“Strategic Corruption”: Investigating the geostrategic dimensions of transnational corruption

Abstract

The denunciation by US foreign policy of an alleged “weaponization” of corruption by authoritarian countries like Russia and China as well as the latest “Qatar-gate” scandal in the European Parliament point to the emergence of “strategic corruption” as a new paradigm in international politics. Thus, the political and security dimensions of transnational corruption are receiving growing attention in foreign policy as well as academia. Yet, how exactly “strategic corruption” can be distinguished from other forms of transnational corruption and in how far it is specifically linked to authoritarian countries’ foreign policy strategy are questions that have remained very vague. Based on a broad working definition of strategic corruption as different forms of transnational corruption that are exploited not (only or primarily) for private enrichment but to pursue geostrategic goals, this panel seeks to advance the conceptual debate. This panel brings together conceptual as well as empirically oriented papers that investigate the geostrategic dimension of (anti-)corruption. They seek to distinguish “strategic” from other forms of corruption and specify its mechanisms; explore mechanisms of how strategic corruption works and how affected societies (such as notably Ukraine) are reacting to it; or ask how the rising framing (anti-)corruption as a security problem affects China’s global development policies and relations with countries in the Global South.

Title	Details
EU and NATO perspectives on cyber security issue	View Paper Details
Strategic corruption: conceptual deconstruction and theoretical development	View Paper Details
Strategic Corruption and Strategic Anti-Corruption: How are actors in the Global South dealing with US-China great power competition in the field?	View Paper Details