One distinctive feature of the anti-corruption activity of the past two decades is the rise of anti-corruption agencies (ACAs). Although forerunners of these institutional units can be traced back in time, numbers have grown with the entry into force of the United Nations Convention of Corruption (UNCAC) in 2005.
With the UNCAC, international standards have converged regarding the need to establish specialised body(ies) responsible for overseeing and coordinating the implementation of anti-corruption policies and producing and disseminating knowledge about corruption.
Independently of their format, ACAs are expected to contribute to knowledge-based anticorruption. Their capacity to generate, manage, and disseminate knowledge relevant both to their work and that of other anticorruption stakeholders depends on a series of factors: research-minded leadership; evidenced-based strategic and operational plans; staff research skills and degree of specialisation and interdisciplinarity; proportion of the agency’s budget allocated to R&D; access to resources and software tools essential for research activities; quality and reliability of data collection and management; interoperability of IT infrastructures; research cooperation and partnerships; and involvement in international research networks and collaborative projects.
Despite official claims about the importance of knowledge production to anticorruption, not all ACAs have successfully engaged or developed evidenced-based research activities. In fact, we know very little about the scope of these activities and their actual impact. How relevant is the research and knowledge produced by ACAs for informing prevention and law enforcement initiatives, helping to formulate evidence-based and impact-oriented anticorruption policies, and improving society’s knowledge about this complex phenomenon and the policies adopted to mitigate it?
The panel welcomes contributions from early stage and advanced researchers in the field, with different disciplinary backgrounds and academic traditions. It wishes to attract both single case and comparative papers that strike a balance between empirical data (quantitative and qualitative) and critical theoretical questions/debates about the scope and impact of knowledge production and evidence-based research conducted by ACAs, in view of a collective publication. Papers should be delivered in English. Equitable representation in terms of region, gender and stage of career will be taken into consideration when selecting participants, in accordance with IPSA's Mission Statement.
