Normalizing Corruption? The Worldview of Corruption Professionals

At the encouragement of various international bodies, including the OECD, World Bank, and IMF, countries throughout the Global North have introduced measures in recent decades to address corruption across public and private domains. Many, however, have found it difficult to hold offending parties to account. To examine the current situation, in autumn 2022, we designed and conducted an online survey on Corruption in Canada. Using purposive sampling, we sent the survey to lawyers, anti-corruption advocates, government officials, and regulatory agents working in or knowledgeable about corruption and compliance across the country. The survey aimed to assess the extent to which key actors in the anti-corruption field adhere to orthodox conceptions of corruption—namely, the view that corruption, principally understood as bribery, is primarily the result of individual moral failure, is concentrated among public sector officials rather than private actors, and occurs predominantly in less developed countries with ‘poor governance,’ insufficient enforcement, and inadequate laws. We argue that this perspective fails to consider structural factors embedded in globalized neoliberal capitalism. The paper situates Canada’s anti-corruption ‘strategy’ within this broader context and considers possible avenues for holding capital to account in this challenging political and economic environment.