org/

On this very special -- the 50th -- episode of Kickback the Global Anti-Corruption Podcast, we welcome Olesea Stamate, who served as Minister of Justice in the past Moldovan government and is currently judicial advisor to the Moldovan president Maia Sandu. The podcast covers her unique background, working both for civil society and within the government to fight corruption in Moldova. Matthew and Olesea discuss the political situation and the threats of state capture in Moldova. The interview covers the challenges that arise from having external audits of the judiciary system and the current considerations in Moldova to unify the two main anti-corruption institutions of the country (the national anti-corruption center & chief prosecutors office). Olesea reflects on when the pressure by international organizations has been helpful. Finally, the interview touches on the banking fraud case which some have dubbed the “theft of the century” and Olesea chimes in on how the apparent lack of whistleblowers (more in links below). Further Reading: Bank Fraud case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldovan_bank_fraud_scandal Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kickbackpodcast

Diana Chigas is a professor of the practice of international negotiation and conflict resolution at The Fletcher School and also serves as aSenior International Officer and Associate Provost at Tufts University. Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church is a Professor of Practice in Human Security. Together, Diana and Cheyanne have been working on the topic of social norms of corruption (see references below). The interview covers why system analysis helps to capture the adaptive dynamics of corruption (more on this can also be found in this episode with M. Khan and P. Heywood: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/29-mushtaq-khan-paul-heywood-on-populism-digital-technologies-rcts-part-ii) . The interview shows how understanding the social forces that sustain corrupt practices helps to identify useful entry points for policies. It highlights in particular the importance of understanding social norms of corruption. Importantly, social norms are the shared understandings of which practices are common and acceptable and therefore differ from attitudes and behavior, as Diana and Cheyanne outline (for more on this you can also listen to our interview with C. Bicchieri: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/13-cristina-bicchieri-on-social-norms-of-corruption-antanas-mockus-and-soap-operas). The two further provide an overview of the concrete methodology that can be used to diagnose social norms, like systems analysis, vignettes and eview of previous attempts to fight corruption (for more see the reference list which also contains the paper on salary reforms in Ghana that is mentioned in the interview). References Paper on salary reforms among Police officers in Ghana: Foltz, J. D., & Opoku-Agyemang, K. A. (2015). Do Higher Salaries Lower Petty Corruption? a Policy Experiment on West Africa’S Highways. In IGC International Growth Centre (Vol. 53, Issue 9). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004 Diana & Cheyanne’s joint work on corruption: Scharbatke-Church, C., & Chigas, D. (2016). Facilitation in the Criminal Justice System: A Systems Analysis of Corruption in the Police and Courts in Northern Uganda. Institute for Human Security Occasional Paper. Medford, MA: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Scharbatke-Church, C., & Chigas, D. (2016). Taking the Blinders Off: Questioning How Development Assistance Is Used to Combat Corruption. Institute for Human Security Occasional Paper. Medford, MA: The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Scharbatke-Church, C., & Chigas, D. V. (2019). 11 Using systems thinking to understand and address corruption in the criminal justice system in fragile states. Corruption, Social Sciences and the Law: Exploration across the disciplines, 176. Scharbatke-Church, C., & Chigas, D. (2019). Understanding social norms: A reference guide for policy and practice. https://sites.tufts.edu/ihs/social-norms-reference-guide/ Work on social norms messaging: Cheeseman, N., & Peiffer, C. (2020). The unintended consequences of anti‑corruption messaging in Nigeria: Why pessimists are always disappointed. SOAS ACE working paper 024. London: SOAS University of London https://ace. soas. ac. uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ACE-WorkingPaper024-NigeriaUnintendedConsequences-200608.pdf . Köbis, N., Troost, M., Brandt, C. and Soraperra, I. (2019). Social norms of corruption in the field: Social nudges on posters can help to reduce bribery. Behavioural Public Policy, 1-28. doi:10.1017/bpp.2019.37 Guide to Anti Corruption from a social norms perspective: Jackson, D., & Köbis, N. (2018). Anti-corruption through a social norms lens. U4 Issue, 2018(7).

This second interview with Gary Kalman (director of the US office of Transparency International) The interview starts discussing the recently passed Corporate Transparency Act and what that progress on the issue of Beneficial Ownership means for anti-corruption efforts in the US. Gary outlines the unique strategies they applied to make headway on the issue and whether this strategy is scalable to other anti-corruption efforts. Gary describes some of the next top priorities in TI’s advocacy work besides successfully implementing the Corporate Transparency Act in order to avoid loopholes. He mentions the importance of addressing the role of gatekeepers in the financial system, dealing with the demand side of international bribery, and providing safe havens for whistleblowers. Matthew and Gary discuss corruption risks revealed during the Trump administration, zeroing in on the firing of inspectors general and look ahead to the anti-corruption efforts of the Biden administration. They also discuss what the decreasing scores of the USA in the Corruption Perception Index means and whether political polarization increases or decreases trust towards politicians, as well as checks and balances against corruption. Work of the FACT coalition (thefactcoalition.org/) Gary and Matthew then go on to discuss legislation on beneficial ownership in the US in comparison to other countries such as the UK where the registry is public. Such a law may have an enormous impact. Gary mentions an example of an undercover operation carried out by the NGO Global Witness that tried to found a company in the name of a corrupt businessman. 12 out of 12 collaborated some of which from highly respected law firms in New York City (for more in the story www.globalwitness.org/en/reports/loweringthebar/) The FACT Coalition: thefactcoalition.org/issues/incorpo…n-transparency

Eric Kinaga (@EricKinaga) is a Kenyan-born writer, social justice enthusiast, working for Transparency International Kenya (https://tikenya.org/) and is the campaign coordinator for the Shule Yangu Campaign Alliance (https://shuleyangu.co.ke/) aiming to protect public schools via open data initiatives. On this podcast episode, we also welcome another “guest co-host”, Neil Sorensen, who is the Communications Specialist for Landportal (Landportal.org) an NGO committed to improving land governance through open-access data and cross-sectoral collaboration. The interview describes how Eric got interested in anti-corruption issues, how he got involved in the Shule Yangu Alliance, and what other civil-society run anti-corruption efforts can learn from the initiative. Eric outlines how open online databases can help to foster transparency to prevent land-grabbing and how marginalized groups can be included in the efforts to prevent land corruption. Eric describes the knowledge gaps that exist around the impact of naming rights of private schools and how to incentivize media outlets to cover the often complex land corruption issues. Documentaries mentioned by Eric: Documentaries by ShuleYangu Alliance on School Land Grabbing: Not My School: https://youtu.be/JvdRFrah5c4 My School My Life: https://youtu.be/n0wqkEf8ROY My School My Responsibility: https://youtu.be/PQdhCfX8lqI Shule Yangu Digital Platforms: Website: https://shuleyangu.co.ke/ OpenData Platform: https://opendata.shuleyangu.co.ke/ SY Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/shuleyangu SY Facebook Account: https://web.facebook.com/ShuleYanguCampaign Papers on the importance of media freedom: Brunetti, A., & Weder, B. (2003). A free press is bad news for corruption. Journal of Public Economics, 87(7-8), 1801-1824. Starke, C., Naab, T. K., & Scherer, H. (2016). Free to expose corruption: The impact of media freedom, internet access and governmental online service delivery on corruption. International Journal of Communication, 10, 21. Pick of the Podcast: Duncan Green - How change happens, http://how-change-happens.com/

Lola Adekanye (@lola_kanye) is a Senior Program Officer, Africa at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). Her background in compliance and banking got Lola interested in development and ethics, a stopover at the World Bank. Lola describes CIPE’s work at the intersection of the private and public sector, using market-oriented reforms to tackle corruption, with the key goal: drive up the cost of corruption and drive up the cost of compliance. Lola describes joint work with the University of Sussex trying to get a better understanding why people do not engage in corruption. She also describes concrete ideas against corruption, such as the Compliance Clubs in Kenya that provide a support network for enterprises to do business without engaging corruption. The interview touches on how corruption in Subsaharan African is often a survival issue, listen to the short term reasons to develop long term solutions. They follow the principle of 3R consisting of: How to RESPOND to request of corruption by providing them with realistic alternatives RECORD the request and pass it on to the higher level REPORT the request in order to get an estimate of how often such payment request occur Lola describes the Ethics first project as an example for realistic ethics guidelines and cautions against short-term impact measures as change often takes time and requires institutionalization of ethics. Her advice for young scholars is crucial: stay in the game and don’t burn out by taking small steps towards improvement. Strengthening Ethical Conduct and Business Integrity: A Guide for Companies in Emerging Markets: https://www.cipe.org/resources/strengthening-ethical-conduct-business-integrity-a-guide-for-companies-in-emerging-markets/ Free Anti-Corruption online course: https://cipe.course.tc/login?error=no_cookie&id=&course_title=Anti-Corruption%20Compliance%20Training&wp=/ac-compliance/

We welcome President Obama's “ethics czar” Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) to our first episode of 2021. The interview kicks off with a discussion on what the past four years have revealed about the vulnerability and resilience of American political institutions. Norm weighs in on the Mueller investigation, impeachment and currently ongoing legal investigation against President Trump. Hear Norm’s advice on how to shift into a new administration when the previous one is accused of corruption and learn about Norm’s recommendations for improving the integrity of the institutions: a) by reducing conflict of interest that are also outlined in Obama’s new book and by b) increasing transparency. The interview ends on Norm outlining what the world has to offer as a teaching for anti-corruption, what, why anti-corruption needs to be anchor in the general theory and practice of democracy. References: - Book -> https://www.normaneisen.com/a-case-for-the-american-people - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) that Norm Eisen co-founded à https://www.citizensforethics.org/ - The Voter Protection Program (VPP) the nonpartisan initiative to ensure safe, fair, and secure electionsà https://voterprotectionprogram.org/ - Obama’s new book, A Promised Land à https://obamabook.com/

