GI ACE Publications

3 Research Case Studies: Targeting corrupt behaviours in a Tanzanian hospital: A social norms approach; Leveraging informal networks for anti-corruption in East Africa; Exposing the networks behind transnational corruption and money laundering schemes

This Policy Brief distils recommendations for Collective Action practitioners based on empirical insights on certain forms of corruption involving private-sector actors.

Field research carried out in Tanzania and Uganda produced detailed case studies that show how informal networks link private and public sector actors to pursue common illicit goals, such as gaining an unfair business advantage, avoiding a sanction, decreasing taxes owed or jumping the queue at the point of delivery of public services. Corruption, most often bribery, is the currency that works to cement and nurture those networks.

This Policy Brief is based on that research and a series of in-depth interviews with Collective Action practitioners working in Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The goal is to extract insights from what we have learned about the networks that fuel corruption and discuss implications for anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives.

Corruption is frequently associated with money alone and the behaviours of a few individual “bad apples” operating in otherwise healthy governance systems. This is too simplistic. As the latest research shows, including research in Tanzania and Uganda on which this Policy Brief is based, corruption is a networked phenomenon. This Policy Brief explains what this means and its implications for anti-corruption practice.

Claudia Baez Camargo presenting for the GI-ACE Weekly Series

This case study presents sheds light on the functioning of informal networks in East Africa, based on evidence collected in Tanzania. The report presents evidence, consisting of four mini-case studies from Uganda that describe informal networks associated with bribery and procurement fraud. The ten cases are also analysed and implications for anti-corruption practice discussed in the larger report.

This case study presents sheds light on the functioning of informal networks in East Africa, based on evidence collected in Tanzania. The report presents evidence, consisting of six mini-case studies from Tanzania that describe informal networks associated with bribery and procurement fraud. The ten cases are also analysed and implications for anti-corruption practice discussed in the larger report.

This report presents findings from a research project entitled “Harnessing informality: Designing anti-corruption network interventions and strategic use of legal instruments”. The project follows from a previous research project where the Basel Institute on Governance, in partnership with University College London and SOAS, researched informality and its relationship with corruption and governance in seven countries in East Africa and Central Asia.

The findings from that research project, which can be explored at length here, suggested that corruption often takes place according to informal, unwritten rules. The present report sheds light on the functioning of informal networks in East Africa, based on evidence collected in Tanzania and Uganda. The report presents evidence, consisting of ten mini-case studies (six from Tanzania and four from Uganda) that describe informal networks associated with bribery and procurement fraud. The ten cases are also analysed and implications for anti-corruption practice discussed.

Mobile phones and other technologies have transformed the nature and dynamics of informal social networks in Kyrgyzstan. Some scholars argue that new technology (electronisation, digitalisation) helps to prevent corruption and reduce the risk of bribery, informal social networks and bureaucracy. In their view, new technology has the potential to create transparent and efficient ways to access public services. This is usually done by implementing electronic queue systems, online payment platforms, registers and other public services, as well as transparency portals providing access to government data, statistics and state laws and regulations.

This post on the Basel Institute's site provides findings from Baez Camargo's research project on social norms and how they drive behavior and perpetuate corruption.

Journal article co-authored by Claudia Baez Camargo about informal governance and the public/private crossover in Mexico, Russia and Tanzania. The article argues that scholars' focus must lie not only on harnessing the informal practices that lead to effective outcomes and sustain political structures, but ensure they can be used to promote positive change and improve development outcomes.