KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast

This episode of Kickback features Dr. Mario Hidalgo, from the Transparency and Anti-Corruption Laboratory at UTE university in Ecuador, to shed light on Ecuador's transition from the "Island of Peace" to a country facing widespread organised crime and violence, highlighting the significantly enabling role of corruption. The conversation also touches upon Ecuador's institutional unpreparedness, political polarisation, and the weaponization of corruption during the recent presidential elections. Learn more about Mario's important work here: https://ute.edu.ec/laboratorio-de-transparencia-y-anticorrupcion/

For this episode, regular host Liz David-Barrett is joined by Dr Daniel Paget, an assistant professor in politics at the University of Sussex, to unpack the nuances of electoral authoritarianism in Tanzania, the aspirations of a key opposition movement, and the power of alternative theoretical frameworks for understanding the fight against domination and for democracy. Find Daniel's paper 'The Anti-Authoritarian Populisms: Ideologies of Democratic Struggle in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Worldwide' (2024) here: https://www.danpaget.com/recent-publication and ‘A people power philosophy: republican ideology in opposition in Tanzania.’ (2023) here: https://www-tandfonline-com.sussex.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2022.2150759 DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded several days before the arrest of Tundu Lissu.

For this episode Dr Marianne Camerer, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, and Devi Pillay, a research fellow with the GI-ACE programme, join regular KB host Liz David-Barrett to discuss the experience of state capture in South Africa, under the presidency of Jacob Zuma. Check out the following resources to learn more about the issues discussed in this episode: The Open Secrets website which houses the Civil Society Working Group Against State Capture https://www.opensecrets.org.za/civil-society-working-group-on-state-capture/ The State Capture Commission website https://www.statecapture.org.za/ The Public Protector’s 2016 report https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/state-capture-report-public-protector-14-october-2016 A short summary written by Devi of the Commission and its findings https://pari.org.za/summary-the-state-capture-commission And the book "State Capture in South Africa: How and why it happened", edited by Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale https://pari.org.za/new-book-state-capture-in-south-africa-how-and-why-it-happened/

This episode features a discussion between regular KB host Liz David-Barrett, and Kevin E. Davis, the Beller Family Professor of Business Law at NYU School of Law. Their conversation centres on the international regulation of bribery and corruption, specifically focusing on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), following President Trump's recent suspension of its enforcement. The episode explores the potential implications for U.S. companies, foreign entities, and international anti-corruption efforts. Read Kevin's recent blog post on this issue here: https://wp.nyu.edu/compliance_enforcement/2025/02/21/implications-of-pausing-fcpa-enforcement/ And his paper on international regulation here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4506000

For this episode of KickBack, we are joined by Gary Kalman, who is the Executive Director of Transparency International United States and Blair Glencorse, the Founder and co-CEO of Accountability Lab. They join Liz Dávid-Barrett to dissect the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to US aid and its implications for anti-corruption efforts worldwide. https://us.transparency.org/ https://accountabilitylab.org/ Learn more about Accountability Lab and Development Gateway's Strategic Partnerships system here: https://accountlab.typeform.com/merge?typeform-source=www.linkedin.com

This episode dives into the shadowy world of illicit financial networks with Dr Dan Haberly, whose research with the GI ACE program addresses significant knowledge gaps around the opaque structures of the global economy. Dan introduces the Regulation of Illicit Financial Flows (RIFF) dataset, which aims to track regulatory progress in financial transparency. The discussion examines the geographical reorganisation and persistence of illicit networks and the role of various jurisdictions in facilitating illicit finance. Learn more about Dan and GI ACE's ground-breaking research here: https://giace.org/resources/from-secrecy-to-scrutiny-a-new-map-of-illicit-global-financial-networks-and-regulation/ https://giace.org/resources/the-regulation-of-illicit-financial-flows-riff-dataset/

