Overcoming Systemic Corruption: Case Studies from Jamaica and Ukraine

Overcoming Systemic Corruption: Case Studies from Jamaica and Ukraine

An ongoing debate in the study of corruption seeks to understand why anti-corruption reforms fail, particularly in contexts where corruption is systemic. Key recent contributions have explained failure with collective action theory, arguing that individuals are not motivated to pursue reform because they assume that others around them will continue to behave corruptly, meaning that they would incur individual costs without helping to bring about the change needed to reduce corruption (and hence being able to access the public good of improved governance). This paper turns the debate on its head, by examining two cases which have demonstrated considerable success in tackling systemic corruption – in the police in Jamaica and in medicines procurement in Ukraine – and seeking to understand the conditions which made change possible. These findings are then related back to collective action theory, to offer insights into how the collective action problem posed by systemic corruption can be overcome.

Elizabeth David-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity, Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC), University of Sussex

Liz David-Barrett is Professor of Governance and Integrity and Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex. Her main research interest is in behaviour at the interface of politics and business, both formal and informal. She works particularly on corruption risks arising in public procurement, lobbying and the revolving door, and on bribery in international business transactions. Liz engages widely with anti-corruption practitioners in governments, the private sector, and NGOs and in 2020 chaired the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group’s Academic Roundtable. She is currently a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Committee on Standards and also advises the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office on its International Anti-Corruption programme. Liz has a DPhil in Politics from Oxford, an MA in Slavonic and East European Studies from the University of London, and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Oxford).