Overcoming Systemic Corruption: Case Studies from Jamaica and Ukraine
Tue 26 Jan
|Webinar
Elizabeth David-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity, Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC), University of Sussex
Date & Location
26 Jan 2021, 16:00 – 17:00
Webinar
Description
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…