Corruption is often portrayed as a problem of weaker states, while the European Union (EU) or United States presents themselves as a global leaders in public integrity. Yet scandals such as Qatargate of profit form conflicts of interest of President Trump challenge this self-image. Companies from some of the EU’s strongest economies—including Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden—have paid billions in fines for bribery and influence trading abroad, revealing that corruption is not confined to isolated individuals or less developed contexts. Rather, it is deeply embedded in political and economic systems that blur the boundaries between public authority and private interest. While the EU is formed of member states with different qualities of governance (Italy versus Germany, for instance), how this variety translates into common practices at EU level has never been seriously studied. A recent attempt to adopt joint EU anticorruption regulation in 2026 ended with unambitious results. This course approaches corruption not simply as illegal bribery, but as undue influence and institutional corruption: the distortion of public decision-making by concentrated private power. Drawing on comparisons between the European Union, the United States, and less developed countries, it explores how formal democratic institutions can coexist with practices that undermine integrity, accountability, and public trust. While advanced democracies often succeed in limiting overt forms of public corruption, they remain vulnerable to systemic forms of influence operating through lobbying, finance, revolving doors, and transnational corporate networks. The course further argues that the consequences of systemic corruption become especially severe in periods of war, geopolitical insecurity, and economic crisis. Corruption weakens institutions, erodes social trust, distorts strategic decisions, and amplifies inequality, with effects that extend far beyond national borders. From fragile states to major global powers, corruption undermines democratic resilience and collective security, making it not merely a legal or ethical issue, but one of political stability and international order. This is a research class benefiting from the data inputs of one of the largest social science Horizon projects, BridgeGap (corruptiondata.eu). The students are treated not merely as learners, but as junior researchers and co-creators of knowledge and video material to promote awareness of corruption. Through collaborative assignments, policy diagnostics, and applied research exercises, they will develop analytical and investigative skills commonly used in contemporary anti-corruption research and governance assessment. The course combines conceptual analysis with practical exercises, case studies, data analysis, and policy-oriented discussions to help students engage with one of the defining governance challenges of the twenty-first century.

Knowledge and understanding - By the end of the course, students will be able to: · Understand major theories and definitions of corruption · Analyze corruption as a governance and policy problem · Distinguish between concepts such as clientelism, crony capitalism, kleptocracy, and state capture · Examine corruption risks within the European Union and contemporary democracies · Evaluate the role of political finance, lobbying, and influence networks in democratic systems · Use contemporary corruption indicators, procurement-risk measures, and governance datasets · Conduct corruption diagnostics, stakeholder analyses, and comparative governance assessments · Design context-sensitive anti-corruption strategies and reform coalitions · Critically assess the effectiveness and limitations of anti-corruption policies and international interventions · Develop practical research skills using investigative and comparative analytical tools · Critically examine whether globalization and democratic capitalism can survive rising forms of cronyism and state capture. Application of knowledge - Gain experience in reading and coding governance indicators. - Become acquainted with engaging in critical discussion in front of a larger audience, communicating questions or comments in a clear way to the rest of the class, thus stimulating a general debate. - Develop policy analysis skills.

This course addresses the core themes, theories and methods within the field of corruption studies.

Heidenheimer, A. J., Johnston, M., & LeVine, V. T. (Eds.). (2024). Political corruption: A handbook. Taylor & Francis. Mungiu-Pippidi, A. (2015). The Quest for Good Governance: How Societies Develop Control of Corruption. Cambridge University Press.

On-site interactive lecture (90 min) on site followed by a next day seminar session (90 min). Guest speakers, group presentations and exercises fill in the seminar. Please note that some class times may be changed due to guest availability. The guests will be interviewed by professor and class rather than lecture, to keep a dynamic format. The class will participate in a one day review of European anticorruption regulation. The use of AI as a tool to research, learn and improve presentations is allowed. A clear specification should be made on any written assignment on why and how it was used, including the specific prompts introduced by the student. It can be introduced as a reference note.

The course grade will be based on continuous assessment, designed to fully prepare students as skilled analysts. Specifically, the grade for this course will be determined on the basis of the following components: 1) Assignment 1a – group work (30%). The students will join a group and work jointly to prepare a 4-5000 words essay and a ppt presentation on the topics listed below. The essay must be submitted at the end of the semester on the exam day after the presentations calendar is below. The feedback from the presentation in class will serve to finalize the essay. The structure will be agreed with the instructor beforehand. 2) Assignment 1b - group work (20%) – the teams will prepare jointly a short script for an interactive online assignment with the goal to popularize corruption study inspired from their own assignment in class. They will have the freedom to design, shoot and edit a maximum 3 minutes video material using one of the many online tools they will work with during the class for the use of a lay person (a potential Coursera attendant). 3) Assignment 2 – individual work (50%). Students will individually work to create and complete a database of corruption scandals at European level starting after the fall of the Jacques Santer commission. The list will be brainstormed jointly with the teaching team, which will assist into the design of the database so that it can serve for analysis by social network analysis (SNA). The database is due November 15, midnight. The class will also engage the students in other roles, such as role playing, interviewers of guests, blog writers (on the scandals they cover). These interventions are considered part of participation and bonuses are granted for the most creative and engaged students. Table 1. Group topics: Topics for seminar group presentations 1) Preventive regulation team (conflict of interest, asset recovery, whistleblowing) (using Europam.eu) 2) Criminal regulation team (using EUCAL on corruptiondata.eu) 3) Enforcement team (using reports of enforcement agencies Europol, EPPO, member states) 4) European Parliament team (using Europam.eu, disciplinary reports) 5) Transparency team (using FOI on Europam.eu, European Transparency map) 6) EU funds corruption team (using OLAF, EPPO, other sources) 7) Lobby team (using the interactive database of Transparency International.EU) 8) Strategic corruption team (Russia, China, the Gulf- using sources like OCCRP, CSD, etc). 9) Public opinion team (Eurobarometer, business, civil society)

The multisite European Center for Anticorruption and State-Building (ERCAS, www.againstcorruption.eu) chaired by Professor Pippidi owns databases on corruption, and has several donor clients (such as World Bank, UNODC, European institutions, ANAC). MA theses are encouraged based on both quantitative and qualitative (country studies, international organizations, policy analysis designs) using the data and the real clients cooperating with the centre. The best will be published as working papers (see examples in the WP collection of www.againstcorruption.eu).