Doussouba Konaté (@DoussoubaKonate) is the Global Program Officer and Moussa Kondo (@Kondoba) is the Country director of Mali for the Accountability Lab (@AccountLab). The two outline how they both became interested in anti-corruption and accountability in Mali. They outline how the accountability lab applies a human-centric approach in the fight against corruption, one of the most famous example is the Integrity Icon project that is centered around the idea of “naming and faming honest government officials”. Doussouba also describes the Civic Action Team and how the Accountability Lab tackles fake news about COVID-19 by collecting fake news and using popular voices to provide factual information. The interview outlines how Accountability Lab tries to follow the disbursement of funds to relieve the COVID-19 pandemic. The two outline a briefly outline the link between the political situation in Mali and corruption. The interview also outlines why now is the time to think deeper about the recurring challenges in Mali, which reasons for hope exist and what the top-priorities are for anti-corruption measures in Mali. References: Integrity Icon project: https://integrityicon.org/ Civic Action Team: https://accountabilitylab.org/civicactionteams/

Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) and Matthew discuss the recent book After Trump, that Jack and Bob Bauer wrote. The interview begins by discussing the strength weaknesses of current laws preventing malfeasance by US presidents in office, why norms play an important role and how norms are established. To address risks of corruption such as conflict of interest by presidents, the two law professors discuss the pros and cons of granting more autonomy to the attorney general, the shortcomings of transparency and whether more and stricter laws are the adequate response. Jack outlines what in his view is the best approach for new administrations to deal with serious allegations of corruption and malfeasance against the previous administration and whether a truth commission is a suitable answer. Links: Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith - After Trump: https://g.co/kgs/4V391c Kubbe & Engelbert (Eds) - Corruption and Norms https://g.co/kgs/XLdrE3

Daniel Freund (@daniel_freund) is a Member of the European Parliament and the parliamentary group’s rapporteur on attaching conditionalities of rule of law for dispersion of funds within the EU. Daniel outlines how he got interested in issues of (anti-)corruption starting with his work at Transparency International’s offices in Brussels. Daniel describes the general procedures of allocating funds within the EU, which loopholes for corruption exist and how the recent negotiations about conditionalities for rule of law could help to close these loopholes. The interview zooms in on the case of Hungary, explaining the challenges that independent media face and how the government has set up a system that raises several corruption red flags. Daniel outlines which steps need to be taken to reduce leakages of EU funds and the criteria that help to determine whether a government takes the necessary measures of good governance. Pick of Podcast: Bill Browder - Red Notice: http://www.billbrowder.com/ Further Reading: Media freedom in Hungary: https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/10/03/a-by-election-shows-why-hungarys-opposition-struggles Radio station, Klubradio, mentioned by Daniel, that is under pressure in Hungary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klubr%C3%A1di%C3%B3 Research paper on the link between media freedom and corruption: Starke, C., Naab, T. K., & Scherer, H. (2016). Free to expose corruption: The impact of media freedom, internet access and governmental online service delivery on corruption. International Journal of Communication, 10, 21. Explaining the European Parliament: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/faq/16/what-is-the-european-parliament Articles on the corruption allegations against the Hungarian government: https://www.economist.com/europe/2020/04/02/how-hungarys-leader-viktor-orban-gets-away-with-it Recent news on the conditionality of rule of law for fund dispersion in the EU: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20201104IPR90813/rule-of-law-conditionality-meps-strike-a-deal-with-council

Judge Claudia Escobar is a former magistrate of the Court of Appeals of Guatemala who resigned from her position because of an executive and legislative interference in the judiciary that forced her to relocate. The interview kicks off with Claudia outlining how the history of more than 36 years of civil war in Guatemala has left a legacy of impunity, civil insecurity, violence and inequity. Up until today, this legacy affects the challenge to develop an impartial judiciary system. Claudia describes the current limitations in the ways judges are appointed and which corruption risks they bring about. The interview continues by a discussion about international involvement in the fight against corruption, why the US might not have done enough to push for reforms and why targeted sanctions towards individuals might provide a promising way to foster public integrity. Claudia and Matt discuss the process leading up and following the “Guatemalan spring”, leading to the election of former president Jimmy Morales (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Morales) and the current term of Alejandro Giammattei (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Giammattei). Finally, Claudia outlines that her top 3 priorities for anti-corruption reforms in Guatemala are 1. Reforming the process of how public officials come to office, 2. Strengthening the judiciary system, also by fostering security of judges 3. Changing the way tax money is spent spending.

We welcome for a second time, Chief of Party for Democracy International in Afghanistan. James described how he almost overnight became an advisor involved in anti-corruption in a warzone, the challenges he faced and how his experiences in Kosovo, Ukraine and Afghanistan differed from each other. Matthew and James discuss the concrete challenges of dealing with corruption in conflict areas. James outlines why it is important to not compromise anti-corruption efforts, especially early as they are often hard to address later on and the challenges of winning hearts and minds in conflict areas. The interview outlines why it is important to take a strong stance - which might not always be popular - against corruption in such challenging environments

39. Frederik Obermaier on the FinCEN Files, revealing global money laundering systems by KickBack

This week on podcast world-famous UN whistleblower James Wasserstrom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wasserstrom). His case made the headlines around the world (see links in coverage). Brought in to investigate corruption in Kosovo, James soon received hints that some UN officials themselves were involved in corruption. Learn all about the retaliation against James, including death threats, illegal searches, and smear campaigns. James offers his views on how the UN reacted to the case and indicates whether, in hindsight, he would blow the whistle again. The interview continues on how James’ own experience as a whistleblower has inspired him to found the integrity sanctuary. International Coverage: Economist: https://www.economist.com/international/2012/06/30/united-notions NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/17nations.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-kosovo-whistleblower-idUSBRE92J1EY20130320 Süddeutsche Zeitung: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/whistleblower-in-der-un-gefaehrlicher-mut-eines-diplomaten-1.1631909 The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/27/un-tribunal-whistleblower-james-wasserstrom Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/03/19/u-n-whistleblower-expose-corruption-at-your-own-peril/ Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/thestream/2015/05/24740-200325231848342.html Le Figaro: https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2013/04/11/01003-20130411ARTFIG00649-l-onu-accusee-d-etouffer-les-scandales.php

We welcome Michael Hershman co-founder of Transparency International for an in-depth conversation about founding TI, populism, COV-19, FIFA, and politicization of sports. Michael’s shares his experience of being Senior Staff Investigator for the Senate Watergate Committee, how his work on Police corruption in New York inspired the movie Serpico (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070666/) and the challenges that Michael and his fellow co-founders faced when founding Transparency International, which other name Michael proposed. Listen to Michael looking back on the successes and failures of anti-corruption in the past decades. Michael takes the listener through his many stations of anti-corruption work including the famous Bofors scandal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bofors_scandal) and Siemens corruption scandal (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21siemens.html). The second part of the interview deals with corruption sports, including Michael’s surprises when he served on the Independent Governance Committee for FIFA and why FIFA was reluctant to implement reforms. The interview ends with Christopher, Nils and Michael discussing the importance of athletes as role models, and how sports athletes, in particular in the NBA, are increasingly making use of their public role to demand for social justice. References: Michael’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOzwUq6WGCA Michael’s pick of the podcast: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6751668/

36. Danielle Brian on her work at the Project On Government Oversight and corruption risks in the US This time on Kickback Danielle Brian Twitter: @daniellebrian Executive Director of Project On Government Oversight (POGO, https://www.pogo.org/; @POGOBlog) The first part of the interview provides background info about how POGO’s work was initiated by Pentagon whistleblowers and how it examines - often legalized forms of corruption - in the US. The hybrid work model entails investigation, policy advocacy and Anti-corruption training. Danielle shares an example outlining how POGO made a positive difference through their oversight work on the oil and gas industry, which shows that anti-corruption work often requires patience. Danielle and Matthew discuss revolving door issues, Danielle’s and POGO’s approach towards being aggressive versus more conciliatory with power holders - featuring Danielle’s visit to the White House.The interview further covers the difference between bipartisan and non-partisan work, corruption risks in the Corona virus relief funds and the Trump administration. Finally, Danielle shares her views on which are the most pressing issues for anti-corruption work to address in the US. Further reading: Links: Pogo's website https://www.pogo.org/ Pogo about Oil and Gas Royalties https://www.pogo.org/topics/oil-and-gas-royalties/ Trump says he wants Harvard to pay back $8.6 million in stimulus funds https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/21/nation/trump-says-harvard-will-pay-back-86-million-stimulus-funds/ Books: Jesse Eisinger - The Chickenshit Club https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Chickenshit-Club/Jesse-Eisinger/9781501121371 Samuel W. Buell - Capital Offenses https://wwnorton.com/books/Capital-Offenses/

We welcome Franz von Weizsäcker (@franzvw) from the GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation) Blockchain Lab and Niklas Kossow (@NiklasKossow) from the Hertie School of Governance. The interview takes a deep dive into how new technologies (ICTs), in particular distributed ledger technology like Blockchain can be used to curb corruption. Franz and Niklas first describe how they became interested in the topic of ICTs and anti-corruption and provide a basic introduction into how distributed ledger technology works. The interview then outlines the challenges that development projects that seek to make use of such technologies face but also highlights some positive examples. The interview closes with concrete recommendations for academic research that can help to fill knowledge gaps about the use of ICTs in the fight against corruption. Links & References If you are completely new to the topic of Distributed ledger technologies and Blockchain, this video provides some of the basics: https://youtu.be/SSo_EIwHSd4 Find out more about the GIZ Blockchain lab (https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/67045.html) Niklas references a previous episode of Kickback with Irio Musskopf which you can find here: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/33-irio-musskopf-on-using-artificial-intelligence-to-fight-corruption To find out more about the referenced Ukrainian public procurement system ProZorro: https://prozorro.gov.ua/en Niklas refers to the TruBudget Project: https://openkfw.github.io/trubudget-website/ More information about the education credential project that Franz mentions: https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2019-en-concept-note-distributed-ledger.pdf More info about the referenced Corona App: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-launches-best-coronavirus-tracing-app/a-53825213 The infamous Dao hack: https://medium.com/@ogucluturk/the-dao-hack-explained-unfortunate-take-off-of-smart-contracts-2bd8c8db3562 How to use ICT to strengthen Anti-Corruption authored by Niklas and Viktoria Dykes: https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/giz2018-eng_ICT-to-strengthen-Anti-Corruption.pdf The potential of distributed ledger technologies in the fight against Corruption by the GIZ https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/Blockchain_Anticorruption-2020.pdf Niklas recent review article on Digital anti-corruption: hopes and challenges https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789904994/9781789904994.00019.xml

