Discourse of corruption and anti-corruption

This chapter argues that what is to count as corruption, and the apparent lack of success of anti-corruption initiatives, can usefully be understood through detailed examination of how the issues are worked out in specific contexts. It examines in detail how individuals negotiate corruption and anti-corruption through language. The term corruption is often treated as being self-explanatory: the World Bank describes its definition as one that is ‘straightforward’. For many critics, the consistent failure of anti-corruption initiatives results inevitably from how corruption is understood. The corollary is that efforts that are described as anti-corruption are viewed as being intrinsically beneficial, regardless of how they present what they are seeking to address and the measures that are proposed. A particular issue for anti-corruption discourses is that these are nested in settings of international development and governance. A useful starting point is the much-quoted definition provided by the World Bank, still commonly found in discussions of corruption.