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Heather Marquette's research has influenced aid agencies by encouraging them to recognise corruption as a primarily political issue as opposed to an economic or managerial matter. This shift in understanding has contributed to a change in perception among professionals on anti-corruption and to alterations in programmes and practices among a number of organisations including EuropeAid, AusAid and the World Bank Institute.
Marquette has directly contributed to policy thinking by providing expert technical support to the anti-corruption programmes of a range of international aid agencies and non-governmental organisations. As well as direct guidance, her commissioned advisory activity has included the provision of high-level training for donors and their partners, focussing on the politics of corruption, anti-corruption programming and the role of popular attitudes in supporting or undermining governance reform.
Corruption research in the University of Surrey, has focused on analysing the gaps in anti-corruption strategies and suggestions for improvements have impacted in two ways:
(1) a contribution to discussions at the policy-making level of international organisations (the OECD and the UN) resulting in recommendations for changes, and
(2) the transfer of the experience and expertise gained in survey methodology adopted in the Surrey `Corruption in International Business' project to the questionnaire design and content of three projects — Bribery in the UK, National Integrity Survey and Integrity in the Defence Sector — conducted by the UK chapter of Transparency International (TI), the globally influential anti-corruption policy-influencing Civil Society Organisation.
Since surveys play a central role in informing and driving policy making to combat corruption, they need to be founded on a robust methodology.
The impact of Professor Dominik Zaum's research is a model of how to bring novel and imaginative scholarship into the practical world of policymaking. The research, which was conducted within the UoA, examined the role of corruption in the political economy of statebuilding and stabilisation efforts. Its impact has derived from two achievements: it has shown that some forms of corruption can, in some circumstances, have stabilising effects; and it has produced a rigorous assessment of what works — and what does not work — in donor-funded anti-corruption efforts. It has thus influenced and informed the debates of policy-makers in the Department for International Development (DFID) and the inter-departmental Stabilisation Unit (SU: the UK government's centre for expertise and best practice in stabilisation). The impact of Zaum's work has been both recognised and amplified by fellowships with DFID and the SU. This has enabled Zaum himself to accentuate the impact through formal presentations, informal internal discussion, and implementation-oriented publications, thus influencing the perspectives of a policymaking community both inside and beyond these institutions. The impact can be evidenced through such measures as downloads of his policy papers, the use of these papers in training and as resources, and through the testimony of officials.
This case study centres on a body of work commissioned by Transparency international UK looking at corruption in the UK. Despite the UK scoring highly on international measures, there was a concern that the extent and impact of corruption may be somewhat hidden. Our research showed that there were several areas that are of much higher risk than previously acknowledged, especially through links to organised crime. These findings have been utilised by national law enforcement agencies to inform their continuing anti-corruption and organised crime strategies. The research has also been debated at the highest political levels in the UK.
Because corruption involves illegal activities of public officials, data about the scale and objects of bribery is not readily available. Without such evidence, policymakers are handicapped in identifying points for effective intervention. Rose's survey research on post-Communist countries developed innovative measures to monitor the payment of bribes by citizens for public services. Transparency International (TI) is the world's leading non-governmental organisation campaigning against corruption, and it has incorporated the survey methodology in its key research tool, the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB). From 2008 to 2013 Transparency International has conducted three major rounds of Global Corruption Barometer surveys that interviewed upwards of 450,000 people in more than 110 countries on every continent. Results have been disseminated worldwide through the 90 national chapters of Transparency International. Rose's expertise in sampling has also been used to improve value-for-money expenditure on GCB surveys in the many developing countries it covers.
This case study centres on a body of work, comprising three projects commissioned by Transparency International UK (TI-UK), carried out by a research team at the Centre for Strategy & Leadership (CfSL). The research notably links specific sectors with institutions of organized crime and corruption. TI-UK has labelled this work: "the most comprehensive research ever undertaken in this area" (http://www.transparency.org.uk/our-work/corruption-in-the-uk) and has influenced TI's five-year strategy and advocacy programme, informed Parliamentary debate and national security policy, and has had a major media impact given subsequent events such as the Leveson Inquiry.
Research conducted at UCL by Professor Alena Ledeneva on informal practices and governance networks in Russia led to the development of tools used by senior executives at international corporations working in Russia and elsewhere to evaluate and manage the risk of corruption in their organisations. The research also influenced the rulings and expert testimony provided in British courts affecting the outcomes of major commercial trials such as Cherney -v- Deripaska (2008) and Berezovsky -v- Abramovich (2011) as well as in extradition cases at the Westminster District Court in London.
Created in 2001, `Landscapes of Secrecy' constitutes a programme of research into secret service that has informed security and intelligence practitioners, shaped public policy debate and enhanced public awareness and attitudes. The focus has been official secrecy: how it is achieved; when it is appropriate; and how it is weighed against the right of democratic citizens to know about policies conducted in their name. Impact on key Whitehall users (Ministry of Defence, Serious Organised Crime Agency and Defence Advisory-Notice Committee) has been secured via workshops, policy-briefs and input into institutional design and training. Cultural and societal impact has been realised with internationally reviewed bestselling books, radio and television documentaries and a public exhibition in Washington DC.