Tag Archives: KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Gretta Fenner and Daniel Eriksson

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. In this episode, host Liz Dávid-Barrett speaks with Gretta Fenner, the Managing Director of the Basel Institute on Governance, and Daniel Eriksson, the CEO of of Transparency International. The episode was recorded shortly after Gretta and Daniel attended the Munich Security Conference, where they raised the issue of corruption as a key national security concern, and the podcast conversation focuses on that issue as well. The discussion touches on the new global context of heightened insecurity and the implications this has for those working to counter corruption. They also discuss the phenomenon of “strategic corruption,” defined in the U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption as “when a government weaponizes corrupt practices as a tenet of its foreign policy,” and how addressing this sort of corruption, though essential, may raise challenging questions for anticorruption campaigners about the problem of “picking sides” in global political conflicts. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Alison Taylor

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. In this episode, host Dan Hough interviews Alison Taylor, a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU Stern School of Business and the author of the recently published book, Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World. The interview, like the book, focuses on the topic of business ethics, including how the corporate sector addresses issues relating to bribery and other forms of corruption. In the interview, Alison first talks about her career path, which began focused on conducting investigations into corruption by businesses, and then broadened out to consider issues of corporate responsibility and business ethics more broadly. She then describes the impact of international anti-bribery laws on businesses, and raises some questions about the corporate compliance regimes these laws have created. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Sankhitha Gunaratne

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. In this episode, host Liz David-Barrett interviews Sankhitha Gunaratne, Deputy Executive Director of Transparency International Sri Lanka. Ms. Gunaratne emphasizes how the recent economic crisis in Sri Lanka has laid bare the extent to which kleptocratic actors have captured key pillars of the state, and she provides more detail on the methods that these actors have used to effectuate their state capture, including the suppression of accountability institutions and militarization of key government positions.Ms. Gunaratne then outlines the strategies TI Sri Lanka has employed to respond to this challenge, including the use of strategic litigation and leveraging the influence of international financial institutions. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Daniel Freund

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. In this episode, host Dan Hough interviews welcomes back to the podcast Daniel Freund, a Member of the European Parliament and former Head of Advocacy for European Union Integrity at Transparency International. The interview focuses on different dimensions to the EU’s fight against corruption, beginning with a discussion of the struggle to protect EU institutions from undue influence, a problem illustrated by the “Qatargate” lobbying scandal. The conversation also explores the challenges of building institutional resilience to corruption within potential accession countries as well as EU member states themselves–most notably the question of how the EU should be responding to autocratic regimes like Viktor Orbán’s government in Hungary. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Andreas Bågenholm and Rekha Diwakar

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. In this episode, host Dan Hough interviews Andreas Bågenholm (University of Gothenburg) and Rekha Diwakar (University of Sussex) about anticorruption political parties. These parties have proliferated in different parts of the world in the last two decades. Andreas and Rekha draw on their research in Europe and India respectively to talk about where these parties come from and what they stand for. They discuss how these parties have actually performed when they have entered into government, assessing in particular the track record of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Robert Klitgaard

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. In this episode, host Dan Hough interviews Professor Robert Klitgaard, one of the most well-known and influential academics in the corruption field. In the conversation, Professor Klitgaard talks us through the origins of his ideas in applying institutional economic theory to understanding corruption issues, as originally set out in his 1980 book Controlling Corruption. He then discusses several other issues, including challenges related to elitism in developing and developed countries, the role of “culture” in anticorruption analysis, and his recent research in Bhutan and the lessons it might hold for other countries pursuing anticorruption reforms. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode, Featuring Panel Discussion on Professional Enablers

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available.  This episode features a panel discussion on the role of so-called “professional enablers” (including lawyers, accountants, consultants, and others) in facilitating corruption, illicit financial flows, money laundering, and related activities. The panelists–Robert Barrington, Guy Beringer, Liz Dávid-Barrett, Tena Prelec–discuss the meaning of the “professional enablers” term, distinguish legal from illegal functions, and discuss the types of corruption-related activities that these service providers might facilitate. The panelists provide a variety of case examples from around the world, focusing particularly on the legal profession, and discuss potential responses, including highr professional standards.

