1. EuropeAid
What is Corruption?
Dr Heather Marquette, University of Birmingham
European Commission Training Seminar: EC Support to Governance
in Partner Countries (Africa focus)
4-8 July 2011
2. What is corruption? EuropeAid
o Introduction
o Definitions
o Forms and typologies
o Causes and consequences
o Challenges in fighting corruption
3. Why worry EuropeAid
about corruption?
Cost of Corruption:
€ Decreases GDP by 1%/yr (UN)
€ Bribery alone = $1 trillion/yr
(World Bank)
€ 3-5% world GDP
(World Bank and IMF)
Corruption:
o wastes development resources
o major impediment to development (MDGs)
o in the ‘Age of Austerity’ less tolerated by donors and their
publics?
4. Definitions of corruption EuropeAid
o Defining corruption is complex because of ‘absence of a fixed
disciplinary allegiance’ (Williams, 1999)
o Definitions vary according to approaches, aims and needs of
analysts/policymakers
o How corruption is defined determines how it is viewed, the
policy approaches adopted and the legitimacy of policies
o Recognizing this complexity, the EC has acknowledged several
approaches to defining corruption
• Legal
• Socio-economic
• Anthropological
5. Legal approaches EuropeAid
to defining
corruption
o In very basic terms, if it is illegal, it is
corruption; if it is legal, it is not
o International conventions provide harmonised definitions of corruption-
related offences facilitating judicial cooperation between partner
countries
o National legal definitions for corruption-related offences vary, due to
different legal traditions and social norms
o Critiques?
• The powerful set the law
• Ignores offenses that may be legal but which society defines as
corrupt
• Facilitates a ‘tick box’ approach to anti-corruption; e.g., is there a
law against X? Tick! De jure may not mean de facto
• Cross-national comparisons difficult
6. Socio-economic approaches EuropeAid
to defining corruption
• Defines corruption as the result of individual rational decisions: e.g.
o ‘The abuse of public office for
private gains’ (World Bank)
o ‘The misuse of entrusted
power for private gain’ (TI)
• Has been famously expressed as the
formula C = M+D-A (Klitgaard 1988)
• Addresses the motivation for
corrupt acts (e.g. private gain) and the
nature of power (formal/informal
or public/private)
• Critiques?
o Focusing on individual’s motivation divorces him/her from their
community
o Assumes a shared understanding of ‘public office’
o Over-simplifies an inherently complex phenomenon
o May explain corruption but very poor at explaining integrity
7. Anthropological approaches EuropeAid
to defining corruption
• Concerned with the motivations, organisation of power, as well as
contexts where corrupt acts take place
• Considers corruption as both individual and collective phenomena
• The anthropological approach takes into account:
o Norms, rules, customs, and perception of corruption
o The importance of morality and trust issues
o Forms and organisation of powers
• Critiques?
o Too ‘academic’; difficult to translate into policy
o Ignores international norms; too context-specific
o May be used to justify an ‘anything goes’ approach
(Nb: Will be covered in more depth in the next session. Probably the least
understood/known of all approaches, with a great deal of potential to help
improve anti-corruption policy-making…despite critiques!)
8. Corruption: An EU Definition EuropeAid
• Corruption : ‘the abuse of power for private gain’ (EU, 2003)
• Broadest attempt to define the phenomenon, encompassing both the public
and private sector
• The EU acknowledges corruption’s complexity and the inadequacy of a single
definition
9. Typologies of corruption EuropeAid
• Bureaucratic versus Political
• Petty v Grand
• Need v Greed
• Active v Passive
• Incidental v Systemic
• Quiet Corruption
11. Causes of Corruption EuropeAid
• Low levels of economic development and high levels of poverty
• Unintended consequences of economic liberalisation
• Unintended consequences of Foreign Direct Investment
• Weak institutions
• Lack of accountability and
transparency
• Inequality
• Democracy (or a lack of
democracy!)
• Offshore banking, tax havens
and money laundering
• International organised crime
12. Consequences of Corruption EuropeAid
• Hampers economic growth and development
• Jeopardizes poverty reduction
• Increases cost of services, especially
for the poor
• Weakens democracy
• Contributes to conflict
• Reduces the effectiveness of aid
• Weakens public support for aid
…..Its not the war, it’s the
• Reduces trust in government and across
corruption… (Sri Lanka)
society
13. Challenges in fighting EuropeAid
corruption
• Universal assumptions have hampered anti-corruption efforts
• Corruption is a contextual phenomenon
• The ‘primacy’ of country context
makes a clear case for better/more
political economy analysis (PEA)
• International drivers of corruption
are poorly understood or even
acknowledged (language tends to
be very ‘national’)
• Assessing and monitoring
corruption is difficult, especially as the definitions used are often unclear or
assumed
• Fighting corruption is inherently destabilising and even dangerous!
o Definitions that bring in issues to do with power and politics make this
more clear
