“Corruption undermines Governments’ ability to act and serve their people. It siphons off the finance intended to reduce poverty and discourages investment in economies,” (Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP))
There is no doubt: the existence of corruption can poison the legitimacy of otherwise stable and secure governments. When the state itself is corrupt, how can it hope to encourage the rule of law among its citizens? Furthermore, corruption is directly linked to poverty and insecurity, and can severely stifle development in education and health. This syllabus on corruption and asset recovery aims to share some insight into the issue of corruption and efforts to combat it across the globe.
Recent Journal Articles
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The Application of Human Rights Law to Private Sector Complicity in Governmental Corruption Cecily Rose Leiden Journal of International Law Published Online August 5, 2011 |
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Fighting Corruption to Improve Global Security: An Analysis of International Asset Recovery Systems Mark V Vlasic and Jenaen N Noell Yale Journal of International Affairs Published Spring/Summer, 2011 |
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When Corruption Fights Back: Democracy and Elite Interest in Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption War Wale Adebanwi and Ebenezer Obadare The Journal of Modern African Studies Published Online April 26, 2011 |
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When Voter Loyalty Fails: Party Performance and Corruption in Bulgaria and Romania Mihail Chiru and Sergiu Gherghina European Political Science Review Published Online April 8, 2011 |
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Corruption, Development and the Curse of Natural Resources Shannon M Pendergast, Judith A Clarke and Cornelis Van Kooten Canadian Journal of Political Science Published Online June 29, 2011 |
Other Essays
| “Fast Cash: Recovering Stolen Assets” Mark V Vlasic and Gregory Cooper Americas Quarterly Fall, 2010 |
“A novel way to combat corruption: Who to punish” The Economist May 5 2011 |
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| “Corruption in Eastern Europe: From Bolshevism to Backhanders” Editorial The Economist April 14, 2011 |
“Going After Government Looters” Mathew Saltmarsh The New York Times June 11, 2010 |
New and Upcoming Books
| Corruption and the Misuse of Public Office (2nd ed.) Colin Nicholls QC, Timothy Daniel, Alan Bacarese, and John Hatchard; Oxford University Press 2011 Click here to read a review |
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| The Prosecution and Defense of Public Corruption Peter J Henning and Lee Radek; Oxford University Press 2011 Click here to read a review |
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| Confronting Corruption, Building Accountability Lloyd J Dumas, Janine R Wedel, and Greg Callman; Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 |
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| Corruption and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding Dominik Zaum and Christine Cheng (eds.); Routledge, 2011 Click here to read a review |
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| Corruption and Organized Crime in Europe Philip Gounev and Vincenzo Ruggiero; Routledge, 2012 |
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| Preventing Corruption in Asia Ting Gong and Stephen K Ma (eds.); Routledge, 2011 |
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Books being taught*
Controlling Corruption
Robert Klitgaard
University of California Press, 1998
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo
Michela Wrong
Perennial, 2002
Everyday Corruption and the State
Giorgio Blundo and Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardaan
Zed Books, 2006
How Russia Really Works: The Informal Practices that Shaped Post-Soviet policy and Business
Alena Ledeneva
Cornell University Press, 2006
*Selected from Professor Melissa Thomas’ course on Corruption in Developing Transitional Countries at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University, Washington DC, United States.
Classics
| Political Corruption Paul Heywood Blackwell 1997 |
Recovering Stolen Assets Mark Pieth Peter Lang, 2008 |
Official International Documents
United Nations Convention Against Corruption
African Union Convention on the Preventing and Combating of Corruption
The ISN’s own Digital Library contains further reading: