Strategies to Fight Corruption as a Central Element of Governance

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of corruption through a lens recognizing that corruption is not only about corrupt individuals. It is not particular to specific cultures or economic or political systems. Corruption is also about the ‘corrupters’, the institutional and organized corrupt entities which operate on a national and international level. They can ‘capture’ states and can survive even the loss of individual members or the organization captured through traditional criminal methods. Section 2 of this paper examines and defines the problem of corruption by focusing of ‘corrupters’. Section 3 addresses the limitations of traditional criminal enforcement methods in confronting such complex criminal organizations, and Section 4 suggests new strategies for dealing with these kinds of corruption, including prevention and achieving guarantees of non-repetition. The paper concludes with recommendations on how to move forward.