This time on Kickback: Asoka Obeysekere (@asokao), Executive Director of Transparency International (TI) Sri Lanka. Asoka describes his work prior to joining TI, provides an overview of the work that TI does in Sri Lanka, zeroing in on how TI offers legal advice to citizens via Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALAC) (https://www.transparency.org/en/alacs) and mobile legal aid clinics. The work of such decentralized and mobile legal advice allows those who would otherwise not receive legal advice to get access to it. Asoka outlines, that when it comes to corruption, fixing the problem of the client and fixing the system differ. The two discuss the system of corruption in Sri Lanka, how corruption has become normalized and whether attitudes about corruption can be changed. In particular, Asoka describes how notions around the right to information needs to move towards entitlement and how their collaboration with the accountability lab and the “naming and faming” approaches as well as Civic education can help to so. Asoka and Matthew discuss how registries of Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) in Ukraine inspired TI Sri Lanka to go through state-owned enterprises and search for individuals who are in higher positions to provide an overview of who are PEP. The two discuss how to overcome the challenge of keeping such PEP registries up to date, and how AI could help to provide sustainability in supporting sustainable solutions.

This week we interview Irio Musskopf (@irio), one of the founders of the AI-based anti-corruption project Operacao Serenata do Amor (https://serenata.ai/en/) in Brazil. The interview provides detailed insights into how open government data paired with intelligent algorithms can be used to promote integrity. The interview kicks off with a short outline how the panel on AI as an Anti-corruption tool chaired by Nils, Christopher and Steven Gawthorpe (@SteveGawthorpe) at last year’s Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Forum in Kyiv (https://www.icrnetwork.org/what-we-do/conferences/icr-forum-kyiv-2019/) and a recent report by Per Aarvik for U4 (https://www.u4.no/publications/artificial-intelligence-a-promising-anti-corruption-tool-in-development-settings) inspired Kickback to invite Irio for the interview. In the interview, Irio outlines in much detail how the project came about, what challenges the team had to overcome and how it has been received by journalists, politicians and the public. Irio describes the statistical approach used to detect suspicious spending patterns, referring to normal distribution and standard deviations. In case statistics is not your strong suit, you can check out this short explanation (https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/normal-distribution/) Chris, Nils and Irio also discuss the role that machines and humans play in such new anti-corruption efforts, whether and where humans might be replaced by intelligent algorithms and which tasks require the involvement of human decision making. The interview covers the Twitter bot Rosie da Serenata (@RosieDaSerenata) that automatically tweets out suspicious cases. For some further reading: * Report published at the end of the 3 months financed by the first crowdfunding campaign. https://medium.com/serenata/the-last-serenade-65fc1a9a0e2f * Measuring the impact of the operation after one year of the first mass report to the Congress https://medium.com/serenata/o-impacto-do-controle-social-na-c%C3%A2mara-dos-deputados-c2b2a34db09e

Best known for being the lead investigator in the Obiang case, we welcome law enforcement professional Robert Manzanares, who is also the co-founder of Gatekeeper Consulting (https://gatekeeperci.com/) . Robert outlines how he started off as a probation officer and eventually became the lead investigator of the famous Obiang case. Find out the unexpected role that Michael Jackson memorabilia played in the case. Also, once on the case one article gave Robert extra motivation to successfully close the case (see Foreign policy article). The two also discuss why should American law enforcement officers should actually take action in investigating such cases of kleptocracy abroad and how other states reacted to the US efforts to seize kleptocrat’s assets. Robert outlines in detail the important roles that facilitators played in the case and how it enrages him that none were indicted. The two also discuss the challenging question what should actually happen with the stolen assets? References: The article that Robert mentioned, that served as special motivation to pursue the case: https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/04/07/how-many-investigators-does-it-take-to-catch-a-kleptocrat/ NYT article outlining the Obiang case: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/world/africa/teodoro-nguema-obiang-mangue-guinea-looting-trial.html UNODC and World Bank repository on stolen asset recovery https://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/assetrecovery/obiang?term=obiang

This week on the podcast: Sarah Steingrüber (@sarahsteino), Independent Global Health Consultant, and the global health lead for the Curbing Corruption Platform (https://curbingcorruption.com/). The interview touches on many topics related to corruption and public health. Sarah outlines how the global health crisis of COVID-19 poses two main corruption threats. 1) Corruption of funds that are devoted to improving the health situation, due to lack of infrastructure to combat corruption. Sarah outlines that according to conservative estimates at least 6% of all health investment is lost to corruption in a given year and how this affects, and at times takes lives. 2) Opportunistic corruption, occurring in the shadow of the pandemic, as some might take advantage of the unique situation of people’s attention being placed on COVID-19 to engage in corruption. The two further discuss how the urgency of emergencies affects the safeguards against corruption. Sarah outlines that in that process it plays an important role to figure out what forms of corruption one might be willing to live with while making sure that other forms are prevented. Sarah further discusses the donor activities of organizations like the IMF or the Global Fund and outlines how they are at times attached to anti-corruption goals, such that funding is pulled back if cases of fraud and corruption are detected. The interview shifts to discussing what lessons have been learned from the Ebola outbreak (2013-2016) that could be applicable to the COVID-19 crisis. Sarah outlines the risk of corruption within procurement that is especially pertinent in times of health crisis. Moreover, she outlines how misinformation can contribute to corruption, such as fostering absenteeism (#infodemic). She also describes how too bureaucratic and overcomplicated procedures can incentivize workarounds of the rules and how digitization might help to mitigate these risks. The interview then shifts to the topic of monetization and privatization of health more generally. Here, Sarah describes the influence of undue influence on decision-making processes in the health sector. Approaching the topic from a human rights perspective, assuming that access to health care is a human right, she outlines several concrete roadblocks to it. As an example for anticorruption in the health sector, the two discuss approaches to tackle bribery in the Ugandan health sector (see video: https://www.businessinsider.com/ugandas-health-minister-went-undercover-in-a-hospital-2017-9_) and whether this approach should be considered a success (for relevant work by Prof Heather Marquette, on this issue see further below). The interview ends on a positive note, by Sarah providing some examples for success stories from Ukraine.

The interview starts with Sam outlining how the documentary about Eliot Spitzer, called Client 9, got him interested in corruption and how it inspired him to study an MA in corruption research at the University of Sussex. Sam describes the research questions he sought to answer with his dissertation on party financing and corruption. Namely, he unpicks the relationship between money and politics, using interviews to examine whether the amount of state subsidy has an effect on perceptions about corruption and which types of corruption it brings about. Here he builds on Michael Johnston’s work on syndromes of corruption Sam describes how his dissertation shaped his perceptions about the amounts of money involved in politics, referring to the famous example of Stuart Wheeler who held the record for the highest donation of 5 million pounds to a political party in the UK. One of the main insights from his work comparing party financing in the UK and Denmark is that perceived donor based corruption does not differ between the countries even though the party financing is mostly private in the UK and largely state-funded in Denmark . Sam describes how he went about conducting elite interviews and how he managed to get people talking about corruption. The interview tackles the question of what even counts as corruption when it comes to financing political parties: is it access or influence? Sam, Christopher and Nils discuss the complex nature of networks of influence in politics and how perceptions and reality about the effect of money on policy might at times differ starkly. Sam refers to the so-called Thomas theorem - if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences - and how perceptions about corruption often might follow a similar logic. Zeroing in on perceptions about corruption Sam compares the public’s views on corruption to a thermostat. The last part of the interview deals with Sam’s work on Facebook advertising and party financing. It shows how Facebook advertising works and how it essentially differs from classical political campaigning. One main difference is that it allows political parties to use Facebook and similar services to test ads. For more information about how social media is used in political processes Sam recommends “Who targets me?” Christopher drawing on work by Helen Margetts which argues that “Social Media May Have Won the 2017 General Election” asks about the corruption risks that emerge with social media advertising by political parties. Sam describes several corruption risks that arise from social media political campaigning, referring to the challenges outlined in a recent report by the Electoral Reform Society

29. Mushtaq Khan & Paul Heywood on populism, digital technologies & RCTs (Part II) Social norms of Corruption The interview picks up on a discussion about research on social norms and corruption, mentioning the distinction between descriptive and injunctive norms (for more insights check out our previous episode with Prof Bicchieri https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/13-cristina-bicchieri-on-social-norms-of-corruption-antanas-mockus-and-soap-operas). In evaluating these and other projects, Paul points out the general challenge to measure success in anti-corruption projects. Many insights can serve as a proof of concept, that then need further support via follow-up research. One promising example is the work by Liz David-Barret and Mihály Fazekas on identifying red flag risks in procurement by using big data (see here: https://ace.globalintegrity.org/redflag/) and the work by Jan-Hinrik Meyer-Sahling and Christian Schuster on training civil servants (https://ace.globalintegrity.org/projects/ethics/). Further resources need to be invested to gain better insights and to evaluate the success more broadly. Can it be a problem that there is apparently no progress in anti-corruption (at least when looking at the CPI)? Paul outlines that major organizations such as the World Bank are aware that the standard toolkit approach of the last 25 years has not worked very well. They start to ask themselves what they can do. There is space for further support. So when it comes to the donor’s perspective, the lack of progress does not lead to apathy but a rethinking of corruption efforts. When it comes to the public perception of apparent lack of progress, Paul outlines that this unfortunate, yet something that we on our own cannot address. At the same time he emphasizes the work with the change agents who can help to bring about real change. Mushtaq adds that indeed, not all problems can be immediately addressed. It often requires a long transition for corruption on a broad scale to be reduced. Development will not happen without detailed anti-corruption work across different sectors. At the same time, he argues that there are some forms of corruption that can be addressed pretty quickly. Having more nuanced, sectoral-level indicators, will help to better understand which efforts have impact and are feasible. He thereby proposes a “radicalism of digging into solvable problems” and working hard to solve them. The double-edged sword of public perceptions about corruption Large scandals have helped to get a better understanding about corruption among key policy makers. Particularly important have been the revelations such as the Panama papers (see more insights Kickback #6: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/6-episode-frederik-obermaier ) as they show that corruption is a multi-faceted concept, not a thing. It is complex, dynamic, and new forms of corruption often emerge, in particular revealing that corruption often occurs in networks that span across several countries. These revelations have raised awareness and moved away from a simple interpretation of corruption. Yet, at the same time, the public eye, such revelations might reinforce a view that corruption is widespread.

