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Blurring the line between licit and illicit: transnational corruption networks in Central Asia and beyond

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  • Alexander Cooley
  • J.C. Sharman

Abstract

The anti-corruption norm in both scholarship and the policy world has too narrowly focused on the domestic and institutional context of bribe-taking and public corruption. Instead, we argue that corruption in the contemporary global economy requires a multiple set of connected transactions, processes, and relationships that take place within informal transnational networks that blur the line between illegal and legal activities. These networks include multinational companies, elites in host countries, offshore financial vehicles and conduits, middlemen and brokers, and destination financial institutions. We examine how these actors operate in Central Asia, a region that is widely identified as corrupt, yet is rarely understood as embedded in the types of global processes, offshore connections and transnational links specified in our analysis. Examples of offshore centers in tax planning from Central Asia, and partial results from a field experiment based on impersonating high corruption risks from four Central Asian states, provide evidence for how the various actors in transnational financial networks structure their dealings. We then present two brief illustrative cases of how these transnational networks have operated in energy explorations services in Kazakhstan and telecommunications contracts in Uzbekistan. Our findings have theoretical, practical, and normative implications for scholars and practitioners of Central Asian international political economy and other ‘high risk' regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Cooley & J.C. Sharman, 2015. "Blurring the line between licit and illicit: transnational corruption networks in Central Asia and beyond," Central Asian Survey, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 11-28, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:ccasxx:v:34:y:2015:i:1:p:11-28
    DOI: 10.1080/02634937.2015.1010799
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    Cited by:

    1. Abel Polese & Gian Marco Moisé & Olha Lysa & Tanel Kerikmäe & Arnis Sauka & Oleksandra Seliverstova, 2022. "Presenting the results of the shadow economy survey in Ukraine while reflecting on the future(s) of informality studies," Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 101-123, January.
    2. Abel Polese & Gian Marco Moisé & Talshyn Tokyzhanova & Tommaso Aguzzi & Tanel Kerikmäe & Ainoura Sagynbaeva & Arnis Sauka & Oleksandra Seliverstova, 2023. "Informality versus shadow economy: reflecting on the first results of a manager’s survey in Kyrgyzstan," Central Asian Survey, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 149-170, January.
    3. Tim Legrand & Christian Leuprecht, 2021. "Securing cross-border collaboration: transgovernmental enforcement networks, organized crime and illicit international political economy [A tale of two borders: The US-Canada and US-Mexico lines af," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(4), pages 565-586.

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