Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World
Contestation, Abuse, and Innovation
Published on 10. February 2026
304 pages
978-1-040-80353-0 (ISBN)
Description
As the United Nations Convention against Corruption celebrates 20 years, there could be a sense that anti-corruption discourses, policies, and practices are settling into a stable, consensus-driven phase. This edited volume argues they are not.
Bringing together perspectives from around the world, this book captures the turbulent contemporary practice of anti-corruption. It shows it to be an arena in which domestic and transnational politics play out, shaping outcomes in often unpredictable ways. The purpose and means of this policy field are disputed and reinterpreted. Populist and illiberal leaders hijack anti-corruption to target opponents, restrict media and civil society, or even legitimise authoritarian rule. However, new forms of collective action and technology are emerging to forge novel paths forward.
Through various chapters, ranging from Russia to Brazil and Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom, the book shines a light on the contestation and abuse of contemporary anti-corruption, as well as on the innovation emerging to tackle one of the world's most pressing problems. The book looks to the future to consider the anti-corruption we need to meet the challenges of a discordant world.
This book will be an essential read for students, researchers, professionals, and activists interested in how anti-corruption practice unfolds in a volatile age.
Bringing together perspectives from around the world, this book captures the turbulent contemporary practice of anti-corruption. It shows it to be an arena in which domestic and transnational politics play out, shaping outcomes in often unpredictable ways. The purpose and means of this policy field are disputed and reinterpreted. Populist and illiberal leaders hijack anti-corruption to target opponents, restrict media and civil society, or even legitimise authoritarian rule. However, new forms of collective action and technology are emerging to forge novel paths forward.
Through various chapters, ranging from Russia to Brazil and Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom, the book shines a light on the contestation and abuse of contemporary anti-corruption, as well as on the innovation emerging to tackle one of the world's most pressing problems. The book looks to the future to consider the anti-corruption we need to meet the challenges of a discordant world.
This book will be an essential read for students, researchers, professionals, and activists interested in how anti-corruption practice unfolds in a volatile age.
Reviews / Votes
"Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World offers a realist's perspective on global corruption, arguing against 'toolkits' and quick-fix reforms by showing that progress against corruption will entail prolonged contestation, clear understanding of how power is abused, and reform innovations rather than revisiting 'best practices' that may not be appropriate everywhere. The book arrives at the right time: if the US is stepping back from the fight against global corruption, these voices from many parts of the world deserve our close attention."Michael Johnston, Emeritus Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science, Colgate University, USA.
"This timely and incisive volume unpacks the messy realities of anti-corruption, posing urgent questions about who benefits from anti-corruption efforts and how new ideas emerge in adverse conditions. Essential reading for scholars and development professionals alike."
Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director at Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh.
"For the world to be a better place, the fight against corruption is a fight that must be sustained and won. Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World presents lucid and scholarly interrogations of the many faces of corruption and shows how to combat it."
Emmanuel Oladipo Ojo, Associate Professor at Ekiti State University, Nigeria.
"Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World is a timely volume moving away from prescriptive accounts of what anti-corruption is in an ideal world by looking at it as it is in a complex and messy world. This allows the readers to reflect on real-life problems through an illuminating conceptual frame. This book will surely contribute to better anti-corruption policies in their diverse contexts."
Mihaly Fazekas, Professor at Department of Public Policy at Central European University, Austria.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
5 Tables, black and white; 3 Line drawings, black and white; 1 Halftones, black and white; 4 Illustrations, black and white
File size
4,54 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-80353-0 (9781040803530)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
David Jackson | Inge Amundsen | David Aled Williams
Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World
Contestation, Abuse, and Innovation
Book
approx. 02/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€211.80
Not yet published
David Jackson | Inge Amundsen | David Aled Williams
Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World
Contestation, Abuse, and Innovation
Book
approx. 02/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€65.10
Not yet published
Persons
David Jackson is Principal Advisor at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway. He has published works in peer-reviewed academic journals, such as Development Studies, Public Integrity, and Southeastern and Black Sea Studies, and contributed chapters on future research agendas, social norms, and corruption in the Middle East to several edited volumes.
Inge Amundsen is Senior Researcher Emeritus at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway. He was Director of the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre from 2002 to 2006, and he has edited a book on the topic of political corruption in Africa.
David Aled Williams is Principal Advisor at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre and Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway. He coordinates U4's thematic work on Corruption and Anti-Corruption Efforts in Natural Resources and Energy Sectors. He is author of The Politics of Deforestation and REDD+ in Indonesia: Global Climate Change Mitigation, published by Routledge (2023).
Inge Amundsen is Senior Researcher Emeritus at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway. He was Director of the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre from 2002 to 2006, and he has edited a book on the topic of political corruption in Africa.
David Aled Williams is Principal Advisor at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre and Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway. He coordinates U4's thematic work on Corruption and Anti-Corruption Efforts in Natural Resources and Energy Sectors. He is author of The Politics of Deforestation and REDD+ in Indonesia: Global Climate Change Mitigation, published by Routledge (2023).
Content
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World: Contestation, Abuse, and Innovation PART II: CONTESTATION 2. Populism, Discourse, and Change: Anti-Corruption Policies in Mexico 3. Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Post-Brexit Britain 4. Ten years later, it's no more: unravelling the threads of all-out contestation to Operation Car Wash (Brazil) 5. Adapting anti-corruption to a discordant world: the missed opportunity of monitoring, evaluation and learning PART III: ABUSE 6. Democracy Deferred: The Executive Presidential System and the Battle Against Corruption in Sri Lanka 7. Are We All Thieves? Countering the State's Strategic Absence with Superficial Anti-Corruption Measures in Mongolia's Coal-Gate 8. "All the King's Men": Selectivity in the Russian Anti-Corruption Reforms PART IV: INNOVATION 9. Civil Society in an Adverse Environment: Transparency International Bangladesh 10. Anti-Corruption with a human rights lens: Latin American experiences of innovation amid contestation 11. Strengthening Anti-Corruption through Translocal Approaches: Nurturing more Resilient Forms of Collective Action 12. AI to innovate anti-corruption: Exploring development models for governmental and non-governmental applications PART V: CONCLUSION 13. Anti-corruption in a Discordant World: Reflections and Conclusions