For this episode we are joined by John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec and Tom Mayne to discuss their new book Indulging Kleptocracy: British Service Providers, Postcommunist Elites, and the Enabling of Corruption. This conversation focuses on professional enablers that provide services to help kleptocrats to launder their reputations, move their money, and gain access to political influence. John Tena and Tom argue that professional enabling is a systemic problem that is facilitated by the concentration of financial and legal expertise in the private sector, and the willingness of professionals to turn a blind eye to the origins of their clients' wealth. They discuss the challenges of regulating professional enabling and offer advice for researchers working in this area. The episode discusses the new book Indulging Kleptocracy, which partly draws on research funded by the GI ACE programme. GI ACE generates actionable evidence that policymakers, practitioners and advocates can use to design and implement more effective anti-corruption initiatives. This project was funded by UK Aid from the UK government. The views expressed in the book do not necessarily reflect the UK Government’s official policies. Find John Tena and Tom's new book here: https://academic.oup.com/book/58173 Similar themes relating to kleptocracy can be found in Kickback episode 66, with Casey Michel, and episode 111 with Tom Burgis.

Leading anticorruption expert and former Transparency International Chair, Dr. Delia Ferreira Rubio joins host Liz David Barrett to discuss the evolution of the global anti-corruption movement. Drawing on 40+ years of experience, Delia explores how civil society's role has evolved beyond advocacy to direct action, examines the increasing sophistication of corruption in the digital age, and highlights the importance of cross-sector collaboration in fighting corruption.

This week Liz David-Barrett is joined by expert researchers Monika Bauhr and Marcia Grimes from the Quality of Government Institute, where they conduct and promote research on the causes, consequences and nature of Good Governance. This episode addresses the multifaceted nature of corruption and the challenges of promoting accountability in democratic systems. Monika and Marcia cover a range of topics, including the implications of transparency as an accountability mechanism, the role of elites in maintaining the status quo, and the relationship between women's representation and corruption reduction. The discussion acknowledges the challenges in measuring corruption, while highlighting innovative methodological approaches that challenge simplistic assumptions, to better understand the dynamics between democracy and corruption. Learn more about the Quality of Government Institute here: https://www.gu.se/en/quality-government And find some of Monika and Marcia's related publications here: Bauhr, M., & Grimes, M. (2014). Indignation or Resignation: The Implications of Transparency for Societal Accountability. Governance, 27(2), 291–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12033 Bauhr, Monika and Marcia Grimes. 2021. “Democracy and Quality of Government” in Bauhr, Monika, Andreas Bågenholm, Marcia Grimes and Bo Rothstein (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Quality of Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/33431 Bauhr, M., & Charron, N. (2018). Insider or Outsider? Grand Corruption and Electoral Accountability. Comparative Political Studies, 51(4), 415–446. https://doi.org/10.1177/001041401771025 Bauhr, M., Charron, N., & Wängnerud, L. (2024a). What candidate will fight corruption? Gender and anti-corruption stereotypes across European countries. European Political Science Review, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773924000134 Bauhr, M., Charron, N., & Wängnerud, L. (2024b). Will Women’s Representation Reduce Bribery? Trends in Corruption and Public Service Delivery Across European Regions. Political Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-024-09925-x % year impact factor Cornell, A., & Grimes, M. (2023). Brokering Bureaucrats: How Bureaucrats and Civil Society Facilitate Clientelism Where Parties are Weak. Comparative Political Studies, 56(6), 788-823. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140221115171 Larsson, F., & Grimes, M. (2023). Societal Accountability and Grand Corruption: How Institutions Shape Citizens’ Efforts to Shape Institutions. Political Studies, 71(4), 1321-1346. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217211067134