Taryn Vian (@TarynVian), Prof. at the Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Health Professions, University of San Francisco (USF). For people who think about the relationship between corruption & public health, what are some of the main lines of research & what are some of the important findings? Taryn outlines that one main problem lies in the fact that people have to pay doctors for public health services that are supposed to be free of charge. Quantitative & qualitative studies have investigated why people pay doctors & how they know why they have to pay or give “gifts” while intervention has tested how corrupt practices like informal payments & absenteeism can be reduced. What does health care corruption- look like during times of emergencies in comparison to “normal times”? Taryn points out that one of the risk factors for corruption during emergencies stems from the pressure to finish things quickly. Such pressures can create incentives to ignore controls. As a result, higher tolerance of saying “we’ll figure out the paperwork later” often emerges. In an emergency situation is it even more important that we stick to corruption guidelines or not? How do you implement the right measures in emergency situations? Taryn describes audits conducted by the catholic relief service after a natural disaster revealing 100 findings. Yet, closer examination often revealed that minimal mistakes were committed such as a single missing signature out of four. This suggests that we need to find a different procedure for times of emergency. There are streamlined processes e.g. for the procurement of emergency medicine. How many countries in the world have implemented emergency measures/procedures? Are there examples? There were gaps in procurements of test kits in the US because the US proceeded as business as usual. Many countries have emergency procurement procedures. The question is how to launch such special procedures at the right time for the right products & also still holding people accountable. What observations do you have on a relation between the coronavirus pandemic & corruption? One place where Taryn sees a link between corruption & the Coronavirus play out is in the US. Here, one of the big problems is that the government has not appointed actors, which undermines the trust between decision-makers & scientific leaders. There is a lack of trust in science in our government right now. The personalization of power is a big problem. Such distrust can have very adverse effects. In a public health crisis, the government needs to give directives to people. Directives that are not popular. If there is no trust in the government, people will not want to follow their directives. Yes, e.g. Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone & Liberia. People were actively avoiding government directives because there was no trust. Corruption during “normal” times eroded the trust towards the government bodies which undermines emergency response efforts as people might to not comply with the recommendations or orders of the government. Informal payments & bribes during normal times do have an adversarial effect on trust in the payment system. Can you elaborate on the evidence for this claim? Dagmar Radin looked at the connection between corruption & trust. She argued that there is a connection. Other work showing similar links stems from Nicaragua, where a comparison of social audits over a 4 year period has been conducted, showing that trust increased when the government tried to work against informal payments. Which measures have been effective in reducing corruption in the health sector under control? There is a famous study on community monitoring in Uganda by the World Bank showing promising effects of involving communities to increase accountability. However, studies by the Harvard Kennedy School in Tanzania did not exactly replicate the findings above. There have been many interventions against corruption.

In the first part Mushtaq and Paul outline the milestones in their carriers as corruption researchers. ACE The next section of the interview takes a deep dive into the Anti Corruption Evidence Program. Paul outlines how it was initiated after concerns about the lack of evaluation of development projects and the risk of development spending being lost due to corruption were voiced. As a response DiFiD developed AntiCorruption Evidence, which has two parts: A Research partnership consortium led SOAS ACE which is led by Mushtaq and GI ACE which consists of grants competition for leading international researchers to examine the most effective ways to fight corruption. Mushtaq gives some background information about how SOAS ACE consists of projects that are linked and share a common theory of change, which focus on Nigeria, Tanzania and Bangladesh. Mushtaq argues that the reason why many anti corruption efforts have failed lies in the assumption that most people in developing countries follow rules and a few greedy people break the rules. The common approach has then been to find and punish these “bad apples” in order to get rid of corruption. SOAS ACE however starts from the assumption that in many developing nations, people do not have the capacities to follow rules leading to a large informal sector. Also politics in developing nations is different. There is less tax revenue in developing nations, leading to more clientelism. In order to then bring about anti-corruption one has to identify the demand for anti corruption. That is, finding organizations which need a rule of law in their own interest and are powerful enough to demand it. He then outlines how the rule of law is different from rule by law and how economics can help to identify a market for anti corruption. Paul in turn outlines the approach of GI ACE which has four features: a) Focus on anti-corruption, b) a focus on real world problems real issues, c) politics of anti-corruption, and d) demonstrating impact. It marks a swing towards local problem driven approaches. In this work GI ACE is focused on three core themes, namely International architecture enabling illicit financial flows, promoting integrity and moving away from nations as units of analysis. He comments on whether the integrity turn by organizations such as OECD and World bank indeed offers a better approach than classical anti corruption efforts. In the last part of the interview you can find out how much cross-fertilization happens between GI and SOAS ACE and how Paul’s and Mushtaq’s views differ when it comes to intrinsic integrity and how research in behavioral ethics might provide empirical answers (for more info on the study by Gächter that Paul mentions see references or this Kickback episode: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/17-shaul-shalvi) References Matthew’s blog post Blogging in a Time of (Mostly Unrelated) Crisis–A Note to Readers can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/GABCorona Gächter, S., & Schulz, J. F. (2016). Intrinsic honesty and the prevalence of rule violations across societies. Nature, 531(7595), 496-499.

This week we have a special episode in which Dr. Ina Kubbe (political scientist, University of Tel Aviv, https://www.inakubbe.com/) interviews Dr. Doron Navot (political scientist, University of Haifa (https://haifa.academia.edu/DNavot). Corruption charges against PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the divided society After Doron gives a short overview of his work on corruption and populism, the interview outlines the corruption allegations against PM Benjamin Netanyahu, outlining how three main charges are brought against him involving gifts of cigars and champagne, recorded dialogue between Netanyahu and a publisher which allegedly reveals a quid pro quo and the favorable media coverage by the online platform Walla (https://www.walla.co.il/). The interview continues by giving an overview of the different views on these allegations within the diverse Israeli society, in which no clear majorities exist, leading to a current political deadlock. Doron outlines why Israelis have divergent views about the allegations, touching on lack of trust in the media, public institutions, populism and post-truth politics. To give you a more detailed insight into the political landscape in Israel, the corruption allegations and the recent elections we compiled a few articles describing the situation in English in the references below. Corruption research in Israel Ina and Doron discuss what (anti-corruption) academics can do about this lack of trust that also affects trust towards academic work on corruption. Doron then outlines why generally there is little research about corruption in Israel. As a recent exception he describes the new book Corruption and Informal Practices in the Middle East and North Africa edited by Ina and Aiysha Varraich. (https://www.crcpress.com/Corruption-and-Informal-Practices-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa/Kubbe-Varraich/p/book/9780367422264) In it, Ina and Doron wrote a chapter about corruption informal practices in Israel, which leads to a discussion about the concept of Combina, which describes the combination of interest and opportunities. While at times it describes forms of favoritism, at times it is used as a euphemism for corruption, or illegalism. (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=combina). Doron outlines how combina, similar to the concept of wasta, describes the connections that are often necessary but not sufficient for success. The interview closes on a discussion about different forms of corruption and how common they each are. Dorot outlines why many forms of street level corruption are rather uncommon in Israel, what role political institutions play, which trajectories he sees for the future of the Israeli state and what to learn of Israeli anti-corruption efforts. Pick of the pod When asked about literature on corruption, Doron recommends Paul Heywood’s Political Corruption: Problems and Perspectives (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9248.00089) And the work by Michael Johnston (see for example here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-66254-1_2) References Articles outlining the allegations against Netanyahu and the political support for him: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/11/28/binyamin-netanyahus-allies-reconsider-their-indicted-leader https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/11/21/charges-against-israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-explained/ https://www.972mag.com/netanyahu-just-indicted-corruption-heres-need-know/ Article on the corruption allegation and the election: https://www.972mag.com/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-elections-2020/

