As anti-corruption advocates dial in to virtual meetings and COVID-19 wipes clean the slate of forthcoming conferences (see, e.g., the OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum), we at the Fletcher School’s Corruption, Justice & Legitimacy Program are finding encouragement in the recent diffusion of something more medically benign, though highly significant to our sector and those who bear corruption’s consequences: social norms. The concept is appearing more widely and deeply in the anti-corruption ecosystem of workshops, conferences, literature, and blogs. And we are excited – and intrigued – by the unexpected questions that social norms approaches to corruption are raising.
