Political scientist focused on aid effectiveness, corruption, and natural resources, using political economy and political ecology approaches. Williams' PhD is from the 

Department of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London

. The thesis combined ethnographic fieldwork in Central Sulawesi and Jakarta with satellite and survey data, to produce a political ecology of REDD+ in Indonesia since 2010.

He has published in the peer-reviewed outlets: 

Annual Review of Environment and Resources

. He has co-edited two books, both with Edward Elgar Publishing, titled 

Corruption, Natural Resources and Development: From Resource Curse to Political Ecology

Corruption, Grabbing and Development: Real-World Challenges

Williams' research interests revolve around the uneven politics of natural resource-driven economic development, particularly corruption, neoliberal environmentalism, hypercapitalist growth, indigenous peoples rights, green energy transitions and inequality. Geographically, his focus is on Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Williams has served as project lead at CMI for longer-term commissioned research projects from 

, as well as shorter reviews and evaluations. He is also co-coordinator of U4's thematic portfolio on 

Corruption and Anti-Corruption Efforts in Natural Resources and Energy Sectors

Williams was previously Senior Research Coordinator at 

 in Berlin and holds an MA in International Relations from the 

I joined U4 in August 2019, to lead the work on natural resources as well as illicit financial flows (IFF). I'm a lawyer specialised in IFF and natural resources, with a focus on forest governance, extractive industries, and wildlife.

Prior to joining U4, I worked for various organisations and NGOs at the national and international level, including 

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

I did my law PhD at the University of Rennes 1 in France, on corruption, tax evasion/avoidance, and money laundering within the extractive industries. It highlights how certain actors succeed in perpetuating illicit practices, notably by being creative and innovative in manipulating, circumventing or diverting instruments and measures adopted to combat illicit financial flows. 

I hold a Master degree in international business law from the University of Toulouse, France, as well as a LL.M. on international and European environmental law from University College London.

Research and policy agenda on corruption in natural resources and energy

People expect – and development actors wish – that countries with abundant natural resources use them to secure positive development results. But history shows that poor people rarely benefit from resource wealth due – in part – to corruption. U4 advances the research frontier to find ways development actors can do the things that work.

U4’s work to produce recommendations for development actors

Our advisors look at why corrupt countries fail to use natural resource revenues to benefit society. We study how corruption harms the environment, threatens democracy, and leads to poverty and armed conflict.

We inform practitioners and policymakers how corruption harms development. Our research, courses, and workshops cover many areas. These include extractive industries (oil, gas, mining) and renewables (forests, climate projects, land, water, fisheries, wildlife, green energy). The practical advice we give concerns reform processes, regulatory initiatives, and transparency and accountability projects. We started this U4 topic in 2007, and develop new content and work areas each year. 

Natural resource challenges are global. Therefore our research includes both developing country-contexts and international drivers of corruption. Our approaches include political economy and ecology, social network, and related analyses. 

Recent corruption research shows that many anti-corruption approaches attempted in natural resource sectors since the late 1990s have seen disappointing results. Anti-corruption initiatives that have succeeded in one natural resource context have not worked well in others. 

There is some evidence that public financial management reforms can improve anti-corruption performance in most contexts. However, we realise that we must understand who and what drives corrupt behaviour in each context – if we hope to succeed with anti-corruption efforts. How to do this in practice is the subject of major research efforts. Individual researchers and research projects attempt to improve theories of corrupt behaviour applicable to a range of natural resource contexts. Various actors also work to improve the methods available to study corrupt behaviour in resource sectors. U4's advisers participate in these efforts. 

The international policy agenda at a glance

Levels of policy and practice attention to corruption challenges vary across sub-sectors within the broad area of natural resources and energy. For some sub-sectors, longstanding initiatives have attempted to curtail corruption, such as the 

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

. For others, a corruption focus is fairly recent, such as in relation to the 

. U4 strives to advance the effectiveness of international policy and practice initiatives on anti-corruption by improving the evidence and research base for anti-corruption interventions.    