During his last visit to Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Matthew took the opportunity to interview Roberto de Michele (@rodemichele61) and Francesco De Simone, both Modernization of the State experts. As usual, the interview kicks off with providing some information on both interviewees’ background and motivation to do work on (anti-)corruption. The interview pursues to outline the four main clusters of anti-corruption work by the IDB: 1. financial integrity supporting countries with anti-money laundering tax transparency 2. governance in the extractive sector 3. control systems government oversight 4. open government access to information, open government partnership The three discuss how IDB standards can ensure progress in anti-corruption and what the track record of each assistance project has been. You can view the overview of all IDB projects on the website via https://www.iadb.org/en/projects. The interview points out new challenges for anti-corruption such as targeted transparency and which procurement specifics can actually ensure that oversight continues beyond the point when public contract are awarded. The three discuss the challenges of how to measure success, touching on the difference between outputs vs. outcomes, and how it might makes sense to rely on intermediate outcomes that indicate that things are improving, e.g. number of bidders in public procurement as a sign of competition. Underlying the challenges to measure corruption, Roberto and Francesco mention a IDB workshop with experts on measurement of corruption, featuring research by Mitchell Seligson (see for an example paper on victimization surveys below) Roberto and Francesco also outline what they have learned in the last decade about anti-corruption that surprised them. The three discuss the IDB’s “Report of the Expert Advisory Group on Anti-Corruption, Transparency, and Integrity in Latin America and the Caribbean” (See link in references). They cover why it is both unusual and useful. They discuss the different ideas about incremental vs. big push policy reforms and more broadly discuss which academic research has been valuable to the work of IDB. In particular, they touch on Benjamin Olken’s work on how to measure corruption (see most famous paper in ref list) and Paul Lagunes work in Peru (to find out more about Paul’s great work, you can check out this previous episode of Kickback: https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/4-episode-paul-lagunes The interview ends with Roberto’s and Francesco’s optimistic & pessimistic takes on corruption in South America. Francesco increasingly perceives himself in a pedagogical role emphasizing patience as anti-corruption is a long-term process, referring to the book The shame of the cities by Lincoln Steffens. References and further readings Engel, E., Noveck, B. S., Ferreira Rubio, D., Kaufmann, D., Lara Yaffar, A., Londoño Saldarriaga, J., Pieth, M., & Rose-Ackerman, S. (2018). Report of the Expert Advisory Group on Anti-Corruption, Transparency, and Integrity in Latin America and the Caribbean. http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/00001419 Lagunes, P. (2018). Guardians of accountability: a field experiment on corruption and inefficiency in local public works. Available via: https://repositorio.cgu.gov.br/bitstream/1/27537/3/Lagunes_2017_Working_paper.pdf Olken, B. A. (2007). Monitoring corruption: evidence from a field experiment in Indonesia. Journal of political Economy, 115(2), 200-249. Seligson, M. A. (2006). The measurement and impact of corruption victimization: Survey evidence from Latin America. World Development, 34(2), 381-404. Full text available here: https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-my/wp-content/uploads/sites/1209/2019/04/14113557/Seligson-The-Measurement-and-Impact-of-Corruption-World-Development-2005.pdf Steffens, L. (1904). The shame of the cities. McClure, Phillips & Company. https://g.co/kgs/mbMi46

This week’s episode features Gary Kalman, the director of the US office of Transparency International in Washington. Work of the FACT coalition (https://thefactcoalition.org/) The FACT coalition has been pushing regulation on anonymous companies. One key element is beneficial ownership (check out our episode with Elise Bean). The principle is simple: When you register a company, you have to name the natural person who owns and controls the company. Gary mentions an example in which a person registered a company in the name of her cat Suki (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0nHETD1wxg). Beneficial Ownership Gary and Matthew then go on to discuss about legislation on beneficial ownership in the US in comparison to other countries such as the UK where the registry is public. Such a law may have an enormous impact. Gary mentions an example of an undercover operation carried out by the NGO Global Witness that tried to found a company in the name of a corrupt businessman. 12 out of 12 collaborated some of which from highly respected law firms in New York City (for more in the story https://www.globalwitness.org/en/reports/loweringthebar/) Vision for Transparency International As Gary is the director of the new office of TI in Washington, Matthew asks him about his vision for TI. His top priorities are Illicit finance in the US as a facilitator for global corruption, trade based money laundering, issues around gatekeepers and supporting other anti-corruption institutions on issues like ‘revolving doors’. TI US is also going to comment on corruption within the US. He further discusses the role of partisanship. In the end Gary outlines a few more issues that anti-corruption efforts should focus on: - International trade issues - Whistleblower protection - Strengthening independent media Additional links Elise Bean’s book “Financial Exposure Carl Levin's Senate Investigations into Finance and Tax Abuse”: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319943879 The FACT Coalition: https://thefactcoalition.org/issues/incorporation-transparency

We welcome Andrés Hernández (@hmandres2011), executive director of Transparency International Colombia (Transparencia por Colombia), to this week’s episode of KickBack - The Global Anti-Corruption Podcast. 1. Corruption in the judiciary system The first part of the interview focuses on the challenge of corruption in the Colombian judiciary system. Andrés outlines that according to the latest results of Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, 40% believe that the judiciary system is strongly affected by corruption (see link to full resource in extra reading, GCB, 2019). The two outline how tackling corruption in the judiciary might bring about a trade-off between accountability (e.g. disciplining judges) and judicial independence. Andrés clarifies how independence and opacity are often confused. The two discuss limitations in the current appointment procedures of high ranking public positions at the state level - you can learn the meaning behind the Colombia saying “Yo te llego, tu me ligues”. Andrés outlines how more transparency would help to avoid patronage. 2. Anti-Corruption Referendum in Colombia The second part deals with the consulta popular - best known as the Colombian anti-corruption referendum. Andrés describes the unprecedented mobilization of the Colombian people against corruption resulting in almost 12 million people voting, more votes than the most recent presidential election. Andrés points out that the result of the referendum, although not legally binding, are politically binding to instigate change. Find out why Andrés, even though he was not excited about the concrete content of the seven points of reform, he was still optimistic in the wake of the referendum. (Sidenote: For some fun music input on the referendum Reggaeton de la corrupción (featuring Antanas Mockus), check out the links in the extra reading material) 3. Potential pitfalls of public outcry against corruption At the time when the interview was recorded - December 2019 - protests occurred in Bogotá and other places across Colombia. Reason enough to discuss the potential and pitfalls of anti-corruption protests ongoing. Andrés emphasizes why and how protests can be an important step towards strengthening institutions, yet also the dangers it might bring about that become apparent when observing the changes in Colombia’s neighboring countries. Andrés also voices his concern about an international anti-corruption court, why it might distract attention away from structural issues but placing too much hope in sanctions that do not instigate transformation and why it might not be pragmatic to realize. Instead, he argues it would be better to focus limited resources into stronger international capacities, stronger national judiciary systems, and for strengthening the international commitment against transnational crime. 4. Reflexion on changes in anti-corruption in the last 20 years In the final part of the episode, Andrés looks back on the last two decades of anti-corruption efforts in Colombia. He points out how corruption has become more complex, covered up more extensively, and why such new forms of corruption require tools. On the positive side, Andrés notes that Colombia now has stronger checks and balances and applauds the more vibrant civil society, brave journalists engaged in anti-corruption.

New year This week on KickBack: Charles Davidson former Executive Director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at Hudson Institute, Publisher & CEO of The American Interest Magazine. The interview covers how the book Capitalism's Achilles Heel by Raymond Baker inspired Charles’ impressive work. For example Charles was involved in: - together with Francis Fukuyama founding of American Interest Magazin: https://www.the-american-interest.com - initiating the think tank, “Global Financial Integrity”: https://gfintegrity.org/ - creating the “The FACT Coalition” which brought together organizations become an activist coalition on issues of corporate transparency. A legislative influence group tackling against beneficial ownership: https://thefactcoalition.org/ - serving as an executive producer of the movie “We are not broke”, that premiered at Sundance festival: https://werenotbrokemovie.com/ The interview pursues on more details on beneficial ownership, how International crime and kleptocracy have become an increasing threat to democracy, and the push for greater corporate transparency in the US, spurred by the #PanamaPapers. Charles chimes in on the concrete proposal of beneficial ownership registries, how it might depend on the style of capitalism in a given society, outlining that that an important prerequisite consists of law enforcement agencies having access. Charles outlines how the essential element of transparency around beneficial ownership would be making the data available for governments yet also outlines that publicly available information facilitates the work of journalists. The next segment deals with the details around kleptocracy and how it is linked to authoritarian regimes. The basic model across several countries is: The regime loots resources at home and then take the money out and store it in the west (using anonymous companies etc.) to safeguard their money, leading the US to become increasingly kleptocratized. Charles outlines the importance of understanding that “The fact that we welcome authoritarian money into the west, means that we are incentivizing authoritarianism.” The two discuss the challenges of preventing kleptocracy and how the Magnitsky act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act) might provide a first step into that direction. The two describe how corruption for the effectiveness of development aid. Finally, the interview covers the concept of reputation laundering, which describes how gifts and donations to educational institutions or museums by oligarchs intend to uphold a positive reputation towards oligarchs. The two unpack the typical step-by-step process for reputation laundering and discuss how universities can protect themselves from such influence. Online Articles: Human Rights Watch: “The Anniversary that Shouldn't Be: 40 Years of President Obiang in Equatorial Guinea “ https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/03/anniversary-shouldnt-be-40-years-president-obiang-equatorial-guinea The Guardian: “Son of equatorial guineas president convicted of corruption in France” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/son-of-equatorial-guineas-president-convicted-of-corruption-in-france Books: Raymond W. Baker - Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Capitalism%27s+Achilles+Heel%3A+Dirty+Money+and+How+to+Renew+the+Free+Market+System-p-9780471644880

For this special episode Nils and Christopher sat down to reflect on the first 20 episodes of Kickback and discuss some plans for the 2020. For those who want to support us financially to cover our running costs: https://www.patreon.com/kickbackpodcast For those who want to follow us via Social Media: https://twitter.com/KickbackGAP https://www.facebook.com/KickBackGAP The Kickback team wishes you a happy holiday season! We look forward to 2020! Chapter I - Basics 1. Susan Rose-Ackerman on the principal-agent theory of corruption 5. Bo Rothstein on corruption as a collective action problem and long term fixes 7. Paul Heywood on which questions to ask to gain new insights into the wicked problem of corruption Chapter II – Perspectives on Corruption 12. Oguzhan Dincer on measuring corruption at different levels & historic developments in Turkey 13. Cristina Bicchieri on social norms of corruption, Antanas Mockus and Soap Operas 16. Kevin E. Davis on his book "Between Impunity & Imperialism" and fighting transnational bribery 17. Shaul Shalvi on behavioral ethics and the psychological roots of corruption 19. Monika Bauhr on need vs. greed corruption and how it is linked to gender Chapter III - Regions 4. Paul Lagunes on transparency 2.0, the importance of citizens for anti-corruption in Latin America 11. Daria Kaleniuk on the anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine 14. Kieu Vien on encouraging discussions about corruption & shaping anti-corruption laws in Vietnam 20. Leonor Ortiz Monasterio & Miguel Meza on anti-corruption in Mexico Chapter IV - Journalism 6. Frederik Obermaier on Panama Papers, Ibiza video & the role of media freedom for anti-corruption 8. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi on corruption in Romania, democratic transitions, advise for young scholars 18. David Barboza on investigating the hidden wealth of Chinese elites Chapter V - Practitioners 2. Deltan Dallagnol on leading the prosecution of the Lava Jato investigations in Brazil 3. Robtel Neajai Pailey on how to teach anti-corruption through children's books 9. Debra LaPrevotte on being an FBI agent, asset recovery, safe havens for cleptocrats & war crimes 10. Elise Bean on financial fraud, money laundering and the top 3 policies to curb corruption 15. Sergei Guriev on the value of governance, inclusion & the internet for anti-corruption efforts