This week, Dr. Florencia Guerzovich, Independent Researcher and Evaluator, and Tom Shipley, Research Fellow for the Governance & Integrity, Anti-Corruption Evidence programme at the CSC, explore whether the corruption field has a learning problem. Against the backdrop of debates around 'success' and 'failure' in anti-corruption, they talk to Professor Robert Barrington about approaches to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL). The discussion covers the basics of what MEL is and the role it has to play in building knowledge on anti-corruption effectiveness; the current state of practice for MEL; what can be learnt from other sectors; and what changes might be needed to shift towards more adaptable, learning-focused approaches. Find Tom’s paper on this topic for U4 here: https://www.u4.no/publications/evaluating-anti-corruption-interventions-the-state-of-practice And the paper discussed by Florencia on social accountability here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4606929

How can the renewable energy sector learn from the corruption risks that have plagued the extractive industries for decades to ensure a just energy transition? Mark Robinson, Executive Director of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and Maja de Vibe, the Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Statkraft discuss their new working paper ‘Good governance and the just transition: Implications for renewable energy companies’, published by the Basel Institute. Mark and Maja discuss the critical corruption and governance risks facing the renewables sector; the commonalities and differences in risk between this sector and extractives corruption; and what role collective action and multi-stakeholder engagement could play in the governance of the sector in the future. You can find their paper here: https://baselgovernance.org/publications/wp-53

Dan Hough, Prof. of Politics at the University of Sussex, and founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption, discusses his new book Foul Play: Tackling Football’s Integrity Problem. Dan builds on analytical frameworks from the corruption and governance fields to analyse the integrity challenges facing the beautiful game, on and off the pitch. Dan examines football as an important social institution and makes connections to broader debates about how to encourage integrity. You can find Dan's new book here: https://agendapub.com/page/detail/foul-play/?k=9781788217637

Professor David Jancsics (San Diego State University) discusses his research on the sociology of corruption. Drawing on sociological and other theoretical insights, he proposes a new typology of corruption with two cross-cutting dimensions (the type of resource transfer and the client) and four types: market corruption, social bribe, corrupt organisation and state capture. The discussion also covers state capture in Hungary as well as David's research on corruption at borders. Here is a link to David's new book - https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501774324/sociology-of-corruption/#bookTabs=1

Many anti-corruption initiatives disseminate messages about corruption and its harms but how can these messages be framed to ensure they are effective? To explore this and related questions Caryn Peiffer (Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Bristol) and Nic Cheeseman (Professor of Democracy and International Development at the University of Birmingham) join us on the podcast to discuss their research. They share research findings which challenge some of the assumptions widely held about the benefits of anti-corruption messaging campaigns. The episode is also full of practical guidance for practitioners, with Caryn and Nic encouraging all involved in these campaigns to think carefully about how they tailor and target their messages. The main paper discussed by Caryn and Nic can be found here: https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/3b71Cl7MzHYWMNJuGfoCzYaB6?domain=cipe.org/

The U.S. Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) is a groundbreaking piece of anti-corruption legislation which makes it a crime for any foreign official to demand or accept a bribe from an American or American company, or from any person while in the territory of the United States. Our two guests, Tom Firestone, Partner at Squire, Patton and Boggs, and Scott Greytak, Director of Advocacy at Transparency International US, played a critical role in getting the act into law. In the episode, they speak to Liz Dávid-Barrett (Centre for the Study of Corruption) about the scope of the act and how it relates to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The three also debate some of the likely challenges around enforcing FEPA as well as the effect the law may have on enforcement efforts by other countries. For more background on the act, here is a helpful explainer written by Scott - https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/us-foreign-extortion-prevention-fight-against-global-corruption

