Exporting Integrity: Anti-corruption Programs in the Balkans

Abstract

Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, 30 March 2006, <br> Panel on Timing and Spacing Development, <br> <br> Exporting Integrity: Anti-corruption Programs in the Balkans <br> <br> Steven Sampson<br> Dept of Social Anthropology<br> Lund University, Sweden<br> Contact: steven.sampson@soc.Lu.se<br> <br> Anti-corruption is high on the list of development priorities, and a high level of corruption can actually prevent a government from receiving aid. This paper focuses on Transparency International, the leading anti-corruption NGO, and its strategy of operating at both global levels and at local levels through the establishment and coordination of its 90 national chapters. Transparency International is well-known for its ‘coalition-building’ strategy in which government, civil society, international donors and the private sector should all cooperate. Coalition-building is about trust, but most of the societies which are rampant with corruption are characterized by distrust. The dilemma of exporting what are essentially moral relationships is illustrated with examples from southeastern Europe. Branding and franchising anticorruption are one way in which these dilemmas remain hidden from view.