ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the divergence between global and local views on corruption. A global anticorruption agenda, itself driven by competing values and interests, construes corruption as a quantifiable problem in need of remedies such as deregulation, liberalization, institutional reform, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) activism. Popular views of corruption, by contrast, often focus on the punishment of officials whose wealth is automatically regarded as suspect. Popular outrage at corruption is linked to resentment and anxiety about economic inequality. Corruption’s elusive definition and emotive charge mask the discrepancies between global and local agendas. At both levels, the policy and politics of anticorruption remain joined at the hip.
