ABSTRACT
Promoting integrity, whether in public institutions or in the domain of private corporations, has had a variable history around the world. In the ‘developing’ countries, the scale and extent of corruption is generally perceived as much higher than in the ‘advanced’ democratic countries. In societies where there is little history of respect for institutions that reinforce fairness, equity, civility and tolerance, the effective promotion of institutional integrity is very difcult. For example, standards and codes of ethical conduct are difcult to establish and even more difcult to implement and enforce effectively, if the state itself is not a champion of civil rights and the rule of law. Conversely, it is difcult to expect state ofcials to form an oasis of integrity if the wider norms of business and civil society are characterized by opportunism and coercion.
