Abstract
This article explores the plausibility of some intuitions and counter intuitions about the anti-corruption efforts of MDBs and international organizations leveraging the power of the private sector. Regulation of a sizable percentage of global private sector actors now falls into a new area of international governance with innovative institutions, standards, and programs. We wrestle with the role and value of private sector partnerships and available informal and formal social controls. Crafting proportional informal controls (e.g., monitoring, evaluations, and sanctions) and proper incentives to cooperative games across networks are the lynchpins of successful collective action programs. Ambivalence with informal social controls or effective incentives, we argue, risks far too much deference to private sector interests.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, K. W. and D. Sindal: 2002, ‘Values and Interests: Legislation in the Fight Against Corruption’, Journal of Legal Studies 31, 141–177
Abbott K. W., & Snidal, D.: 2009, Strengthening International Regulation Through Transnational New Governance: Overcoming the Orchestration Deficit, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 42, 501.
Adger, W. N.: 2003, Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate Change, Economic Geography, 79, 387-404.
Aldy, J. E., P. R. Orszag and J. E. Stiglitz: 2001, ‘Climate Change: An Agenda for Global Collective Action’, Paper Prepared for the Conference on “The Timing of Climate Change Policies,” Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Ayres, I., & Braithwaite, J.: 2002. Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
Barrett, S. and R. Stavins: 2002, ‘Increasing Participation and Compliance in International Climate Change Agreements’, http://papers.ssrn.com.
Berkman, S., Boswell, N. Z., Bruner, F. H., Gough, M., McCormick, J.T., Pedersen, P.E., Ugaz, J., & Zimmermann, S.: 2008, “The Fight Against Corruption: International Organizations at a Cross-Roads,” Journal of Financial Crime 15(2): 124-154.
Black, J.: 1997 Rules and Regulators (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
Braithwaite, J.: 1998, “Institutionalizing Trust: Enculturating Distrust. In V. Braithwaite & M. Levi (Eds.), Trust and Governance (Russell Sage, New York).
Braithwaite J 2006 “Responsive Regulation and Developing Economies. World Development 15(5): 884-898.
Cerny, P.G 1995 “Globalization and the Changing Logic of Collective Action,” International Organization 49(4): 595-625.
Fuchs, D.: 2007, Business Power in Global Governance (Lynne Reinner, Boulder, Colorado).
Goss, S.: 2001, Making Local Governance Work: Networks, Relationships and the Management of Change (Palgrave, New York).
Haines, F.: 1997, Corporate Regulation: Beyond “Punish or Persuade” (Clarendon Press, Oxford).
Hardin, R.: 1982, Collective Action (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD).
Harlow, C. and R. Rawlings: 2006, ‘Promoting Accountability in Multi-Level Governance: A Network Approach, European Governance Papers’, www.connex-network.org/eurogov.
Hess, D, & Dunfee, T. W.: 2000, “Fighting Corruption: A Principled Approach: The C2 Principles (Combating Corruption),” Cornell International Law Review, 33(3), 595-628.
Horwitz, A. V.: 1990, The Logic of Social Control (Plenum, New York).
Kinston, C.: 2004, ‘Collective Action and Corruption’, Unpublished Manuscript, Amherst College, Massachusetts
Laufer, W. S.: 2006 (a), “The Importance of Cynicism and Humility: Anti-Corruption Partnerships and the Private Sector,” Development Outreach, 8 (2), 18-21.
Laufer, W. S.: 2006 (b), Corporate Bodies and Guilty Minds: The Failure of Corporate Criminal Liability (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois).
Meidinger, E.: 2008, ‘Competitive Supragovernmental Regulation: How Can It be Democratic?’, Chicago Journal of International Law 8, 513–534
Nelson, J: 2002, Building Partnerships: Cooperation between the United Nations system and the Private Sector (United Nations, New York).
Nichols, P.M.: 2004, “Corruption as an Assurance Problem,” American University International Law Review, 19, 1307-1349.
Nichols, P. M.: 2009, ‘Multiple Communities and Controlling Corruption’, Journal of Business Ethics (in press)
Olken, B. A.: 2007, Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia, Journal of Political Economy, 115(2), 200-249.
Olson, M.: 1965, The Logic of Collective Action (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
Ostrom, E.: 2000, Collective Action and Evolution of Social Norms, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14, 137-158.
Parker, C.: 2002, The Open Corporation: Effective Self-Regulation and Democracy (Cambridge University Press, New York)
Pendergraft, C. A.: 1998, ‘Human Dimensions of Climate Change: Cultural Theory and Collective Action’, Climate Change 39(4), 643-666.
Petkoski, D., Jarvis, M., and Frauscher, K.: 2009, “Fighting Corruption through Collective Action in Today’s Competitive Marketplace,” Ethicsphere, 5, 60-61.
Pope, J.: 2000, Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System (Transparency International, Berlin, Germany).
Sethi, S. P: 2003, Setting Global Standards: Guidelines for Creating Codes of Conduct in Multinational Corporations (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York).
Slaughter, A.: 2004, A New World Order (Princeton University Press, Princeton).
Stern, N.: 2006, “What is the Economics of Climate Change?”. World Economics 7(2): 1-19.
World Bank Institute: 2008, Fighting Corruption Through Collective Action: A Guide for Business (The World Bank, Washington, D.C.).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Tom Dunfee held strong views about corruption that influenced his colleagues and peers – an influence that lives on in the continuing collaboration between the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, which he founded in 1997, and the World Bank Institute.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Petkoski, D., Warren, D.E. & Laufer, W.S. Collective Strategies in Fighting Corruption: Some Intuitions and Counter Intuitions. J Bus Ethics 88 (Suppl 4), 815–822 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0321-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0321-8