Strategic privatisation of transnational anti-corruption regulation

This article discusses the privatisation of transnational anti-corruption regulation. Increasing global non-state rules, guidelines and standards have become a visible and legitimate form of corruption regulation and a key influence on the development and implementation of state-based anti-corruption laws. These private regulatory instruments are created by multilateral development banks, bi-lateral and multi-lateral development agencies, NGOs, industry groups, private corporations and technical experts. The result is that state-based transnational anti-corruption regulation is now increasingly privatised, harmonised and globalised. This not only affects developments in national anti-corruption regulation, but also the direction of corporate governance more generally. Whilst the interaction between public national and private global regulation is clearly of strategic benefit to governments, it is also creating a multi-level framework of incentives and pressures on global corporations to improve the integrity of their activities and reduce the incidence of corruption.