Publication

This policy brief argues that even in volatile, difficult situations, donors should combat corruption head-on as a key element in strategies of stabilization and state-building. The authors argue that efforts to tackle corruption cannot be dissociated from other tasks that are fundamental to state-building, such as stabilizing a nationally recognized central state authority; professionalizing political and administrative institutions to safeguard them as much as possible from private and parochial interests; and generally building trust between the state and citizens.