This week on Kickback: Leonor Ortiz Monasterio (https://contralacorrupcion.mx/leonor-ortiz-monasterio/) and Miguel Alfonso Meza (Twitter: @MiguelMezaC). They describe their work for the Anti-Corruption Organization “Mexicanos contra la corrupción y la impunidad” (Mexicans against corruption and impunity, (https://contralacorrupcion.mx/). They outline how the anger about corruption inspired them to work for MCCI. They critically evaluate the Anti-Corruption efforts by the new Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador “AMLO” and the new harsher laws against corruption. The refer to their own research of speeches by “AMLO” across different campaigns revealed that, counter to common beliefs, the latest campaign was not the one where he used the word corruption the most and how corruption was rather framed as an ethics issue and not focusing on corrupt networks. The three discuss the appointments of the new government, their anti-corruption prosecution efforts, the pros and cons of a clean slate approach to fight corruption. The interview closes on Leonor and Miguels’ elevator pitch of what key issues need to be address for anti-corruption.

Our guest this week is Monika Bauhr, Associate Professor at the Quality of Government at the University of Gothenburg (https://tinyurl.com/s37x2lp). The interview kicks off with Monika describing how her work on climate change led her to get interested in corruption, showing how the technical solutions for Climate change were known but that it often lacked political will to implement them. The interview further covers Monika’s three main areas of interest: 1. Transparency Monika was inspired by the diverse effects of transparency on corruption. In her work she has zoomed in on when transparency succeeds to lower corruption and when it can conversely lead to a demoralization effect. 2. Types of corruption Monika bemoans that frequently the average effects of corruption (such as the country level Corruption Perception Index) are used as a measure of corruption. She argues that more refined measures, distinguishing between corruption types is needed. Monika’s work has particularly focused on the distinction between need vs. greed corruption (see https://tinyurl.com/vwgjryo). The interview also points out the challenges to operationalize these different forms of corruption. 3. Gender and corruption Monika’s third main field of interest lies on the link between gender and corruption, inspired by one of the most consistent finding that the share of women in government lowers petty corruption. Monika and Matthew discuss different theories help to explain the multifaceted ways in which gender and corruption are related.

This week on KickBack: Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times correspondent David Barboza (Twitter: @DavidBarboza2). The interview begins with a deep dive into David’s famous investigation into the vast wealth of the Chinese elite. You can read the NYT articles in the Archive here: https://tinyurl.com/ygh8xhz9. David outlines the challenges and unexpected breaks in investigating such highly sensitive topics while being tracked by the government, involving a strict “no phone call” policy, as well as the very real dangers he and his faced in pursuing the story. David outlines the reasons why even though the original article merely describes the amassing wealth was met with extensive attempts to prevents its publication. The explanation shows that having extensive wealth is often seen as a sign of corruption, as historically allegations of corruption spurred the famous 1989 Tiananmen square demonstrations (see https://tinyurl.com/y5ck7vr3). David shares insights into how the system of dealings among the elites works and how each year 200,000 public officials are brought down for corruption. David provides a history of how the norms around business activities of political leaders and their families changed since the end of the 1980s, how hidden ownership and plausible deniability from the sides of Western companies plays a role. In the last part of the interview, Matthew and David discuss the developments since the publication of the seminal investigation and how the anti-corruption efforts by Xi Jingping differ from other anti-corruption efforts.

The interview kicks off with Shaul outlining how the EU Anti-corruption report served as a motivation Shaul to do corruption research and why psychologists have only more recently started to get interested in corruption. To give listeners an idea how behavioral scientists seek to understand corruption and unethical behavior more broadly, Shaul and Nils discuss behavioral ethics, an interdisciplinary approach to study when and how people break ethical rules from a descriptive perspective: Hence, instead of telling people what they should behavioral ethics observe what they actually do. Shaul describes his personal inspiration to join the field (e.g. other researchers like Max Bazerman, https://tinyurl.com/y5oyqa3g ) and the methods he helped to develop (see for more info here: https://tinyurl.com/y49crb3j). The two also discuss when children develop the ability to cheat studied by researchers such as Marile Claire Vileval, https://tinyurl.com/y6pwzbh8). For all of those who want to get an overview of some of the insights gained we recommend this great website www.preferencesfortruthtelling.com. In the second part, Shaul and Nils discuss the shift from an individual perspective – studying people who make ethical decisions by themselves – to a more social perspective where people make ethical decisions together. They cover, how others can influence people’s own willingness to break ethical rules by being bad role models – as corruption corrupts (https://tinyurl.com/yy9blgwr, see also https://tinyurl.com/y49guetf). Others can also play a role as a victim. Shaul mentions a recent meta-analysis that showed how people are more readily willing to cheat when the victim is abstract (e.g. the society) compared to when it is concrete (e.g. another person; https://tinyurl.com/y2df4lxu). Shaul describes his work on the collaborative roots of corruption and whether people’s inclination to cooperate or to be honest prevails (https://tinyurl.com/y2df4lxu) and how people might at times engage in “ethical free-riding” (https://tinyurl.com/y367254q). Pick of the podcast: Economic Gangsters by Ray Fisman and Edward Miguel (https://tinyurl.com/y4e7x3xp)

For this episode of Kickback we are delighted to welcome Kevin E. Davis, Beller Family Professor of Business Law at NYU. (https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=22193). The interview covers Kevin’s new book Between Impunity and imperialism, the challenges of fighting and deterring transnational bribery and the return of stolen assets. The interview begins with a short overview on Kevin’s academic background and how he became interested in the law and economic development. Then the two discuss Kevin’s book which through its title expresses Kevin’s ambivalence about the efforts to fight transnational bribery. On the one hand there is wide consensus that impunity in form of letting corrupt actors go unpunished is condemnable, on the other hand, Kevin criticizes the legal imperialism reflected in some of the approaches adopted to fight transnational corruption. The two discuss alternatives to the current approaches, the risk of “derisking” and the state of empirical evidence on these subjects. One more narrow point focuses on whom to punish once transnational bribery has been detected. Should the contract be nullified? Should the company be punished or is a more individualized punishment the way to go? Here the discussion also zooms in on the potential sovereignty issues related to cross-border investigations. Finally, the two chime in on current debates on where the returned stolen assets should be directed to. Kevin’s new book Between Impunity and Imperialism The Regulation of Transnational Bribery is available here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/between-impunity-and-imperialism-9780190070809?cc=us&lang=en&

This episode we are excited to welcome Sergei Guriev (Twitter: @sguriev), the chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Academic work: The interview kicks off with a discussion of Sergei’s academic work in the early 2000’s. In it Sergei and Andrei Rachinsky studied the Role of oligarchs in Russian capitalism and showed that oligarchs owned around 40% of the Russian industry (see Guriev & Rachinsky, 2005). Since then his academic and policy work remained related to corruption issues. Transitions: The interview covers the question why some Post-Soviet countries have transitioned successfully into a market economy while others haven’t, touching on the importance of institutional quality, experience of democracy, critical free press and inclusion. Challenges to study corruption: The two also discuss the challenge to study corruption, both from a methodological standpoint but also from a political standpoint, when working in a multi-lateral international organizations that are funded by governments. Positive examples: Matthew and Sergei touch on several anti-corruption examples that give reason to hope, such as the public e-procurement system, Pro Zorro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prozorro) in Ukraine or the political transformation in Georgia in the early 2000’s. Bride between academia and policy: As part of Sergei’s job, he communicates corruption research to for policy makers, emphasizing in particular the need for more research on the nexus between populism and corruption. 3G Internet and Confidence in Government. Finally, the two discuss Sergei’s most recent work on the impact of 3G Internet access on attitudes and perceptions about corruption, illustrating on the one hand that internet access can indeed make citizens more critical of corrupt regimes, but on the other hand the dangers of internet censorship or rising populism. If you want to find out more about Sergei, you can check out his Wikipedia Article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Guriev or follow him twitter (@SGuriev). References Guriev, S., & Rachinsky, A. (2005). The role of oligarchs in Russian capitalism. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1), 131-150. Guriev, S., Melnikov, N., & Zhuravskaya, E. (2019) 3G internet and confidence in government. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Working Paper No. 233, https://t.co/xElidfbOkw?amp=1

Kieu Vien, Founder and exec director towards transparency in Vietnam (https://towardstransparency.vn/en/) The interview begins by Kieu outlining a meaningful encounter with a woman who experienced the frustrating consequences of corruption first hand that sparked her to found towards transparency in 2007. First organization on corruption when it was still a taboo to work on anti-corruption which led her to found the NGO as a company. 1. Legislation meets international standards and is enforced 2. Ensuring that private sector practices adhere to integrity standards 3. Teaching youth youths integrity to enable long term anti-corruption movement 4. Promoting Open Governance How the work towards transparency has helped to reduce the taboo about corruption by encouraging discussions about corruption and building trust with many organizations such as Transparency International and even the Vietnamese government by a critical, constructive approach that relinquished from “naming and shaming” to allow actors to keep face. How the government followed the majority of Towards Transparency’s recommendations to enforce United Nations Convention against Corruption (https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/). The challenge to motivate non-state actors to join the fight against corruption The most important aspects of the Vietnamese anti-corruption law. Introduced 2005, revised 2007, latest revision approved 2018 Also including private sector, preventive measures of conflict of interest, asset declaration of public officials.

