Fifteen Minutes of Shame: The Growing Notoriety of Grand Corruption

Authors

Mary Evans Webster

Abstract

Today the international community is focused, like never before, on efforts to reduce corruption as an essential component of poverty eradication. Grand corruption is the payment of bribes in connection with major interactions such as large infrastructure projects or arms sales and the abuse of political power to extract and accumulate for private gain. In the last five years, the United Nations, the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development have all launched aggressive new agendas to address the crime of grand corruption. But, these agendas are not without their shortcomings and ardent critics. This article explores the increased attention grand corruption is receiving and some of the political issues surrounding it. Arguing that legal reform must come both from within corrupt countries and in the form of international law, the author then examines a number of legal options for fighting grand corruption.

Recommended Citation

Mary Evans Webster, Fifteen Minutes of Shame: The Growing Notoriety of Grand Corruption, 31 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 807 (2008).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol31/iss2/10