01 Oct 2015

What Does the Volkswagen Story Really Tell Us?

The current scandal around Volkswagen (VW) and possibly other German carmakers rigging emission measurements of their cars should have come as less of a shock to the press and the public. Surveys of German businesses have been already showing appalling levels of business integrity and VW is by far not the only German company involved […]

17 Jul 2015

Virtuous Circles Conference: Lessons Learned

The final roundtable of the conference “Understanding Governance Virtuous Circles: Who Succeeds and Why” (July 8-12, 2015) organized by the Hertie School’s European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building, ERCAS in the framework of EU FP7 ANTICORRP project, extracted the lessons learned from three days of discussions of the biggest contemporary achievers in governance reform […]

10 Jul 2015

Understanding Governance Virtuous Circles: Estonian Miracle

The conference “Understanding Governance Virtuous Circles: Who Succeeds and Why” (July 8-12, 2015, organized by the Hertie School of Governance (HSoG) and the European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building, ERCAS) got off to an intriguing start here at the European Academy Berlin. The aim of the event – with the biggest names in the […]

27 May 2015

Understanding governance virtuous circles: who succeeded and why

International Conference, 8-12 July, Berlin

16 Mar 2015

Democracy in Decline

What is the state of global democracy? According to renowned democracy expert Professor Larry Diamond who spoke last week at Berlin’s Hertie School of Governance , democracy around the world continues to decline largely because of a lack of good governance. During the event, chaired by ERCAS Director Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor Diamond presented evidence that […]

18 Feb 2015

Aam Aadmi Party Victory in Delhi: the comeback of Indian anti-corruption politics?

By Lucía Ixtacuy The Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party (AAP) first gained international attention when it managed to achieve the second-largest majority in the Delhi Assembly after the 2013 elections. Grabbing 28 out of the 70 seats was considered an unprecedented and even “historic” political debut in India. However, only 49 days after being sworn […]

29 Jan 2015

Doublethink, Russian Style

Picture the following scenario: A top Russian manager advocates for equal opportunities and, when hiring new employees, insists upon relying only on their professional competences. In this way, he has given chances to a formerly drug-addicted young man and a young woman with dwarfism. The same manager does not extend the same opportunities to homosexual […]

14 Jan 2015

ERCAS Awarded Second Major EU Research Project

Horizon 2020 project DIGIWHIST to build a digital whistleblowing platform and help improve transparency in public spending

13 Jan 2015

Trust-Keeping: What Ails the European Trust Compact?

The European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building (ERCAS) has been contracted by the government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations) to do a synthesis of policy relevant findings in the area of trust and governance in the EU.

17 Dec 2014

Anti-Corruption Revolutions: When Civil Society Steps In.

Over the last decade, the world has witnessed several citizen uprisings with protestors coming from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds who increasingly raise their voices in a discourse that pleads for a responsive and accountable government that will act in lawful and transparent ways. As never before, common citizens from countries such as the Philippines, India, Bulgaria, Brazil and Egypt, among others, acknowledge corruption as damaging for their societies, and loudly demand an effective solution. This swell of citizen activism was the underlying motivation behind our research on so-called Anti-Corruption Revolutions - mass manifestations that reveal generalized discontent with the performance of government.

09 Dec 2014

Anti-corruption as last chapter of democratic revolutions

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi editorial on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day: "For our generation the elimination of privilege and favouritism is the only way to accomplish in full the democratic revolutions started in 1989."

26 Nov 2014

Science to activism. The Anticorruption Frontline

Can social science impact policy in real time and offer relevant options for major problems that our societies face today? This is the challenge taken up by the policy pillar of the EU FP7 project ANTICORRP which deals with good governance and anticorruption policies. ANTICORRP is a five-year project based across 20 European universities and […]

18 Nov 2014

When Will the Next Walls Fall?

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi on Breaking the Walls of Corruption November 9, 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the beginning of the end of the division between East and West and the start of a major transformation in Europe. This same day, the Falling Walls Foundation held their annual conference on […]

05 Nov 2014

The Ambivalent Future of Ukraine

This article was originally published online in the Hot Spots Forum of the journal Cultural Anthropology. It is republished here with permission of the author. by Alena Ledeneva This article is part of the series Ukraine and Russia: The Agency of War “Illustration of Ambivalence by Robert Neubecker for Ian Leslie’s ‘Ambivalence is Awesome’ on […]

28 Oct 2014

Waging Battle on The Anticorruption Frontline

The demand for good governance is on the rise everywhere, from Kiev to Sao Paulo, Paris to New Delhi. But has any measurable progress been made recently? Do we know which countries are succeeding and why? Do anticorruption experts and policy makers understand public concerns about corruption? The Anticorruption Frontline, the second volume of the […]

14 Jul 2014

The Invisible and the Immeasurable: Towards Alternative Indicators of Corruption

How suitable are current measures of corruption in terms of forming anti-corruption policies? From 26-27 June, anti-corruption researchers including many from the ANTICORRP project came together for a colloquium convened by Alena Ledenva (UCL) and Nicolas Sauger (Sciences Po) to hash out the usefulness of old indicators and the promise of new ones.

10 Jun 2014

Top Berlin Airport Official Accused of Bribery

Anti-corruption research has shown large infrastructure projects prone to corruption

27 May 2014

Why Eastern Europeans did not vote

ERCAS Director Professor Alina Mungiu-Pippidi on why Eastern Europeans did not vote in Sunday's European Parliament election.

23 May 2014

The Real Fight in Ukraine

by Niklas Kossow Since Victor Yanukovich fled Ukraine in February, the situation in the country has become more and more tense. After a highly disputed referendum, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and pro-Russian separatists have taken over the control of several cities in the east of the country. Ahead of the presidential elections on 25 […]

13 May 2014

Local Elections Closely Monitored by Montenegrin Civil Society

On 25 May, Montenegrins will vote in local elections in a number of cities including the capital, Podgorica. Analysts are framing the election as a “test” for the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). In the run-up to the elections, Montenegrin civil society has been monitoring and reporting a number of irregularities. In the middle […]

07 May 2014

Vote Against Corruption?

Today’s elections in the Republic of South Africa may be a watershed moment as the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party is expected to lose support amid corruption scandals, and reports of election-related violence and coercion.

14 Apr 2014

Lessons from Sochi: getting civil society into the games

As the Rio 2016 workers’ strike enters its second week, why the IOC should insist on third-sector oversight in games planning.

04 Apr 2014

New Book: Corruption, Contention, and Reform: The Power of Deep Democratisation

Interview with author Michael Johnston

25 Mar 2014

New Grassroots Anti-corruption Revolutions Discussed at NED

National Endowment for Democracy hosted Alina Mungiu-Pippidi for a talk in Washington, DC that the demand for good governance erupting in grassroots movements in Egypt, India, Ukraine, Turkey and Brazil should be seen as a second phase of transition to democracy as global constituencies are no longer satisfied with elections alone and demand more equality of treatment from governments everywhere.

24 Mar 2014

Fighting Corruption, What Works and What Does Not

Speaking at OECD in Paris on 19 March 2014, at the Forum on Integrity within the Integrity Week program, ERCAS director Alina Mungiu-Pippidi shared evidence from the ANTICORRP program showing that government favoritism is structured on political lines in new democracies and bribe is frequently a way to open markets as multinational companies try to compete with domestic, politically connected companies.