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Anti-corruption policy making in practice: What can be learned for implementing Article 5 of UNCAC?

Fighting corruption is a challenge in any context, because corruption has many faces and can occur in different forms across all sectors and institutions of a country. The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) recognises this and calls, among others, for "effective, coordinated anti-corruption policies" (Article 5) to address the problem strategically. This report explores what form such an approach could take, and examines in depth how national anti-corruption policies or strategies have come into being in six countries: Georgia, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Tanzania and Zambia. From a public policy perspective the authors look specifically at the catalysts and driving forces, how reforms were selected, prioritised and implemented, and finally, what role development partners played in the overall process.

The country studies show that the political response to perceived widespread corruption in those countries often consisted in the development of a broad national anti-corruption policy or strategy. Nevertheless, this approach has not been overly successful for a variety of reasons, ranging from unrealistic planning and the lack of prioritising reforms, to serious shortcomings in the implementation arrangements, and the absence of vital political agreements for effective reforms.

The report argues that explicit anti-corruption policies and strategies are not necessarily the most suitable and certainly not the only way to implement Article 5 of UNCAC, and goes on to discuss other options for coordinated anti-corruption policies. The report also points to the need of pursuing anti-corruption work with effective and modest targets instead of ambitious but unfeasible promises.

1 January 2007
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Anti-corruption policy making in practice: What can be learned for implementing Article 5 of UNCAC?

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Hussmann, K. (2007) Anti-corruption policy making in practice: What can be learned for implementing Article 5 of UNCAC? Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Report 2007:1) 237 p.

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About the author

Karen Hussmann

Karen Hussmann is a public policy expert with extensive experience in governance, anti-corruption issues, health-sector integrity, and fragile states. Her experience includes having been the director of an EU financed anti-corruption programme in Colombia, senior consultant for the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre and the EUROsociAL II Programme in Latin America, and accountability expert with UNDP in Afghanistan. She has also worked many years with Transparency International. She is currently an independent consultant conducting applied policy research and working with partners on policy development and implementation of anti-corruption standards. She teaches the U4 online courses Essentials of anti-corruption and Corruption risk management.

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All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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