Beyond "Political Will": How Institutional Context Shapes the Implementation of Anti-Corruption Policies

Abstract

Many anti-corruption initiatives face an inherent dilemma: the very actors which must adopt & implement policies to curb corruption are those which may face weak, or even negative, incentives to do so. Where corruption in authoritarian states is already endemic, a vicious form of this "orthodox paradox" emerges, as elites adopting anti-corruption measures attempt to police themselves. This paper presents an institutionalist approach to linking the context of anti-corruption reforms to their likely effectiveness & sustainability. It applies this approach to the assessment of Vietnam's 2005 anti-corruption law.