What do you get if you cross anti-corruption activists with mathematicians? It’s no joke. This was exactly what we did in Cape Coast, Ghana, recently, bringing these two groups together to analyse procurement data for evidence of corruption ‘red flags’…
Blog Archives
The way to hell is paved with good intentions: What football’s VAR can learn from an anti-corruption programme in Brazil
“Football is not a matter of life or death” claimed Bill Shankly, an iconic former manager of Liverpool football club, “it’s far more important than that”. Shankly, ever able to come up with a memorable line, was certainly over-egging that…
Posted in Sport
Investigative journalists and the fight to unearth the corrupt
Former Sussex student Juan Leopoldo Martinez explains why investigative journalism really does need to be at the forefront of the anti-corruption fight When facing state, judicial or parliamentary inertia or a lack of effectiveness in fighting corruption, investigative journalism is one…
Posted in Uncategorized
When is an anti-corruption campaign not an anti-corruption campaign?
When does an anti-corruption campaign do enough to justify the claims made of its supporters? How, in other words, can we know that anti-corruption campaigns really are about tackling corruption? SCSC Director Dan Hough outlines how we might begin to…
Posted in Uncategorized
Don’t take norms for granted. The case of the USA’s ‘adieu’ to the EITI
In the first week of November the United States announced that it would cease to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), thus choosing to exit an international club that has spread the norm of transparency with considerable success. In…
Posted in Uncategorized
Lesotho government’s new-found political will is welcome, but can it solve endemic corruption?
One of the reasons a national budget speech is such an important occasion is that it reflects the mood, goals and priorities of the administration. A budget speech transforms political rhetoric and campaign promises into concrete policies that address practical…
Posted in Uncategorized
Data, Software and Talent: Turning Open Data into a useful Anti-Corruption Tool for Africa
For years, campaigners have lauded the benefits of transparency as a policy solution to corruption. That message was gradually refined as researchers noted that transparency was effective as an anti-corruption tool only if it led to increased accountability, and that…
Posted in Uncategorized
Revolving doors in Westminster? Forget that, they’ve blown the bloody doors off!
What do we know about the revolving doors in Westminster that we did not know a month ago? Well, for a start we have seen that for some this is a laughing matter: on 20 March, when an urgent question…
Posted in Uncategorized
Donald Trump’s ‘Winter White House’ and definitions of corruption
One of the challenges inherent in teaching courses on corruption and anti-corruption is defining precisely what the term means. And, this week saw me set out on my annual struggle to do exactly that. It’s one of the more tricky sessions…
Posted in Uncategorized
China’s anti-corruption drive. Small steps made in lots of different directions
How effective is Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive? If you believe the latest data published by anti-corruption NGO Transparency International then progress is indeed being made. But, it’s slow going. Trying to measure how much corruption exists is often a fool’s…
Posted in Uncategorized
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