Transnational Corruption
- LAST REVIEWED: 02 November 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 March 2014
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0091
- LAST REVIEWED: 02 November 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 March 2014
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0091
Introduction
Although corruption is an old phenomenon, international efforts to combat corruption are quite recent. The first thing that needs to be clarified is that the fight against corruption is a subject that, up until a few decades ago, was the exclusive preserve of sovereign states and confined mainly to a few provisions of domestic criminal and administrative law. But the phenomenon of corruption became very quickly a transnational issue, which means that, like transnational organized crime or transnational terrorism, the reality of this offence was across borders. Thus, first efforts to combat transnational corruption were through international cooperation between domestic orders. It took some time to have real anti-corruption efforts based on international law and, in particular, international conventions against corruption. The first specialized convention is from 1996, when the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption was adopted, and many of the existing treaties are still regional. However, in 2003, a global convention was adopted as well, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Some international law instruments to counter transnational organized crime had been adopted earlier, which included some provisions dealing with corruption. In particular, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), which contains provisions on corruption (articles 8 and 9), was adopted in 2000. All these treaties are mainly aimed at criminalization, prevention, and international cooperation. They frequently include review mechanisms, in order to monitor the implementation of conventional obligations. In addition to the doctrinal writings commenting all these new international tools, there is also an increasing amount of research on the relationship between the fight against corruption and other legal areas. The fight against corruption through international criminal law, the impact of corruption (and anti-corruption) on human rights protection, and the strengthening of the rule of law through anti-corruption initiatives are some of these comprehensive research areas. Finally, there have been other international initiatives to fight corruption, from international organizations to private initiatives, which international lawyers have also largely commented on. The aim of the citations selected here is to demonstrate how transnational corruption has become not only an international issue but also a real concern for international law. With the emergence of such an international legal framework, corruption currently receives an increasing amount of attention from international legal scholars.
Definitional Legal Questions
As far as corruption is concerned, the first discussion is related to terminology. Corruption is generally defined as the use of public office for private gain. But while there is a broad use of the term “corruption” in the public sphere, in particular by the media, its legal definition is narrower and has to be approached globally in terms of related offenses. However, an approach to transnational corruption and international legal anti-corruption tools needs to refer to international definitions of corruption. International criminal law textbooks or encyclopedias can be useful for a first approach to this issue. Corruption is generally thought of as the use of public office for private gain. But there are more specific offenses, like embezzlement, self-dealing, trading in influence, extortion, and bribery, which have international definitions as well. In order to understand these different concepts, in addition to the international conventions, an excellent reference source is Cassese 2009, which acts as an encyclopedia. In addition, Bantekas 2010 and the more specific Bantekas and Keramidas 2006 help to provide a general overview of the fight against corruption from an international criminal law perspective. The analysis in Bantekas 2006 of corruption as a crime against humanity is another interesting approach to definition.
Bantekas, Ilias. “Corruption as an International Crime and Crime against Humanity: An Outline of Supplementary Criminal Justice Policies.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 4.3 (2006): 466–484.
DOI: 10.1093/jicj/mql025
Bantekas’s article suggests that, in certain cases, corruption may take the form of a crime against humanity. Such a legal qualification would have important jurisdictional consequences, as it would empower not only domestic courts, in particular through universal jurisdiction, but also the International Criminal Court to consider such cases. Moreover, this could allow victims of corruption to recover the funds illegally appropriated.
Bantekas, Ilias. International Criminal Law. 4th ed. Oxford: Hart, 2010.
This textbook has a section on transnational crimes as well as on extradition and mutual legal assistance. It is useful for understanding the main notions related to transnational corruption. In particular, its approach is accurate regarding the fight against corruption, as it points out the central role of national institutions, and in particular of domestic courts, in the fight against international and transnational criminal activity.
Bantekas, Ilias, and Giannis Keramidas. International and European Financial Criminal Law. London: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2006.
This is a comprehensive book on legal issues related to international financial crime. In addition to the global legal framework, it focuses on European legislation.
Cassese, Antonio, ed. The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
This is a complete encyclopedia of international criminal law, which covers not only economic crimes but also other concepts that are useful to better understand how the fight against corruption is an international criminal law issue. In particular, concepts related to jurisdiction and international cooperation are very useful to understand the international legal framework applicable to the fight against corruption.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Act of State Doctrine
- Africa and Intellectual Property Rights for Plant Varietie...
- African Approaches to International Law
- African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Af...
- Africa’s International Intellectual Property Law Regimes
- Africa’s International Investment Law Regimes
- Agreements, Bilateral and Regional Trade
- Agreements, Multilateral Environmental
- Aliens
- Applicable Law in Investment Agreements
- Archipelagic States
- Arctic Region
- Armed Opposition Groups
- Aut Dedere Aut Judicare
- Balance of Power
- Bandung Conference, The
- Boundaries
- British Mandate of Palestine and International Law, The
- Children's Rights
- Civil Service, International
- Civil-Military Relations
- Codification
- Cold War International Law
- Collective Security
- Command Responsibility
- Common Heritage of Mankind
- Complementarity Principle
- Compliance in International Law
- Conspiracy/Joint Criminal Enterprise
- Constitutional Law, International
- Consular Relations
- Contemporary Catholic Approaches
- Continental Shelf, Idea and Limits of the
- Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Cross-Border
- Countermeasures
- Courts, International
- Crimes against Humanity
- Criminal Law, International
- Cultural Rights
- Cyber Espionage
- Cyber Warfare
- Debt, Sovereign
- Decolonization in International Law
- Democracy
- Development Law, International
- Disarmament in International Law
- Discrimination
- Disputes, Peaceful Settlement of
- Drugs, International Regulation, and Criminal Liability
- Early 19th Century, 1789-1870
- Ecological Restoration and International Law
- Economic Law, International
- Effectiveness and Evolution in Treaty Interpretation
- Enforced Disappearances in International Law
- Enforcement of Human Rights
- Environmental Compliance Mechanisms
- Environmental Institutions, International
- Environmental Law, International
- Estoppel
- European Arrest Warrant
- Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties
- Fascism and International Law
- Feminist Approaches to International Law
- Financial Law, International
- Forceful Intervention for Protection of Human Rights in Af...
