The Myths Within Anticorruption Policies

Abstract

Public corruption is and will continue to be a notable issue of governance. Outcomes of past reform initiatives suggest that corruption is unresponsive to simplistic anticorruption constructs. The assumptions that corruption is motivated only by financial considerations and that developing countries are corrupt primarily because they are poor are myths. The author examines the policy dynamics of the process of defining corruption in the International Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Act of 2000 and suggests that without a serious reconsideration of the nature of corruption, future anticorruption initiatives will be no more effective than current policies.