KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast

In this episode of KickBack, host Robert Barrington is joined by Professor Matthew Stephenson, one of the podcast’s original founders, and Professor Liz David-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity and Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, to take a wide-ranging look at trends in corruption and anti-corruption.

The conversation explores key thinkers and writers that have shaped their understanding of the field, as well as broader reflections on the state of corruption studies and whether there are grounds for optimism about anti-corruption interventions. They also revisit lessons from past cases of corruption and reform, and examine the relationship between democratic accountability, the rule of law, and corruption.

Additional themes include the role of artificial intelligence in shaping approaches to tackling corruption, alongside discussion of the panel’s favourite books and films on the subject. The episode concludes with reflections on what they would most like to teach in a Master’s course on corruption, and which topics they see as most important for the next generation of students in the field.

Links to discussed publications:

Articles

Cuèllar, M.F. and Stephenson, M.C., 2022. Taming systemic corruption: the American experience and its implications for contemporary debates. World Development, 155, p.105755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105755

Dávid-Barrett, E., 2023. State capture and development: a conceptual framework. Journal of International Relations and Development, p.1. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-023-00290-6

Dobson Phillips, R.., Dávid-Barrett, E. and Barrington, R., 2025. Defining corruption in context. Perspectives on Politics, pp.1-15. doi:10.1017/S153759272400286X

Stephenson, M.C., 2020. Corruption as a self-reinforcing trap: Implications for reform strategy. The World Bank Research Observer, 35(2), pp.192-226. https://academic.oup.com/wbro/article-abstract/35/2/192/5857269

Wathne, C. and Stephenson, M.C., 2021. The credibility of corruption statistics. A critical review of ten global estimates, April, U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, https://www.u4.no/publications/the-credibility-of-corruption-statistics

Recommended viewing and reading

Novine - Croatian TV drama 2016-2022

All the King's Men - Oscar-winning film of 1949 (re-made in 2006)

No Longer At Ease - 1960 novel by Chinua Achebe

In this episode of KickBack, host Rebecca Dobson-Phillips is joined by David Jackson, Principal Adviser at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, to explore the changing landscape of anti-corruption and the key themes of the new book Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World.

Reflecting on three decades of progress in the anti-corruption field, the conversation examines how contemporary political turbulence is reshaping anti-corruption efforts through three lenses: contestation, abuse and innovation. Rebecca and David discuss how anti-corruption initiatives can be challenged, manipulated or even weaponised, while also highlighting innovative responses that build resilience through civil society, new alliances and emerging technologies.

The episode concludes with a discussion of anti-corruption's broader role in democratic defence, emphasising the importance of accountability institutions, investigative journalism and social mobilisation in responding to today's increasingly complex political environment.

Links to the publication discussed in this episode:

Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World: Contestation, Abuse, and Innovation. Edited by David Jackson, Inge Amundsen and David Aled Williams: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003531920/anti-corruption-discordant-world-david-jackson-inge-amundsen-david-aled-williams

In this episode of Kickback, host Tom Shipley sits down with Thom Townsend, the executive director of Open Ownership, and Alanna Markle, the senior manager for policy and research at Open Ownership, to map out the global research agenda for Beneficial Ownership Transparency (BOT).

Highlighting cutting-edge research from a recent symposium of 150 global experts, the conversation explores how BOT is being used across diverse sectors, from tracking media capture to mapping real estate. Thom and Alanna discuss the methodological struggles of measuring the real-world impact of hidden illicit finances, and issue an urgent call for academic researchers to help find the anti-corruption movement's ultimate "holy grail": definitively proving the economic value of investing in transparency.

Links to discussed publications:

Research Symposium Synthesis Report: Evidence and impact of beneficial ownership transparency: https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/httpswwwopenownershiporgenpublicationsresearch-symposium-synthesis-report/

From reform to results: Introducing BEAM, a new programme to measure impact in beneficial ownership transparency:
https://www.openownership.org/en/blog/from-reform-to-results-introducing-beam-a-new-programme-to-measure-impact-in-beneficial-ownership-transparency/

In this episode of Kickback, host Elizabeth David-Barrett is joined by Marina Nistotskaya, Professor at the Department of Political Science and researcher at the Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg.

The conversation explores the role of merit-based recruitment in shaping effective and impartial bureaucracies. Marina discusses how hiring processes influence both competence and independence, and why this distinction is critical for resisting political interference and corruption.
The discussion also considers the appropriate balance between political appointments and bureaucratic autonomy, highlighting current debates and trends across different countries. Finally, the episode looks at newer areas of research, including how ambiguity in laws and the outsourcing of state functions can affect decision-making and public service outcomes.

Links to Marina's research:

Futures for the Public Sector. Leuven University Press, 2025. Project MUSE
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/258/oa_edited_volume/chapter/4135540/pdf

Legal Clarity and Impartiality: A Global Experimental Study of Consistency in Bureaucratic Decision Making, Joakim Nilsson and Marina Nistotskaya, 2025:
https://gupea.ub.gu.se/items/fcf9aa18-e71f-4831-abbe-a89e3576bd1a

To the Short-Sighted Victor Belong the Spoils: Politics and Merit Adoption in Comparative Perspective, Victor Lapuente and Marina Nistotskaya, 2009:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2009.01446.x

On mechanisms of meritocratic recruitment: competence and impartiality, Palina Kolvani and Marina Nistotskaya, 2025:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/on-mechanisms-of-meritocratic-recruitment-competence-and-impartiality/B1DA105768AA5083DFF61F79E640AB39

Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services,
Carl Dahlström, Marina Nistotskaya, and Maria Tyrberg, 2018:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/padm.12387

The UK's anti-money laundering system involves 88 organizations across policy, supervision, and enforcement, but does this complex network actually work? In this episode, host Robert Barrington speaks with Diana Bociga about her research using social network analysis to map how these organizations collaborate. Diana's findings reveal a system operating across two disconnected dimensions, strategic policy-making and tactical intelligence-sharing, where engagement in one often doesn't translate to the other. While public sector bodies serve as crucial brokers connecting different parts of the network, some brokerage roles are duplicated while others are missing entirely. The conversation explores whether the solution to improving effectiveness lies in adding more connections or fundamentally rethinking how the network is organized.

Diana Bociga, Elisa Bellotti, Nicholas Lord, The Network Architecture of Anti-money Laundering: Strategic and Tactical (Dis)Connections in the UK’s Policy, Supervision, and Enforcement Landscape, The British Journal of Criminology, 2025.
https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/bjc/azaf101/8368980