Successfully tackling corruption is more than catching greedy public servants and politicians, miscreants and manipulators. It involves government at the highest level advancing a culture of integrity and setting up institutions that celebrate and facilitate good governance – in addition to catching the bad guys. The latest Corruption Perceptions Index – an annual survey from Transparency International that tracks how corrupt governments are perceived to be – shows Australia still has a way to go on this front. Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Singapore came out on top in the latest s ..read more

Democracy refers, at a minimum, to a political system that guarantees some involvement in decision-making. It gives citizens opportunities to choose and replace their leaders or representatives via free and fair elections. But that’s not all. Democracy also protects citizens’ socio-economic, political and cultural rights. Its success turns on its ability to bring changes to the living conditions of citizens. It is a form of governance that holds this truth: that the people are what matters most. In a paper I co-authored, we used these defining features to assess the state of democracy in Niger ..read more

Canada’s enforcement of laws against foreign bribery is weak, according to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A working group from the OECD has found that, in the nearly 25 years since Canada passed the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act and signed onto the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, only two people have been convicted of foreign bribery and four companies have been sanctioned. Corruption is a serious issue and a very costly threat to Canada’s foreign trade and international reputation. Although there are no reliable statistics on ..read more

Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic, is about to choose its next president. On 10 October, 46 political parties and 20 presidential candidates will compete for two million registered votes at 5,000 polling stations in 15 counties. But whoever wins will confront a polarised Liberia. Liberia is more divided than it has been since the end of its 14-year civil war in 2003. The war ended with the signing of a peace agreement, but its scars are still visible across the country. Frustration around the soaring cost of living, cronyism, patronage, nepotism, and the culture of impunity which triggered the ..read more

This week, Victoria’s Independent Broad-Based Anti-corruption Commission (known as IBAC) issued a finding of “improper influence” on a public contract issued by the Victorian government in 2018. IBAC did not find any “corrupt conduct” under the IBAC Act and no minister was directly involved. On this basis, it might be possible to dismiss this report as the regrettable result of a complex governmental apparatus. After all, this was a small contract in the grand scheme of Victorian state spending, and you might think the news cycle should move on to focus on more important issues. But this repor ..read more

The High Court in Accra, Ghana's capital. Strengthening the judiciary would ensure a better democratic outcome. MyLoupe/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Does democracy breed corruption – particularly in developing countries? There are strong advocates of the theory. And strong detractors. Some studies conclude that democracy aggravates corruption. For instance, noted scholar of public policy Jong-Sung You’s work explores the relationships between democracy, inequality and corruption. He showsin a study of three East Asian countries that democracy can worsen corruption when a country has ..read more

Just months after Australia legislated to establish the long-anticipated National Anti-Corruption Agency, our standing is back on the rise in Transparency International’s annual Global Corruption Perceptions Index. This is a small but important turn-around following a decade of steady decline. Australia ranked 13th out of 180 countries in the index released today, up from a low of 18th last year. The index ranks countries on their perceived levels of public sector corruption – the higher the score, the less perceived corruption. Australia was ranked as high as seventh in 2012. But since then ..read more

On 11 December, Eva Kaili, vice-president of the European Parliament, and three others were charged and imprisoned in connection with an investigation into suspected corruption linked to Qatar. Ms Kaili, a Greek Socialist MP in charge of relations with the Middle East, had recently explained to her peers that Qatar was “at the forefront of labour law” and its will to host the football World Cup signalled substantial democratic progress. Any elected representative critical of Qatar were engaging in “harassment”, she said. On Saturday 10 December, Belgian police found bags of cash (at least 600 ..read more

A police officer drives by Mar-a-Lago on August 9, 2022. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images The FBI recovered confidential and top-secret items from Mar-a-Lago during its Aug. 8, 2022, search of the estate – pointing to former President Donald Trump’s potential violation of several federal laws. A Florida federal judge – the same one who issued the warrant to search Trump’s estate – ordered on Aug. 12, 2022, that the document be made public – along with an inventory of items seized during the FBI’s raid. The unsealed documents seem to indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice believes Trump ..read more

Palm Beach police officers stand near the Florida home of former President Donald Trump on Aug. 8, 2022. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images The FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s estate on Aug. 8, 2022, caught Trump by surprise – and prompted immediate speculation about exactly why and how the law enforcement agency secured a search warrant. “My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. … They even broke into my safe!” Trump said in a statement released through his political action committee, Save ..read more