Unpacking the Anti-corruption Agenda: Dilemmas for Anthropologists

This paper explores the dilemmas involved in an anthropological examination of both corruption and the international anti-corruption agenda, arguing that the two must be seen as closely related. The dilemma for anthropologists is that in either unpacking the “meaning” of corruption at a local level, or deconstructing the anti-corruption agenda, the realities of power involved in the attribution of corruption may be overlooked. It is concluded that, to a large extent, the solution lies in the ethnographic focus. Rather than simply examining meanings at a local level, or the international discourse, it is important to see how particular accounts of corruption develop and are translated from international to national and local policy contexts.