New Directions in Corruption and Anti-Corruption Research: Insights from Three Major European Projects

Abstract

Presenters: Alice Mattoni – University of Bologna Todor Galev – Center for the Study of Democracy Emanuela Ceva – University of Geneva Moderator: Ilona Wysmułek – Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences This seminar brings together leading researchers from three major ongoing European research projects on corruption and anti-corruption: RESPOND – Rescuing Democracy from Political Corruption in Digital Societies, presented by Alice Mattoni; BRIDGEGAP – Bridging the Gaps in Evidence, Regulation and Impact of Anticorruption Policies, presented by Todor Galev; and The Margins of Corruption, presented by Emanuela Ceva. Through three short presentations, the seminar will introduce the projects’ central questions, conceptual approaches and emerging research agendas. Taken together, the projects offer complementary perspectives on how corruption is understood, experienced, contested and addressed across different institutional, political and societal contexts. The seminar will provide an opportunity to discuss new directions in corruption and anti-corruption research, as well as points of connection across these large-scale research programmes. Presentation 1: Alice Mattoni – RESPOND RESPOND is a Horizon Europe project examining political corruption, including political finance, lobbying, revolving doors and personal ties, and media capture, as well as how corruption is socially constructed and intertwined with digital technologies. This talk focuses on the role of data in grassroots anti-corruption and pro-integrity initiatives. Drawing on interviews with activists, journalists and civic tech practitioners in different countries, it explores emerging data-related practices such as making open data usable, supporting whistleblowers as data producers, monitoring public and electoral spending, and using AI for first-level analysis. The presentation also considers challenges including gaps in data quality, legal constraints, limited resources and tools that are not always designed with users’ needs in mind, while exploring the potential of these practices to strengthen transparency, accountability and democratic participation. Presentation 2: Todor Galev – BRIDGEGAP BRIDGEGAP is a Horizon research project building on the previous EU-funded ANTICORRP project. Its mission is to develop new scientific evidence to support corruption deterrence and empower reformers, civil society and the press to prevent abuses of power for personal, group or network gain. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding corruption, expanding knowledge and data on political corruption and other forms of undue influence, while exploring the use of modern technologies to detect, prevent and fight corruption. BRIDGEGAP also continues to develop objective measurements of corruption through public databases, including data covering more than 140 countries. Presentation 3: Emanuela Ceva – The Margins of Corruption The ERC/SNSF-funded project *The Margins of Corruption* examines whether corruption can be understood as a deficit of office accountability when moving beyond its core within democratic public institutions to its margins. It explores corruption in hybrid regimes, as well as dysfunctions within non-profit organisations and business corporations. Using the method of conceptual engineering, the project reassesses how corruption can be conceptualised across these different institutional contexts. The project also led to the establishment of the Geneva Research Centre for Corruption Studies in 2025, providing a dedicated centre for research on corruption and its conceptual and institutional dimensions.