POWRE: Institutions of Corruption or the Corruption of Institutions? Fraud in the European Union

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This is a research project on corruption and fraud in the European Union. It is designed to lay the groundwork for a substantial comparative study involving collaboration with several European scholars and institutions. It develops hypotheses from three analytical approaches, the first stressing individual agency and incentives, the second institutional structures, the third cultural influences. The research question is whether fraud and corruption in international organizations are deliberately tolerated by rent-seeking governments and their key constituencies, or whether the phenomena are the result of national or regional cultural practices "exported" to the larger international arena. The project involves 10 months of research at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, two months of preparatory and completion work in the United States, interviews with officials, businesspersons, civil servants and politicians in four EU locations: Brussels, Paris, Rome and Berlin. The project's goals and importance are methodological, analytical and empirical: why do fraud and corruption occur? How can we measure them? Which theoretical approaches are most useful in explaining the phenomena, and what of their general validity? Although the study of corruption and fraud is not a new field in the social sciences, it has yet to be subjected to rigorous methods of analysis; indeed, nearly all previous research has been anecdotal and country-specific. One key difficulty involved in answering questions about fraud and corruption is that, largely due to the nature of the subject being investigated, we do not have useful methodological instruments to assess levels of fraud and corruption and to evaluate the independent variables. A major purpose of this study is to create a survey instrument for elite level interviews within some EU states as well as the latter's internal organs specifically created to deal with fraud and corruption. Another goal is to develop and identify indicators which will facilitate the measurement of fraud and corruption in a variety of program and economic sector contexts, and which can be used cross-nationally. The information gained from the interviews and the reports of the agencies will be used to develop a set of cross-national indicators and measurement instruments to guide the longer-range, systematic research program. This study will also help to determine whether international organizations undermine their own goals by promoting or allowing fraud and corruption, in the process lowering the organizations' economic efficiencies, raising barriers to trade, and eventually discrediting further attempts at multinational cooperation. The goals of this project are relevant to the POWRE Program since the investigator will need to acquire some new skills, develop new methodologies, and undertake some exploratory investigations in several national and international institutional frameworks and systems. It is expected that the research will lead to several research efforts of a collaborative nature - between different institutions and cross-nationally. The POWRE grant will enable the investigator to develop an important new area of research, and make productive use of her post-tenure sabbatical leave through an original research program, thus strengthening her contribution to the field of political science and scientific knowledge. The grant is also important for increasing her capacity to serve as a mentor and advisor to junior women faculty and women graduate students.