The need for professionalization in the fight against corruption is anchored in a number of international agreements and conventions, which do not only articulate a need for the specialisation of personnel; many of them also provide guidelines for trainings to combat corruption. While the role of norms in researching corruption is a recurring topic in the academic literature, even if it is being scrutinized by a number of scholars (see for example Kubbe/Engelbert, 2018), the role of trainings as a crucial practice of norm diffusion and norm consolidation has still been overlooked. In this paper, we explore different international basins of anti-corruption knowledge distribution and attempt to map out the fragmented cluster of actors providing anti-corruption trainings worldwide, with a special emphasis on those that target staff of international organisations, such as the United Nations (and their peacekeepers).
This examination of trainings by and for anti-corruption experts focuses not only on trainings as a way to understand the inner workings of how organisations adopt standards but also asks whether non-state actors, such as international consultancies and NGOs, have had an impact on the international landscape of anti-corruption.
In particular, we ask were these anti-corruption training providers come from, how they understand their role, and how they define their target audiences and goals. These aspects are of crucial importance, as a number of factors, such as the local/regional understanding of the concept of corruption, can be expected to affect the outcomes of trainings.
As the topic has not been the subject of much systematic investigation yet, it is hoped to contribute to a deeper understanding of the international anti-corruption field and the limits to the effectiveness of these measures.
Reference:
Kubbe, Ina / Engelbert, Annika (eds.) (2018): Corruption and Norms. Why Informal Rules Matter. Palgrave Macmillian
