Working Paper: Redefining Sectors - a more focused approach to tackling corruption

This working paper describes a different approach to tackling corruption problems, grounded in ‘sectors’ rather than in public administration and national-level approaches. Reforms are more likely to get traction when there is an identifiable community – like within a sector – who will adapt generalised reforms to the particular circumstances of their profession and their sector. A sector approach also enables anti-corruption efforts to be framed as one of the means to achieving desired reforms within any given sector, rather than as a stand-alone ‘corruption benefit’. The broader political and social environment will always be relevant, but by starting with the sector as the prime element of context – in all its functional, cultural and political detail – practitioners can thereby advance the depth of their analysis and plans. Draft as at November 2019. Comments welcome.