<p>Wildlife trafficking is a growing global concern. It takes place in all regions of the world with those nations with high biodiversity being the source and the consumers of the wildlife as well as transit areas and hubs for smuggled wildlife. It is a significant contributor to biodiversity loss and species extinction. Many if not most developing nations are rich in biodiversity and therefore must contend with wildlife trafficking. It is a critical concern for these nations’ environment and economies. It has been documented that corruption is an essential component in the facilitation and perpetration of the illegal wildlife trade, but a comprehensive study into the scale, scope and structure has yet to be undertaken. This U4 Issue paper conducts a meta-study regarding corruption’s role in wildlife trafficking from the available literature, interviews with experts and a case study of Vietnam in an attempt to highlight concerns for bilateral donors in regards to conservation, environment and law enforcement programmes.</p>

Corruption and wildlife trafficking

Targeting Natural Resource Corruption

Corruption cuts across natural resource sectors. The risks affect extractive industries such as oil and gas.  Forests, wildlife, and other renewables suffer too. Navigate anti-corruption research and policy advice to improve development results.

Corruption and anti-corruption at the frontline of forest conservation: Time to address the power structures

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Natural resources and energy

Illegal logging in the Peruvian Amazon: A business founded on corruption

Uncovering corrupt schemes in the forest sector: The role of investigations

Renewable resources

Basic guide to corruption in natural resources and energy

Natural resources and energy sectors involve vast revenues. Operations often happen in remote areas and contracts and concessions can be opaque. The incentives for corruption are high, and so is officials' discretionary power. Understanding how corruption harms the environment and development, can help choose how to act.

People, governments, and companies all jostle for control over valuable natural resources. Where the rents (revenues) they get from a resource are high – and institutional quality is low – some may cut corners to secure their benefits. This happens in many ways. Politicians in resource rich developing countries often spend resource rents on political supporters. This form of patronage helps them continue their control of a resource, and capture its benefits. Ordinary citizens lose out when politicians pay more to their followers than to social projects.

Various forms of corruption happen in the systems that administer, authorise, and manage natural resource use. All phases: from exploration – through discovery and sales – to production and use are at risk. Corruption can affect each stage differently and to varying degrees. Resource management systems should prevent informal and skewed solutions, but people have strong incentives for secret concession deals. An official with power to decide which company can log in a forest can get bribes or kickbacks from winners in bidding processes that look fair and open. The same goes for fishing rights in particular marine ecosystems. The harm this causes to the environment, society, and people living in poverty is immense.

Standard corruption definitions do not always fit well in natural resource sectors.  The oil industry is a good example, because it is governed at the highest political level.  Actors at this level do not necessarily bend rules in secret, but will openly alter the rules of the game. We talk about a 

countries have several problems linked to their natural resource base. They depend on exports from non-renewable natural resources (such as oil), have negative or low economic growth, low levels of human development, and rampant inequality and poverty. Academics have explained this curse with challenges such as 

, rent-seeking, patronage, and low institutional quality. Some scholars also view corruption as a root cause of the resource curse.

Natural resources are strategically important to countries’ economies. Natural resource management therefore involves many incentives for grand corruption involving politicians and high-level officials. Administrative or petty corruption happens when officials deal directly with citizens.

We must respond in different ways to these two types of corruption. We can address administrative corruption through institutional reforms to improve accountability and transparency. Grand corruption is trickier. It requires that we change the incentives that political elites and those with strong economic interests have to be corrupt. 

 – discover what U4 and others do to advance research and reduce corruption in natural resources and energy

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La corruption dans le secteur des ressources naturelles

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Corruption and anti-corruption at the frontline of forest conservation: Time to address the power structures

Podcast

Illegal logging in the Peruvian Amazon: A business founded on corruption

Podcast

Uncovering corrupt schemes in the forest sector: The role of investigations

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Targeting Natural Resource Corruption

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Aled Williams

Sophie Lemaître

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Renewable resources

Oil, gas, and mining