Advancing Human Security
On behalf of the Corruption, Justice and Legitimacy (CJL) team at The Fletcher School, we wish all of our subscribers a wonderful 2020. Part of the fun of the New Year is looking back on what has transpired in the past 12 months, so that is exactly what our team has done with the Corruption in Fragile States blog.
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On International Anti-Corruption Day, Elizabeth Robinson discusses the importance of a social and behavioral change communication approach in combatting corruption.
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Getting past the ‘all things that are normal are norms’ is critical to accurately diagnosing the social norms that do drive a corrupt pattern of behavior (e.g. bribery, sextortion), which in turn is necessary to devise effective strategies. This post offers up four ‘lessons’ to remember when differentiating between what is normal and social norm driven behavior.
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Jane Ellis, editor of the book “Corruption, Social Sciences and the Law: Exploration Across Disciplines” says focusing on the supply side of corruption is a blunt instrument as it ignores the reasons why and/or the circumstances in which corruption in some countries may occur. Here, she argues for a multidisciplinary & collaborative approach to these issues.
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Did you know … … that social norms can act as the brake to sustainable behavior change? … that social
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By Phyllis Dininio. Transnational organized crime has expanded dramatically in size and scope in the 21st century and now poses threats to security, politics, commerce and communities. Countering it effectively is not just a job for law enforcement. Policymakers and practitioners need to pull their weight to enable effective responses. This blog post offers a snapshot of what works to counter transnational organized crime based on expert remarks presented at a series of USAID-hosted roundtable discussions on rule of law and organized crime.
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By Diana Chigas and Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church. We were asked to identify the top challenges and “good practices” for developing countries in preventing and combating corruption for the June 2019 edition of Multiples, a Just Governance Group publication. As developing countries, and especially fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) face many challenges to preventing and reducing corruption, we felt a somewhat longer version of our original response was a worthy endeavor.
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By Hope Schaitkin. Research tells us that that corruption-mainstreaming amplifies the impact of our development programming, and helps us avoid unwittingly contributing to or encouraging corrupt behavior. But why hasn’t corruption-mainstreaming gained the same ground as conflict sensitivity or gender within development organizations and programming? Read on to learn about three entry points for mainstreaming corruption in your organization’s development programming – from the perspective of a young development professional.
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By Mark Pyman. In countries enduring high levels of corruption, whether related to conflict or instability, it is easy to see endemic corruption as something overarching, requiring similarly broad reform strategies. However, my experience in Afghanistan suggests the opposite; anti-corruption strategies need to be tailored to the specific enablers and drivers of each particular sector.
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By Diana Chigas and Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church. Those of us who work to stop abuse of power – in the form of corruption, criminal activity, violence, state capture, etc. – are increasingly recognizing that social norms are key to achieving sustainable behavior change. We assert that in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) social norms — the mutual expectations about what is typical and appropriate for members of a group — are even more important. Given their critical role in driving behavioral choices, programming that ignores social norms can have serious negative consequences.
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