ABSTRACT
The anticorruption industry is undoubtedly strong and powerful; as is the growing criticism it is facing, not only because of its questionable results in various experiences, but also because of its unwillingness to discuss the interests of the industry itself. Anticorruption policies as part of a more general scheme of economic liberalization and the reduction of state intervention would appear to be the dominant international strategy. Corruption seen as an illness seems an obvious and even harmless formula at bottom, but the consequences of the metaphor have been many and obvious. Corruption involves many acts that generally involve different forms of reciprocity and interrelation, which can be seen and justified by different people in different ways according to the specific circumstances of the region or country. Conflict of interest is one of the clearest examples of the difficulty of classifying in black or white a practice that can be regarded as corruption at some point.