The interview this week features Cristina Bicchieri – the S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics at University of Pennsylvania. The Kickback interview kicks off with Cristina’s early work on corruption in the mid 1990’s together with the physicist Carlo Rovelli (1995) and John Duffy (1997) and how this work was sparked by the mani pulite scandal in Italy. This theoretical work describes why corruption is often so “sticky” . Cristina then outlines the importance of measurement to provide empirical support for her theoretical concepts, especially the distinction between unconditional versus conditional behavior and empirical versus normative expectations (for more info on this we highly recommend her newest book: Norms in the Wild). She describes how cleverly designed vignette studies help researchers to understand why a certain behavior persists. One of the places where Cristina has done research on corruption is Nigeria (for more details see Hofmann & Patel) where she finds interesting differences in perceived frequency and acceptability of corruption depending on the gender of the perpetrator. The interview also covers what Cristina has learned in the past decades of doing research on corruption. Anti -Corruption Cristina outlines how making the negative consequences of corruption salient could help to deter corruption and why classical punitive measures usually don't work. Another interesting nugget: When it comes to information campaigns, providing information about the high corruption levels of others can backfire by giving people a license to corrupt themselves. Finally, Nils and Cristina discuss the work of the former mayor of Bogotá, Antanas Mockus, who became famous for his unorthodox measures to change social norms. For example, you can find out how pantomimes helped to improve the traffic situation in Bogotá. Cristina’s Picks of the podcast: Bicchieri C (2016) Norms in the Wild: How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms, 1 edition. Oxford University Press, New York, NY The soap opera: Simplemente Maria If you want to find out more about Cristina’s work: Bicchieri, C., & Duffy, J. (1997). Corruption cycles. Political Studies, 45(3), 477–495. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00092 Bicchieri, C., & Rovelli, C. (1995). Evolution and Revolution: The Dynamics of Corruption. Rationality and Society, 7(2), 201–224. http://doi.org/10.1177/1043463195007002007 Bicchieri, C., & Mercier, H. (2014). Norms and Beliefs: How Change Occurs. The Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly, 63(January 2014), 60–82. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05308-0 Bicchieri, C., & Dimant, E. (2019). Nudging with Care: The Risks and Benefits of Social Information. SSRN Electronic Journal, (January). http://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3319088 Hoffmann LK, Patel RN (2017) Collective Action on Corruption in Nigeria: A social norms approach to connecting society and institutions. 1–53

This episode of KickBack features Oguzhan “Oz” Dincer, who is an Associate Professor of Economics and the Director of the Institute for Corruption Studies at the Illinois State University. Listen to how the famous research on the so-called fair wage hypothesis (Akerlof & Yellen, 1990; Soraperra et al.,) triggered Oz’s interest in corruption. Measurement of Corruption The interview covers Oz’s research on economics of corruption – focusing on the thorny challenge to measure corruption; how and when the national newspapers can serve as an indicator for national level of corruption. Oz describes his work on developing measures of legal and illegal corruption across U.S. states. You might wonder “what is legal corruption?”, Oz provides his working definition of “how much the actions of the legislature is influenced by the campaign finance”. The discussion covers pros and cons of the World Bank data on corruption, and the difficulty to assess corruption via surveys Political Culture of Corruption The two discuss the old question how culture shapes corruption. Oz outlines the cultural differences across the USA, mentioning research by Daniel A. Lazar who classifies political culture by categorizing who settled where. According to this method three main cultures exist in the USA: moralistic, individualistic, traditionalistic cultures. Oz research has tested whether the assumption that moralistic cultures care more about the collective good and are hence less corrupt is indeed true. A short history of Corruption in Turkey How the corruption in Turkey changed from minor forms of petty corruption became more frequent and was increasingly accompanied by grand forms of corruption after military take-over in the 1980’s. How government cuts on public salaries has increased corruption, how it has contributed to a reduction in democratic standards and eventually leading to a sense of hopelessness. Key References for the podcast: Akerlof, G. A., & Yellen, J. L. (1990). The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 105(2), 255. http://doi.org/10.2307/2937787 --> Classical work on fair wage hypothesis that inspired Oz to research corruption Soraperra, I., Köbis, N. C., Efferson, C., Vogt, S., Offerman, T., & Shalvi, S. (2019). A market for integrity An experiment on corruption in the education sector (CREED Working Papers). Amsterdam, Netherlands. Available via: http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26059.44321 --> More recent work on the subject whether higher wages lead to lower levels of corruption. Dincer, O. C. (2008). Ethnic and religious diversity and corruption. Economics Letters, 99(1), 98-102. --> Oz’s work on how ethnic and religious diversity relate to corruption

Our next guest on kickback: Daria Kaleniuk (Twitter:@dkaleniuk), the executive director of the Anticorruption action centre (Twitter: @antAC_ua; website: www.antac.org.ua) The interview covers: How corruption prevented Daria from achieving change and how it inspired her to use international legal tools to tackle corruption within Ukraine. How the anti-corruption action center bridges the work between #investigativejournalism and law enforcement The way international protest helped to map and seize assets owned by former Ukrainian president Janukovic and his enabling networks Then we zero in on the period after the #Euro-Maidan revolution (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan ) The interview outlines the two main pillars of institutions that were set up to tackle corruption. Pillar 1 - Transparency about assets - Electronic assets declaration - Registry of beneficial ownership of companies - New public procurement system - Anticorruption prevention commission Pillar 2 - Enforcement and sanctioning of corruption - National anti-corruption bureau - Specialised anti-corruption prosecution - High anti-corruption court The two discuss: - The successes and challenges for both pillars, touching on the problem of requiring too many public officials to declare their assets and the challenge to verify (the often poor) information declared. - The importance of selection for the success of anti-corruption institutions - How the old elite influenced the outcome of selecting heads of these anti-corruption institutions - The surprising lack of political controversy around foreign (Western) experts in the selection process, using the concrete example of the selection process of the high anticorruption court - The media campaigns including #fakenews aimed to break anti-corruption initiatives and hinder anti-corruption reform - How the new political administration in Ukraine and its commitment to the anti-corruption reforms

This time on the podcast: Elise Bean, from the permanent sub-committee on investigation (PSI: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations). The first part of the interview describes the work of the PSI which was set up by Harry Truman and was the first to make #moneylaundering a crime. The discussion touches on the famous case of Raul Salinas that the PSI investigated and that drew drew massive media attention (https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/10/world/americas/killing-of-expresidents-brother-is-still-a-mexican-mystery.html). Part 2 – Practical challenges In the next part Elise and Matthew discuss some of the practical challenges to detect what is suspect money. Elise describes how the incentives of bankers might run counter to anti-corruption by creating #conflictofinterest. The discussion delves into the balancing act of prosecuting the individuals who are responsible (who are often hard to identify) vs. using settlements with company (which often do not serve as a real deterrent) (11:16). One important example discussed in this context is the case of HSBC investigation 2012 (summarized here: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-18880269). The two also discuss whether and how it has become more difficult to get around a disclosure and reporting-based system. Elise describes the “the game of bulk cash smuggling” that includes money launderers shipping large sums of money across borders in trains and even submarines. Part 3: What do about it? The last part of the conversation focuses on the concrete steps against money laundering related to corruption. One concrete loophole that hinders prosecution of money laundering is the US 2002 temporary exemption from the PATRIOT Act requirement for implementation of anti-money laundering programs, on sectors such as real-estate, hedge funds, and luxury items. Elise describes the story behind the exemption, stemming from the push after the 9/11 attacks to tighten anti-money laundering laws, outlining the mystery why the exemption has lasted for over 17 years even though bipartisan support exists to end it. With bipartisanship generally playing a big role for PSI, after the reputation of the subcommittee was tarnished by Joe McCArthy (https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Featured_Bio_McCarthy.htm), Elise outlines how it has how it is shaped which investigation the PSI launches. Elise also describes how she chooses the cases to look into (30:40) and how this has led to investigations into #Taxdodging of large companies such as Caterpillar and Apple, and the Foreign Policy implications. Finally, she gives her Top3 policy wish list for changes still need to be made (39:20) to reduce money laundering and cleptocracy? Top 3 : 1. Transparency about beneficial ownership 2. End temporary exemption from the PATRIOT Act requirement for implementation of anti-money laundering programs in the real-estate, hedge funds and luxury goods sector 3. Making data collected by Foreign account tax compliance act available to be broadly analyzed

Join us this week for an interview on the FBI’s work on asset recovery, which countries are currently the main destinations for money laundering by international cleptocrats and how corruption directly contributes to war crimes and atrocities. Our guest this week is the Debra LaPrevotte. She is a Senior Investigator for The Sentry (https://thesentry.org/). Founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast, the Sentry “follows the dirty money and builds cases focusing on the war criminals most responsible for Africa’s deadliest conflicts and the corrupt transnational networks that profit from them”. Part 1: Asset recovery an FBI Supervisory Special Agent Debra worked for over 20 years as a Supervisory Special Agent on the International Corruption Unit at FBI Headquarters. In the interview she describes her investigations into asset recovery, walking the listener through the process of a typical investigation, the challenges she faced and what it is like to seize more than $1 billion dollars from foreign corrupt officials. And where should returned asset go to? Back to the country from which it was seized and stolen? Or shall there be conditionalities to prevent the money being fed back into a corrupt system? The two discuss the pros and cons of both views. Part 2: Safe havens for money laundering Want to take a guess which country currently is the destination of choice for kleptocrats? Tip is not Switzerland (any more). Debra and Matthew describe which places currently have the reputation to be a money laundering paradise and how this fuels kleptocrats. Part 3: “I have the best retirement job ever – I work for George Clooney and John Prendergast” Debra describes her work for Sentry which aims to disrupt and ultimately dismantle the network of perpetrators, facilitators, and enablers who fund and profit from Africa’s deadliest conflicts. Debra is currently investigating violent kleptocracy in Sudan, South Sudan, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic and Somalia. She focuses on investigating greed that fuels war crimes and atrocities. Interestingly, she argues that most of the conflicts are not ideology-driven but rather fueled by powerful elites seeking to protect their financial assets. Find out more about Debra’s work via: https://thesentry.org/

Matthew Stephenson interviews Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.

