Corruption studies for the twenty-first century: paradigm shifts and innovative approaches

The key question currently driving innovations in corruption studies is why anti-corruption reforms do not work. The explanatory factors for the disappointing outcomes of anti-corruption interventions over the last twenty-five years include those associated with (1) understanding and modelling of corrupt practices, (2) measurement and monitoring, and (3) policy design and implementation. In this special issue, we interpret ‘corruption studies’ narrowly, meaning academic discourse, separate from government policy, media or activist discourses. Rather, we focus on the challenges in corruption studies and the emergence of cross-discipline and cross-area analyses in order to accommodate the complexity and context-bound nature of corruption.