DEV40040

Corruption is rarely a consequence of isolated moral failures. Rather, it is a complex, systemic phenomenon deeply embedded within the architecture of modern states, global financial networks, and political economies. This course provides a rigorous, multidisciplinary exploration of how corruption shapes and is shaped by governance structures and economic development outcomes across the globe. By moving past superficial definitions of malpractice, students will engage with foundational political science frameworks, including Principal-Agent models, Collective Action theory, and Neo-institutionalism. We will critically examine the enduring tension between institutional designs and informal social norms, asking why some states successfully transition to transparent "good enough governance," while others remain trapped in fragile cycles of elite extraction and underdevelopment. Through this theoretical lens, the course challenges conventional anti-corruption paradigms and pushes students to evaluate the real-world efficacy of contemporary reform agendas.

To ground these theoretical concepts, the curriculum actively bridges the gap between theory and empirical realities by analysing high-profile, global case studies across five continents. Students will dissect the systemic mechanics of public procurement cartels through Latin America’s Lava Jato scandal, investigate transnational kleptocracy and illicit financial flows via Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and interrogate the institutional subversion of South Africa’s "State Capture." Furthermore, the course expands the traditional analytical gaze beyond the Global South to scrutinise Western institutional vulnerabilities, evaluating foreign influence peddling in Europe’s Qatargate and the domestic enforcement trends of the United States' Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). By comparing these diverse regional contexts, students will learn to identify how localised corruption behaves as a transnational enterprise, heavily reliant on the financial infrastructure, legal loopholes, and professional gatekeepers of the Global North.

Ultimately, this course aims to equip future development practitioners, policy analysts, development economists, international relations practitioners, political scientists, and researchers with the diagnostic tools necessary to design and evaluate sustainable governance reforms. As the global landscape rapidly evolves, we will explore the frontier of anti-corruption work, focusing on the dual-edged sword of digital governance, the rise of civic tech, and the implementation of artificial intelligence in fraud detection. Students will confront the difficult political realities of sequencing reforms, balancing the economic spillovers of aggressive judicial crackdowns against the long-term benefits of structural accountability. By the conclusion of the module, participants will possess a nuanced, globally comparative understanding of corruption, leaving them capable of moving beyond legal technicalities to confront the deeply entrenched political realities that govern our world.