“We should stop thinking in terms how to solve corruption and start thinking in terms how to manage it” In this episode we are excited to welcome one of the world’s most influential #corruption researchers: Paul Heywood (@pmheywood). The interview covers how the #manipulite scandal in the 90’s got Paul interested in corruption, how @TransparencyInternational’s #CPI helped to put corruption on the global (research) agenda, why academics might have admired the problem of corruption too much, which questions we should ask to get new (and better) insights into the wicked problem of corruption and which tools exist to help to make sense of corruption, hint https://curbingcorruption.com/. Mani Pulite Scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite Paul’s pick: The night manager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Manager_(TV_series)

On this episode of Kickback, we are thrilled to welcome Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist Frederik Obermaier, working for Süddeutsche Zeitung best known for his work on the Panama Papers and the Strache Video. Part 1 #PanamaPapers (0:00-08:10): “It is only logical to tackle a transnational challenge like corruption with a transnational team” The first part of the interview describes the collaborative efforts initiated by Frederik and his colleague Bastian Obermayer leading unprecedented investigations into the rogue offshore industry. Frederik describes how they went about detecting illegal activities in the data, why they decided to team up with over 400 experts – epitomized by Frederik: “We do see a change of mindset of journalist. 10-20 years ago the typical investigative journalist was this lonely wolf kind of existence, (…) we do see change towards a power of the pack “. (8:10-12:02) The interview touches on the importance of data analysis for modern investigative journalism. (12:03-15:09): Next the two discuss what new and surprising things Frederik learned by “getting a look into the machine room of this whole corruption machine” in the process of the Panama Papers. We kid you not, here Winnie-the-Poo and Harry Potter will make their unexpected appearance. (15:10-21:04): The discussion then moves towards Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) and whether countries should adopt laws to allow (public) registers of UBO’s. Part 2 – #StracheVideo #Ibizagate (21:05 – 30:40): “To bring back more accountability into politics, fighting for more transparency would be a major step!” The second part covers the recent “bombshell” revelations of a video secretly taped in the summer of 2017 showing two representatives of the Austrian right-wing party Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) who met with a woman pretending to be the niece of a Russian oligarch. Frederik outlines why this case of corruption had special relevance to lead to the resignation of Heinz Christian Strache, former leader of the FPÖ. The two discuss the importance of accountability via investigative journalism and how revelations can help the civil society to keep politicians accountable. In the discussion, the US are referred to as a developing country when it comes to efforts leading to more transparency in politics. (30:40 – 38:34): they discuss the moral implications of the trap that was set up to obtain this video and it “in the end it comes down to public interest”, how revelations by the Panama Papers differ from “data dumps” Part 3 - Press freedom is an important pillar for every democracy (38:35 – end): The last part deals with the main threats to independent investigative journalism, kicking off with the proposed take-over of the Kronen Zeitung, an influential Austrian tabloid, and to use the newspaper as a mouthpiece to back the FPÖ party in the election campaign discussed in the Strache Video. The discussion covers the academic work by Christopher Starke showing that a relationship between media freedom and corruption exists. Frederik: “press freedom (…) was already under siege in autocratic countries, now we have to speak about press freedom in democracies”. The interview ends on what each individual can do to help independent and critical media and what keeps Frederik doing his challenging job. For more information on: - Frederik’s work: https://www.frederikobermaier.com/ - the Panama Papers: https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/ - the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: https://www.icij.org - The Strache Video: https://projekte.sueddeutsche.de/artikel/politik/caught-in-the-trap-e675751/ - Research on media freedom and corruption: Starke, C., Naab, T. K., & Scherer, H. (2016). Free to expose corruption: The impact of media freedom, internet access, and governmental online service delivery on corruption. International Journal of Communication, 10, 4702–4722.

Matthew Stephenson sits down with Bo Rothstein, who holds the holds the August Röhss Chair in Political Science and the co-founder of the Quality of Government Institute at the University of Gothenburg. The Kickback interview kicks off with the reasons how Bo got interested in corruption when working on the inefficiencies in public procurement and how these experiences led him to put “human well-being as the dependent variable” of his research. As was to be expected when of the world’s leading thinkers on corruption talk it out, the interview touches on many of the debates within corruption research. How to define corruption? What have we learned about corruption in the past decades of research? How are these insights applicable to practitioners aiming to reduce corruption? The answers range from - an impartiality based definitions of corruption and how it relates to the concept of rule of law - how to define corruption by first specifying what the opposite of corruption is - how reducing corruption might not be achieved via quick fixes but needs long term solutions, e.g. fostering gender equality - how corruption and democracy relate to each other when it comes to achieving human well-being and happiness - … and many more We hope you enjoy the episode. If you have feedback, feel free to send us an email at [email protected]

If you are interested in… …how average citizens could contribute to holding politicians more accountable? ..how transparency 2.0 might help to reduce corruption more effectively? …why politicians who campaigned strongly against corruption do not seem to follow through once they take office? … the current trends in anti-corruption in general, maybe even care about Latin America in particular? Then the latest episode of KickBack featuring an interview with Paul Lagunes will provide many insightful answers. This week’s guest Paul Lagunes is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. In his research Paul combines mixed methods, including field experiments, as a means to better understand and limit corruption in city governments across the Americas. The interview starts off by discussing Paul’s latest book called The Watchful Eye & the Cracking Whip: Field Experiments on Corruption & Inefficiency in the Americas. Paul mentions the recent corruption allegations against Walmart in Mexico as well as the large lava jato (Car wash) scandal, which is covered in a previous episode of KickBack. Things get technical when Matthew and Paul discuss on the different theoretical approach to understand corruption as a Principal Agent Problem, most famously outlined by a previous guest of KickBack, Susan Rose-Ackerman. Paul defends that view against the criticism that in systemic corrupt societies there is often “no principled principle” – the officials responsible to police corruption fall prey to the high level of corruption. Find out how an intelligence officer abusing his power to spy on his wife fits into this discussion. They discuss which factors are important so that the officials remain honest, where Paul mentions Melanie Manion’s work. The two discuss whether and how people like you and me can contribute to being part of the watchful eye, drawing on Paul’s experience in collaborating with the Peruvian chapter of Transparency International – ProEtica. Paul outlines how in the past decades an increased emphasis has been to promote transparency. Moving forward, transparency 2.0 help NGO to conduct monitoring they are already doing Evalua in Mexico monitoring the use of public funds. Towards the end, Matthew and Paul discuss where Latin America is headed in when it comes to anti-corruption, touching on the Anti-Impunity Commission International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG) in Guatemala. Find out whether Paul is optimistic about recent political changes in Brazil and Mexico, why elected presidents might not fulfill their anti-corruption promises and how the Odebrecht scandal ties into that.

In this episode of the KickBack Global AntiCorruption, we are very happy to welcome Robtel Neajai Pailey – a Liberian academic, activist and author who is “maladjusted to injustice” – a quote from Cornel West. We discuss Robtel’s impressive work – ranging from her books, to stage play, Forum theatre, radio and even music videos in collaboration with Hip Hop Artist Takun J. You can find out all about Robtel’s books Gbagba and Jaadeh here, including more information about the illustrator Chase Walker. The book Gbagba has been adapted to a stage play by Flomo Theatre and been distributed through the Open Society Initiative for West Africa. The interview touches on moral development of children, how children can help adults to remind them of their own morality. Robtel and Nils also discuss social psychological phenomena such as the so-called “What the hell effect” and Identifiable victim effect and how they relate to corruption. Robtel’s Pick of the Podcast: God of small things – Arundhati Roy If you want to find out more about Robtel you can check out her website https://www.robtelneajaipailey.com/

Matthew sits down with Deltan Dallagnol for an insightful interview. Many call it the biggest anti-corruption investigation that has ever occurred: the car wash investigation that originated in Brazil. This episode brings you a unique insight into the investigation by no other but the lead prosecutor himself, Deltan Dallagnol (on Twitter @deltanmd). To give you an idea of the size of the investigation, Deltan outlines that car wash included charges against four acting and former presidents of Brazil: Michel Temer, Lula da Silva, Fernando Collor de Mello and Dilma Rousseff. In the interview, Matthew and Deltan explain where the name “car wash” actually comes from. They explain how Plea bargaining agreements in exchange for witness testimony as well as settlements with large companies like Odebrecht played a key role in the car wash investigations. In the discussion, Deltan and Matthew discuss the similarities between the Brazilian investigations and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act . By the way, Deltan also describes how $15 million in cash were featured in the process. Finally, Deltan and Matthew compare the open communication strategies within the car wash investigation to the Robert Muller investigations and touch on the clean hands (“Mani Pulite”) investigations in Italy. • Operation Car Wash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Car_Wash • Michel Temer: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Temer • Lula da Silva: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luiz_In%C3%A1cio_Lula_da_Silva • Fernando Collor de Mello: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Collor_de_Mello • Dilma Rousseff: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilma_Rousseff • Plea bargaining agreements: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plea_bargain • Odebrecht: https://www.odebrecht.com/en/home • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act • Robert Muller investigations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mueller • clean hands (“Mani Pulite”) investigations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_pulite

The discussion between Matthew and Susan touches on how Susan got interested in corruption – by experiences made within the US -, how her scope of interest has expanded, and why her seminal book was not an immediate success. Susan points to the experimental field work by Benjamin Olken and the creative approach to measuring corruption by Ray Fisman. Susan and Matthew discuss the differences between the Principal Agent Theory of corruption and the prominent critique arguing that corruption is rather a collective action problem (see episode Episode 5 of KickBack, https://soundcloud.com/kickback-gap/5-episode-bo-rothstein). Picks of the podcast: The picks by Susan are: - the theoretical work on public choice by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. - George Washington Plunkitt a Tammany Hall political boss in New York City and his famous speech from 1905 on honest and dishonest graft. - The work by John Gardiner on Town X