Bratsis, P 2011, The new politics of corruption: from the white man's burden to the relative autonomy of the state , in: International Studies Association Annual Conference, March 16-19, 2011, Montreal. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The emergence of the ever growing anti-corruption movement from the early '90s onwards has proven itself to be of considerable importance in how we understand and explain global inequalities as well as in redefining corruption as a lack of transparency. This paper will examine the timing and content of this international anti-corruption movement. It will argue that, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the move to a unipolar global order, anti-corruption discourse has arisen as a new version of the 'white man's burden', a justification for intervention into the domestic politics of less powerful states as well as an explanation for their relative poverty. Concurrently, it has functioned to push states into increasing their autonomy from local interests and fractions of capital in oder to become more subservient and hospitable to transnational capital as a whole.

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