Call for chapters
Routledge Handbook of Anti-Corruption Research and Practice
Editors: Joseph Pozsgai-Alvarez (Osaka University) & Roxana Bratu (University of Sussex)
We are opening the call for chapters from experts interested in contributing to the upcoming edited volume Routledge Handbook of Anti-Corruption Research and Practice.
Selected submissions will focus on at least one of seven themes listed below, framed within the study and/or practical engagement with anti-corruption efforts (as opposed to the focus on corruption alone).
Submissions must fall into one or more of the following themes:
- Regulatory framework: The first theme deals with policy adoption, implementation, and enforcement originated in the public sector, including legal innovations. Some of the questions found here include: what drives the selection of anti-corruption strategies? What is the rate of success of different anti-corruption policies? How do aid donors in the field define ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in relationship to anti-corruption? How is anti-corruption adopted in countries affected by high levels of political corruption?
- Compliance: The second theme deals with administrative systems in the private sector designed to prevent and control corruption. Some of the questions found here include: what industries are at the forefront of innovation in anti-corruption compliance? What conditions increase the risk of compliance failures? How do different anti-corruption strategies impact the performance of business organizations?
- Activism and mobilization: The third theme deals with civil society initiatives to hold leaders accountable and bring about reform. Some of the questions found here include: how do anti-corruption movements emerge? What conditions increase their degree of impact on government reform? How do international networks and public support impact their outlook and performance? How do state actors, private sector and civil society actors interact in bottom-up mobilization campaigns?
- Integrity development: The fourth theme deals with activities and programs developed in the public and private sectors to foster, develop, and support higher standards of professional conduct. Some of the questions found here include: are there important differences in the ethical performance of public and private employees? What is the impact of compliance systems on the moral commitments of employees? Do national values influence an organization’s ethical culture?
- Ethics and norms: The fifth theme deals with the informal norms, moral constraints, and environmental conditions that influence the ethical decision-making of groups and individuals. Some of the questions found here include: Are public campaigns effective in changing people’s ethical preferences? Does religion increase the rejection of corruption among citizens? Can anti-corruption be included in the formal education of children?
- Instrumentalization: The sixth theme deals with the capture of the anti-corruption agenda and the abuse of anti-corruption activities to pursue objectives unrelated to the prevention or control of corruption. Some of the questions found here include: how are the targets of foreign bribery investigations/prosecutions selected? Are anti-corruption movements susceptible to political capture? Do anti-corruption pledges and compliance certification respond to concerns for reputation or a truly ethical stance?
- Anti-corruption narratives: The seventh theme deals with the use of anti-corruption rhetoric to frame political action. Some of the questions found here include: how do official texts frame anti-corruption in various spaces/contexts? How do anti-establishment political leaders use anti-corruption narratives? What is the impact of social media for anti-corruption?
About this edited volume
While the focus on corruption often highlights its nature, causes, consequences, and manifestations, the connection between the extent of the problem and its potential solutions is not always clear. Although there is much more we know today about corruption than we did three decades ago, the ideas, tools, and strategies commonly offered to reformers and activists have not changed much over the past two decades. There is limited knowledge currently available about what works and what does not; and a growing appreciation of the magnitude of the problem once corruption is scrutinized with the wider spectacles of policy reform, where the myriad factors of political, economic, and social reality become equally relevant.
This handbook will build on what is already known about corruption from a variety of academic approaches (such as economics, political science, organizational studies, anthropology, psychology, etc.) to focus on the other side of the question—that is, on the processes, conditions, impacts, and typologies of activity that hold the potential to control corruption. The volume will adopt a holistic approach to reflect the rich nature of anti-corruption, both as it has been and currently is, and the possible shapes it may still take in the future. Given the breadth of the subject, the approach adopted is therefore multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and as comprehensive as the limits of current knowledge allow.
About the editors
Joseph Pozsgai-Alvarez is Associate Professor of Political and Global Studies at the School of Human Sciences of Osaka University. He previously held the position of Assistant Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) of Kyoto University from 2018 to 2021. His research activities focus on public corruption, ethical decision-making, political reform, and anti-corruption institutions. He is the editor of The Politics of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Latin America, published by Routledge in 2021, and has a number of peer-reviewed papers published in journals such as Crime, Law and Social Change, and others.
Roxana Bratu is Lecturer in Corruption Analysis at the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex. She held several visiting fellowships at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford (as an OSI/FCO Chevening Scholar) and LSE Mannheim Centre for Criminology, UK. Roxana currently works on issues related to corruption and good governance in relation to new technologies, integrity and anti-corruption practices. Her first monograph, Corruption, Informality and Entrepreneurship in Romania, was published in 2018 with Palgrave. She co-edited the special issue Innovation in Corruption Studies (Slavonic & East European Review, 2017).
Submission
Interested contributors are invited to send a 500-word chapter proposal (in English) as a Word file to jpozsgai@hus.osaka-u.ac.jp and R.Bratu@sussex.ac.uk.
The proposal should include:
- author(s) name(s)
- affiliation(s)
- e-mail address(es)
- short bio(s) (max. 100 words).
Please follow the style:
- Times New Roman
- 12 pts
- 1.5 line spacing
- Chicago reference
You can also send any inquiries to jpozsgai@hus.osaka-u.ac.jp and/or R.Bratu@sussex.ac.uk.
Timeline
- 1 April 2022: deadline for proposal submissions
- 15 April 2022: decision on selected submissions
- 10 July 2022: deadline for full manuscript drafts (max. 7000 words including bibliography)
- Late-2023: expected publication