Anti-Corruption Agencies
Anti-corruption agencies are important, and contested, players in the fight against corruption. Find the latest evidence on their value and performance on this theme page
The number of Anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) around the world has increased dramatically over the past decades. Nevertheless, the value of ACAs is increasingly being questioned by international donors and national governments. Frequently, ACAs are not considered to deliver on the high expectations bestowed upon then. The question is by which measure - and how - we assess the performance of these institutions, and how we can best improve their performance. On this page you can:
- Find out what it means when article 6 of the UN Convention against Corruption requires states to ensure the existence of a body or bodies to prevent corruption
- Get guidance on how to monitor and evaluate ACAs
- Read the UNDP publication on how to perform a capacity assessment of an ACA
- Find recommended readings debating the role and value of ACAs
- Find links to the relevant associations for ACAs around the world
Publications
Latest Expert Answers
Integrating anti-corruption measures in Georgia’s newly established competition agency
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Recommended Reading
Author:
Vera Devine and Inese Gaika
Release date:
March 2013
Specialised Anti-Corruption Institutions. Review of Models: Second Edition
This is an update of a 2008 review. Description (by the OECD): "This report provides a comparative overview of common standards and key features of specialised anti-corruption institutions and comprehensive descriptions of 19 anti-corruption institutions operating in different parts of the world, presented in a comparable framework. This new edition of an 2008 report reflects the evolving understanding of international standards and the practice and the most recent experiences of anti-corruption institutions. The report discusses three "models" of anti-corruption institutions: multi-functional anti-corruption agencies, institutions fighting corruption through law enforcement and prevention institutions."
Contents
Executive summary
Part I. International Standards and Models of Anti-corruption Institutions
Chapter 1. Sources of International Standards
Chapter 2. Elements of International Standards
Chapter 3. Models of Anti-corruption Institutions
Part II. Selected Models of Specialised Anti-corruption Institutions
Chapter 4. Multi-purpose Anti-corruption Agencies
Chapter 5. Law Enforcement Type Institutions
Chapter 6. Corruption Prevention Institutions
Political Cycles and Organizational Life Cycles: Delegation to Anticorruption Agencies in Central Europe
Abstract: A large number of “independent” anticorruption agencies (ACAs) sprung up around the world in past decades. Yet little comparative work has been done to explain the diversity of their organizational forms or development trajectories. Using insights from regulatory theory and the regulation of government literature, this article argues that the formal powers and independence ACAs are granted crucially depend on whether external and/or domestic impetuses for setting them up can counterbalance governments' incentives for no action, or only symbolic action. The ACAs' initial mandate influences but does not determine how they fare in later life: Support or obstruction from ruling governments, their own ability to use strategic resources, and leadership shape the extent to which the agencies are able to carry out their tasks in practice. These arguments are examined through comparison of three ACAs in the European Union's “new” member states—Latvia, Poland, and Slovenia.
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