Corruption and Comparative Analyses across Europe: Developing New Research Traditions
Corruption and Comparative Analyses across Europe: Developing New Research Traditions
The significance of ‘corruption’ in Europe is recognised a priority area for both social science research and state and non-state organisations seeking to reshape anti-corruption policy and practice within individual nation-states and the European Union more generally. Corruption is variously defined, but the European Commission (EC) suggests corruption takes many forms including bribery, trading in influence, abuse of functions alongside nepotism, conflicts of interest, or revolving doors between the public and the private sectors. However, the EC is not in a position to impose a common legal definition on what (other than fraud against the EU) remains a national issue for each Member and non-Member State. Given the cultural and legal diversity across the European region, this essay poses the question: how and what do we know about ‘corruption’, domestically and transnationally, across Europe? The essay outlines what four main research traditions in criminological research in Europe (surveys and experiments; qualitative studies; national case studies; and analysis of specific cases) before arguing for the need to cultivate theoretically-driven comparative methods of research that can stimulate interactive dialogue, deliberation and argument across European countries, regions and localities with a view to establishing robust empirical and theoretical insights.
Keywords: Corruption, White-collar crime, Corporate crime, European Union, Comparative research, Deliberative methods
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