Corruption, Anti-Corruption and the Challenges of Reform

In recent years the challenge of fighting corruption has risen up both national and international agendas. The majority of governments now (at least claim to) take the fight against corruption seriously. And yet corruption related problems are not dissipating. Indeed, in many states a plausible case can be made that corruption is becoming more not less of a problem. This paper analyses why the rise in prominence of an 'anti-corruption' agenda has, at first glance at least, not had the effect hoped of it. It argues that (at times substantial) differences in understanding exactly what ?the problem? is are coupled with mis-understandings about precisely which anti-corruption measures are likely to be successful. It concludes by offering ways out of this dilemma, both in terms of practical policy and also future research agendas.