Corruption and Anti-Corruption Reforms in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries

Abstract

Fragile and conflict-affected countries typically rank among the most corrupt countries in international corruption indicators. Studies have shown that corruption negatively affects economic development, distorts policy implementation, renders public service provision inefficient, undermines public trust in state institutions and therefore jeopardises the stability and resilience of states to avoid violent conflict. This recognition of corruption as a severe impediment to peacebuilding and statebuilding processes made it a top ranking topic on international and national policy agendas. There tends to be a broad consensus about these negative effects of corruption among scholars and practitioners. However, a range of different anti-corruption approaches and reforms are proposed for fragile and conflict-affected countries. While some scholars argue that systemic corruption can only be overcome by a “big bang approach”, others argue for a more gradual approach where corruption can also “buy peace” in the short term. This panel includes papers contributing to the discourse on the effects of corruption and anti-corruption reforms in fragile and conflict-affected countries. The overarching question is How do corruption and anti-corruption reforms impact processes of peacebuilding and statebuilding? The papers of the panel address this and related questions in normative theoretical as well as empirical (comparative or case study) ways.

Title	Details
Faking Good Governance: How elite bargains trump anti-corruption policies in Sierra Leone	View Paper Details
Forms of corruption in the context of United Nations Peacekeeping	View Paper Details
An Empirical Study of Local Security in Afghanistan	View Paper Details
Small is Beautiful? The Effects of International Peace Missions on Corruption	View Paper Details
Do Anti-Corruption Agencies Improve the Legitimacy of a Conflict-Affected State?	View Paper Details