- Foreign Investment
- Fragmentation
- Freedom of Expression
- French Revolution
- Gender and International Law, Theoretical and Methodologic...
- Gender and International Security
- General Customary Law
- General Principles of Law
- Genocide
- Georgia and International Law
- Grotius, Hugo
- Habeas Corpus
- Hijaz and International Law, The
- History of International Law, 1550–1700
- Hostilities, Direct Participation in
- Human Rights
- Human Rights and Regional Protection, Relativism and Unive...
- Human Rights, European Court of
- Human Rights, Foundations of
- Human Trafficking
- Hybrid International Criminal Tribunals
- Immunities
- Immunity, Sovereign
- Indigenous Peoples
- Individual Criminal Responsibility
- Institutional Law
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and Inte...
- International and Non-International Armed Conflict, Detent...
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- International Community
- International Court of Justice
- International Criminal Court, The
- International Criminal Law, Complicity in
- International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ...
- International Fisheries Law
- International Humanitarian Law
- International Humanitarian Law, Targeting in
- International Investment Agreements, Fair and Equitable Tr...
- International Investment Arbitration
- International Investment Law, Expropriation in
- International Law, Aggression in
- International Law, Amnesty and
- International Law and Economic Development
- International Law, Anthropology and
- International Law, Big Data and
- International Law, Climate Change and
- International Law, Derogations and Reservations in
- International Law, Dispute Settlement in
- International Law, Ecofeminism and
- International Law, Espionage in
- International Law, Hegemony in
- International Law in Greek
- International Law in Italian
- International Law in Northeast Asia
- International Law in Portuguese
- International Law in Turkish
- International Law, Marxist Approaches to
- International Law, Military Intervention in
- International Law, Money Laundering in
- International Law, Monism and Dualism in
- International Law, Peacekeeping in
- International Law, Proportionality in
- International Law, Reasonableness in
- International Law, Recognition in
- International Law, Self-Determination in
- International Law, State Responsibility in
- International Law, State Succession in
- International Law, the State in
- International Law, The Turkish-Greek Population Exchange a...
- International Law, the Turn to History in
- International Law, Trade and Development in
- International Law, Unequal Treaties in
- International Law, Use of Force in
- International Regulation of the Internet
- International Rule of Law, An
- International Territorial Administration
- International Trade and Human Rights
- Intervention, Humanitarian
- Investment Protection Treaties
- Investor-State Conciliation and Mediation
- Iran and International Law
- Iraq War, Britain and the
- Islamic Cooperation, International Law and the Organizatio...
- Islamic International Law
- Islamic Law and Human Rights
- Islands
- Jerusalem
- Jurisdiction
- Jurisprudence (Judicial Law-Making)
- Jus Cogens
- Just War
- Landlocked Countries and the Law of the Sea
- Law of the Sea
- Law of Treaties, The
- Law-Making by Non-State Actors
- League of Nations, The
- Lebanon, Special Tribunal for
- Legal Status of Military Forces Abroad
- Liability for International Environmental Harm
- Liberation and Resistance Movements
- Mandates in International Law
- Maritime Delimitation
- Martens Clause
- Medieval International Law
- Mens Rea, International Crimes
- Middle East Boundaries and State Formation
- Migration
- Military Necessity
- Military Occupation
- Minorities
- Modes of Participation
- Most-Favored-Nation Clauses
- Multinational Corporations in International Law
- Nationality and Statelessness
- Natural Law
- Neutrality
- New Approaches to International Law
- New Haven School of International Law, The
- Non liquet
- Noninternational Armed Conflict (“Civil War”)
- Nonstate Actors
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation
- Nuremberg Trials
- Organizations, International
- Pacifism in International Law
- Palestine (and the Israel Question)
- Peace Treaties
- Piracy
- Political Science, International Law and
- Positivism
- Private Military and Security Companies
- Protection, Diplomatic
- Public Interest, Human Rights, and Foreign Investment
- Queering International Law
- Rational Choice Theory
- Recognition of Foreign Penal Judgments
- Refugees
- Rendition, Extraterritorial Abduction, and Extraordinary R...
- Reparations
- Russian Approaches to International Law
- Sanctions, International
- Sanctions, International
- Secession
- Self-Defense
- Slavery
- Soft Law
- Space Law
- Spanish School of International Law (c. 16th and 17th Cent...
- Sports Law, International
- State of Necessity
- Superior Orders
- Taba Arbitration, The
- Teaching International Law
- Territorial Title
- Terrorism
- The 1948 Arab-Israeli Conflict and International Law
- The Ottoman Empire and International Law
- Theory, Critical International Legal
- Tibet
- Tokyo Trials, The
- Torture
- Transnational Constitutionalism, Africa and
- Transnational Corruption
- Treaty Interpretation
- Ukrainian Approaches
- UN Partition Plan for Palestine and International Law, The
- UN Security Council, Women and the
- Underwater Cultural Heritage
- Unilateral Acts
- United Nations and its Principal Organs, The
- Universal Jurisdiction
- Uti Possidetis Iuris
- Vatican and the Holy See
- Victims’ Rights, International Criminal Law, and Proceedin...
- War Crimes
- Watercourses, International
- Western Sahara