2017 Essays

How today's despots and kleptocrats hide their stolen wealth

Cooley, Alexander A.; Sharman, Jason

International watchdogs and scholarly writings tend to suggest that corruption is a national, bordered phenomenon best assessed and countered on a state-by-state basis. This is wrong. We argue that the conventional understanding of grand corruption is badly flawed and complacent. The real fight is against cross-border flows of tainted money and Western financial centers, which launder corrupt money and help people spend it. Instead of drawing a dichotomy between corrupt and clean countries, we should look at the role of transnational networks, which create a symbiotic relationship between the source countries of grand corruption and the destination host or haven countries that receive the loot.