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HEStaff exchange2023–2026

MOCCA · Multilevel Orders of Corruption in Central Asia

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2023-01-01 → 2026-12-31
EU contribution
€1,656,000
Participants
24
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Multilevel Orders of Corruption in Central Asia

Corruption has become, without a doubt, a buzzword in both academic and policy debates over the last three decades. The initial view that “corruption greases the wheels of economic growth” in the newly independent states of Africa and Asia has lost its validity in light of the current ever-growing global coalition against corruption, spearheaded by Transparency International (TI) and the World Bank. However, despite the unrelenting global anti-corruption efforts, one thing seems clear: There is no such thing as a remedy to this “cancer”. In light of the obvious failure of global anti-corruption initiatives, there has been a growing call to rethink the existing approaches, arguing for the necessity to understand better what corruption is, why it occurs, and what we can do to stop it. Rather than critically reflecting on policy failures, global (Western-centric) anti-corruption strategies still continue to rely on mainstream economic-based attempts or legal centralistic normative approaches that fail to consider the contextual factors and mechanisms that explain the persistence of corruption. The MOCCA project responds to the efforts and challenges of understanding and counteracting corruption by conducting studies on the multilevel orders of corruption in the context of five countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). More specifically, MOCCA is constructed around three interlinked goals which are to: 1) collect original empirical data (based on research solidly grounded in fieldwork) on the interplay between global anti-corruption norms, nation-state laws, and local meso- and micro-level (everyday) legal cultures in Central Asia and their implications for understanding corruption and its societal effects; 2) engage with and situate our research in relevant theoretical debates and thereby advance scholarly debates on (anti-) corruption by developing new conceptual and methodological approaches to study and understand it; 3) provide strategic intelligence for EU-based political and economic actors interested or already working in the region and inform international organisations and decision-makers in the EU and Central Asia on ways to combat corruption and improve the business and investment climate, the rule of law and governance in the region.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Corruption has become a buzzword in both academic and policy debates over the last three decades. The initial view that “corruption greases the wheels of economic growth” in the newly independent states of Africa and Asia has lost its validity in the light of the current ever-growing global coalition against corruption, spearheaded by Transparency International and the World Bank. Despite the unrelenting global anti-corruption efforts, one thing seems clear: There is no such thing as a remedy to this “cancer”. In the light of the obvious failure of global anti-corruption initiatives, there has been a growing call to rethink the existing approaches, arguing for the necessity to understand better what corruption is, why it occurs, and what we can do to stop it. MOCCA is a research and staff exchange programme intended to contribute to the global and national efforts of understanding and counteracting corruption by conducting research on the multilevel orders of corruption in five countries in post-Soviet Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). This will enable the MOCCA team to: 1) gather original empirical data (based on research solidly grounded in fieldwork) on the interplay between international law norms, national laws, and local legal cultures and informal norms in Central Asia and their implications for understanding corruption and its societal effects; 2) engage with and situate our research in relevant theoretical debates and thereby advance scholarly debates on (anti-) corruption by developing new conceptual, methodological and comparative approaches to study and understand it; and 3) provide strategic intelligence for EU-based political and economic actors interested or already working in the region, and to inform international organisations and decision-makers in the EU and Central Asia on ways to combat corruption and improve the business and investment climate, the rule of law and governance in the region.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • LUNDS UNIVERSITET · LundCoordinatorSweden
  • AARHUS UNIVERSITET · Aarhus CDenmark
  • ANDIJAN STATE UNIVERSITY · ANDIJANUzbekistan
  • ANTICORRUPTION BUSINESS COUNCIL OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC · BishkekKyrgyzstan
  • Commissioner for Protection of Rights and Legitimate Interests of Entrepreneurs under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan · TashkentUzbekistan
  • EURASIAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES · ALMATYKazakhstan
  • FERGANA STATE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY · FERGANAUzbekistan
  • GENERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN · TashkentUzbekistan
  • HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO · HelsinkiFinland
  • ISTANBUL MEDIPOL UNIVERSITESI · IstanbulTürkiye
  • KURULTAI PE · OHANGARONUzbekistan
  • MARMARA UNIVERSITY · IstanbulTürkiye
  • NEKOMMERCHESKOE AKCIONERNOE OBSHCHESTVO ZHETYSUSKIJ UNIVERSITET IMENI IL'YASA ZHANSUGUROVA · TaldykorganKazakhstan
  • OSCE ACADEMY IN BISHKEK · BishkekKyrgyzstan
  • PUBLIC FOUNDATION TRANSPARENCY KAZAKHSTAN · ALMATYKazakhstan
  • SIHTASUTUS ESTONIAN BUSINESS SCHOOL · HARJU MAAKOND TALLINNEstonia
  • TAJIK STATE UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE · DushanbeTajikistan
  • TASHKENT KIMYO INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · TASHKENTUzbekistan
  • TEBIGY KUWWAT PUBLIC ASSOCIATION · Asgabat SaheriTurkmenistan
  • TOSHKENT DAVLAT IQTISODIYOT UNIVERSITETI · TashkentUzbekistan
  • TOSHKENT SHAHRIDAGI XALQARO WESTMINSTER UNIVERSITETI · TashkentUzbekistan
  • UNIVERSITAT ZURICH · ZurichSwitzerland
  • UNIVERZITA KARLOVA · Praha 1Czechia
  • VILNIAUS UNIVERSITETAS · VilniusLithuania

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union