The Role of Anti-Corruption Commissions in Changing Cultural Attitudes towards Corruption and the Rule of Law

Abstract

This paper is narrow in scope and addresses how an emerging anti-corruption tool, the anti-corruption commission, can play an important role in changing cultural attitudes towards corruption and the rule of law. Citizen participation and engagement has been long-featured as a best practice for development; however, too much focus has been placed on directing this through civil society organisations. What this paper seeks to illustrate is that citizen engagement by government institutions can have a meaningful impact in changing perceptions towards the role of government and the meaning of the rule of law - especially in societies where the government has been long perceived as elitist and far from reach. Anti-corruption commissions are by no means a panacea; however, by directly engaging the public and creating a role for the citizen in the fight against corruption, anti-corruption commissions are able to include the once powerless directly into the process, and thereby help alleviate the culture of complacency that has plagued corrupt States.