Conceptualising corruption in the extractive industries: Evidence from a systematic review

This article examines how corruption has been conceptualised in the scholarship on extractive industries over the past two decades. Drawing on a systematic qualitative review of 168 studies identified through Scopus and the Web of Science, and analysed following PRISMA guidelines, the article identifies different analytical approaches to corruption: as an outcome of structural conditions, as a justification for governance interventions, and as a set of organised practices embedded in institutional and financial arrangements. The review shows that much of the literature is dominated by transparency-centred paradigms, particularly studies of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which often rely on perception-based indicators and country-level correlations. By contrast, a smaller body of practice-oriented research examines how corruption operates through concrete transactional sequences, contractual arrangements, and cross-border financial circuits. By bringing these strands into dialogue, the article argues that corruption in extractive industries is frequently treated as a variable within governance debates rather than as a phenomenon in its own right. The review therefore calls for a shift toward more practice-oriented research capable of identifying the institutional and political conditions under which corruption becomes institutionalised and potentially governable.