ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a theoretical discussion on the domestic conditions under which external actors become able to promote anti-corruption related institutional change and influence real world outcomes in a third country. It examines the tentative explanations that are discussed in the literature on Europeanisation and external (good) governance promotion. External actors are not the primary factors behind the policy changes. Drawing upon the international relations literature, the chapter proposes three salient mechanisms through which international actors may influence the course of domestic change: conditionality, capacity building (assistance) and socialisation. The detailed empirical analysis reveals a variation in anti-corruption related institutional change in the Turkish public sector. The combination of the two factors — bureaucratic costs and administrative co-ordination — gives rise to four hypotheses that explain different patterns of institutional change. It can be argued that the domestic pressure coming from below makes corruption very difficult to get away with.