The Politics of Anticorruption: Understanding the Condition Under Which Politicians Adopt Integrity Regulations

Corruption is a pervasive global challenge, undermining peace, justice and institutions, and, therefore, the fulfilment of SDG 16. It stems from the abuse of power, as those in positions of authority exploit their influence for personal or political gain. Power dynamics make it inherently challenging to incentivize politicians to combat corruption, as they are the ones in power. Efforts to fight corruption often clash with entrenched interests, as reform can threaten the power and privileges of those benefiting from the status quo. Experimental studies tell us that policymakers, even honest ones, have an aversion to imposing oversight and restrictions on themselves. Anticorruption and integrity regulations also have different degrees of robustness and success, despite the similarities of the solutions and instruments prescribed by international organizations. The literature suggests that scandals, policy diffusion and external pressure are the most prominent drivers for the adoption of these regulations, while lack of political will is said to be the reason for failure. However, these explanations don’t tell the entire story. It is necessary at the politics of anticorruption and understand under which conditions do politicians adopt anticorruption and integrity regulations aimed at changing their status quo and their conduct. This paper introduces an original and comprehensive database the specific conditions that surrounded the adoption of each integrity regulations aimed at political officials, namely party funding, conflict of interest and lobbying adopted by EU member states. The database includes the specific regulations as units of analysis and thirteen political and institutional indicators, namely the type of electoral system, the proximity of elections, the veto players in parliament and government, the presence of scandals, among others. The database aims at exploring the conditions and incentives policymakers face when adopting anticorruption regulations that impose restrictions on their own offices and conduct and, thus, contribute to the fulfilment of the targets of SDG16.