You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations:

KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

New Podcast Episode: In the 101st Episode, Hosts Reflect on the 100th Episode!

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A new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available.In the previous episode (the 100th episode of the series), the KickBack hosts invited a dozen leading anticorruption experts (plus me) to offer their reactions to one or both of two big-picture questions about the field: (1) What is one thing about corruption that you’ve changed your thinking on in the past 10 years?, and (2) What is the most significant development — positive or negative — in relation to corruption and corruption studies over the past thirty years? In the most recent episode (the 101st), KickBack hosts Liz David-Barrett, Robert Barrington, Dan Hough, and Sam Power (all with the Sussex University Centre for the Study of Corruption) reflect on the wide range of answers that the various respondents gave to these questions, and more generally use this as an occasion to thing more broadly about the present and future of anticorruption–both as a practical reform agenda and as a field of study and research. You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

Special 100th Episode of the KickBack Podcast

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After a bit of a hiatus, a new episode of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast is now available. This is the 100th episode of the series, and to mark that milestone, the podcast hosts asked a dozen leading anticorruption experts (and me) to address one or both of two questions (in under three minutes):
  1. What is one thing about corruption that you’ve changed your thinking on in the past 10 years?
  2. What is the most significant development — positive or negative — in relation to corruption and corruption studies over the past thirty years?’
In case you want to jump around, here is the list of people featured in the episode, and the time stamps indicating where you can hear their response to those questions, together with a direct hyperlink:
  • Michael Johnston: 2:34
  • Leena Koni Hoffmann: 7:52
  • Alina Mungiu-Pippidi: 10:24
  • Paul Heywood: 12:51
  • Florencia Guerzovich: 15:40
  • Joseph Pozsgai-Alvarez: 18:16
  • Jorge Alatorre: 21:36
  • Delia Ferreira Rubio: 23:33
  • Matthew Stephenson: 26:55
  • Susan Rose-Ackerman: 29:43
  • John Githongo: 32:15
  • Jon Quah: 33:34
  • Laode Muhammad Syarif: 36:12
You can also find both this episode and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!

Some Backlogged (and Very Interesting!) Podcast Episodes

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As our regular readers have probably noticed, I haven’t been posting as much recently–first because I was on sabbatical (a nice perk of academic jobs) and then, most recently, for a bit of summer vacation. But I hope to be back to semi-regular posting soon! In the meantime, I wanted to mention several new episodes of KickBack: The Global Anticorruption Podcast, which came out earlier in the summer. (Sorry for failing to announce these earlier — again, I’ve been on a bit of a break.) For those of you who haven’t already heard them, they’re worth checking out!
  • The June 22 episode features and interview with journalist Michela Wrong, who is perhaps best known for her award-winning book It’s Our Turn to Eat, which tells the story of Kenyan anticorruption activist and whistleblower John Githongo (also featured in a recent KickBack episode!). In the interview, Sam Power interviews Ms. Wong about the issues raised in the book, as well as her other writing, including her most recent book, Do Not Disturb, about the abuses of power by the Kagame regime in Rwanda.
  • The July 6 episode is a bit of a change of pace from the usual episodes. Rather than featuring an interview with an expert, three of the hosts or the KickBack podcast at the Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption (Dan Hough, Liz David-Barrett, and Sam Power) have a conversation (after some opening banter about British weather) about the leading theories for corruption analysis, including rational choice, collective action, and social norms approaches.
  • The July 28 episode returns to the interview format, featuring a conversation with Huma Yusuf, the Director of Business Integrity at the impact investing firm British International Investment. Tom Shipley interviews Ms. Yusuf about how anticorruption and business integrity fit into the global business agenda and highlighting some of the key concepts and debates in this area.
You can find these episodes and an archive of prior episodes at the following locations: KickBack was originally founded as a collaborative effort between GAB and the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN). It is now hosted and managed by the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption. If you like it, please subscribe/follow, and tell all your friends!