This episode unpacks the problem of sexual corruption and how to design effective policy responses to it. Our two guests are Associate Professor of Public Policy, Anna Petherick, who is based at the Blavatnik School of Government, University Oxford, and is also the Director of the Lemann Foundation Programme at the school, and Dr. Ortrun Merkle, Research Fellow at United Nations University-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute. Anna and Ortrun are specialists in this topic and also work on the broader theme of gender and corruption. They talk through how the literature has evolved over the last two decades and particularly debates on conceptualizing the problem of sexual corruption. Both also provide useful guidance on how to research these extremely sensitive issues and offer their thoughts on the policy responses available. Here are some links to writing on this topic by Anna, Ortrun and others if you are looking for further reading. The Chandler Papers: Sexual Corruption, (by Anna, Monika Bauhr and Bolaji Owasanoye) -https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/chandler-papers-sexual-corruption A gender perspective on corruption encountered during forced and irregular migration (by Ortrun, Julia Reinold and Melissa Siegel) - https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/giz2017_eng_Gender-perspective-on-corruption-encountered-during-migration.pdf Sexual corruption is abuse of power - and there's more to it than 'sextortion' alone (by Elin Bjarnegård, Dolores Calvo, Åsa Eldén and Silje Lundgren) - https://www.u4.no/blog/sexual-corruption-is-abuse-of-power-and-theres-more-to-it-than-sextortion-alone Bribe to survive: sextortion and LGBTQ discrimination (by Victoria Abut) - https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2022/06/13/bribe-to-survive-sextortion-and-lgbtq-discrimination/

Professor Lucio Picci (University of Bologna) speaks to Professor Liz Dávid-Barrett (Centre for the Study of Corruption) about his recent work on rethinking the current anti-corruption paradigm. Lucio argues for the field to pay more attention to potential 'side effects' from anti-corruption discourse, particularly when this agenda is hijacked by populists to support political goals. Lucio uses cases from Brazil, Russia and the United States to illustrate his points. The conversation also takes in Lucio's early work on measurement, including bribery by firms and corruption at subnational level. Here is a link to Lucio's new book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/rethinking-corruption/7556EA509B03B16334D5962113889FF6 And the article discussed on corruption in the management of public works authored with Miriam Golden: https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/1845422422.00026.xml

Emmanuel Mathias, Head of the Governance and Anti-Corruption Division at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), speaks to Prof. Liz Dávid-Barrett (Centre for the Study of Corruption). He discusses the main pillars of the IMF's 2018 Framework for Enhanced Engagement on Governance, providing insights on how the fund approaches its anti-corruption work. The framework can be found here: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2018/04/20/pp030918-review-of-1997-guidance-note-on-governance And the review discussed by Emmanuel can be found here: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2023/04/11/Review-of-Implementation-of-The-2018-Framework-for-Enhanced-Fund-Engagement-on-Governance-532166?cid=pr-com-PPEA2023015

In this latest chapter on state capture, Ketakandriana Rafitoson (Vice-Chair, Transparency International; Executive Director of Transparency International Initiative Madagascar) outlines how this problem manifests in Madagascar and the harms caused. She speaks to Tom Shipley (Researcher, Centre for the Study of Corruption) about how state capture has unfolded in key sectors, including in the exploitation of natural resources, and the role that international firms and states have played. Ketakandriana also describes the innovative approaches civil society have taken to fighting back against networks of corrupt actors. Further information on the case in the lychee sector mentioned by Ketakandriana can be found here, https://www.transparency.mg/telechargements/assainir-la-gouvernance-de-la-filiere-litchi-afin-den-exploiter-pleinement-le-potentiel/ The report on international enablers, 'loophole masters' can be found here, https://www.transparency.org/en/publications/loophole-masters

John Penrose MP, the former UK government Anti-Corruption Champion (2017 - 2022), joins us for this episode. He speaks to Professor Robert Barrington (Centre for the Study of Corruption) about the lessons learnt from his time in the role. This includes taking us behind the scenes to understand what the role of the government Anti-Corruption Champion entails. John also discusses the major developments and drivers behind UK anti-corruption policy during this period as well as some of the key moments, including his decision to stand down from the role during Boris Johnson's administration. John and Robert finally look to the future to consider what the UK's anti-corruption infrastructure could and should look like in the years to come.