The paper stresses that public policies are implemented ineffectively in many countries also due to corruption offenses. It is inherent, in particular, to the jurisdictions that have widespread informal rules and a poor rule of law.

In order to address this problem, in developing anti-corruption measures, the SOAS-ACE experts suggest taking into consideration the factors defining actors’ behaviour in specific circumstances, paying attention to corruption risks and offences rather than to integrity.

The SOAS-ACE approach is based on three mutually complementing elements:

• Monitoring of behaviour of different actors involved in the circulation of resources related to the implementation of public policies with particular accent on the situations in which actors do not commit offences;
• Analysis of how actors’ personal interests, their relationships with other actors and the systems a part of which they are affect their behaviour;
• Development of realistic and effective suggestions on implementing public policies aimed at forming the behaviour based on compliance with the rules or encouraging such behaviour if it is already formed.

The SOAS-ACE approach is based on how the contextually defined and historically inherited institutions (formal rules and informal norms) create the conditions in which the actors responsible for the implementation of public policies adopt decisions and form perspectives and ways for social changes and reforms. The characteristics that define the behaviour of actors – whether they will seek to follow specific rules and will be able to make the others act accordingly – include the presence of:

• Production capabilities that make it possible to take advantage of the compliance with the rules;
• Sufficient interest in investing personal time and energy in complying with the rules;
• Power to stimulate the others to follow the rules, taking into account the relative power possibilities and interests of the other actors.

In scrutinizing the characteristics in specific contexts, it is possible to detect the actors who can facilitate (or, conversely, counter) the implementation of anti-corruption measures.

To this end, the SOAS-ACE experts suggest three steps of analysis:

1. The analysis of how power and resources are distributed in order to define the areas where reforms are impossible to implement and the areas where the fight against corruption can be feasible and effective;
2. Mapping of formal norms and the subsequent process of “economic ethnography”, i.e. direct monitoring of how actually the resources are spent, the power is distributed and the actors behave in practice. This analysis helps identify the entry points, where the actions of the interested parties having the necessary level of power can facilitate the reduction of the level of corruption;
3. Summarizing the information about the potential entry points collected in the previous phase, formulating, based on these data, of hypotheses about how these measures can facilitate the compliance with the rules, and thorough verification of these hypotheses with the use of additional data received through surveys and other means (for example, quantity analysis of the quality data, comparative analysis in different circumstances or experiments to assess the potential impact strategies).

In order to verify the effectiveness of this approach, the SOAS-ACE experts applied it in their analysis of corruption in climate adaptation investments in Bangladesh and in electricity sector in Nigeria.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the SOAS-ACE experts:

1. In the first phase, established that the conventional anti-corruption measures aimed at enhancing law enforcement are hampered by serious obstacles also in climate adaptation investments; at the same time, there is potential for enhancing horizontal control over compliance with the rules in this area;
2. In the second stage, detected that the formal mechanisms of vertical accountability in the country are prevalently ineffective except for the cases where climate adaptation investments are made in the settlements where small landholders and petty traders are actively engaged in horizontal monitoring of the flows of resources and the quality of construction;
3. In the final stage, verified the previously formulated hypotheses also by conducting a survey of 1,900 residents of the relevant settlements, which proved that small landholders and petty traders had sufficient power to pressure the local politicians and contractors, as well as personal interest in ensuring the effective implementation of the projects, because they had benefits from their “dual purpose” (for example, the embankments constructed with the use of climate adaptation investments were also employed as roads, and cyclone shelters – as social centres), while their engagement clearly enhanced the effectiveness of relevant projects and reduced corruption.

Based on this analysis, the SOAS-ACE experts formulated the recommendation on how to change the climate adaptation public policies: define the parameters of the dual purpose of the sites in a more precise manner in discussing the options for their future location with the local communities.

Nigeria

In analysing the electricity sector in Nigeria, the SOAS-ACE experts:

1. In the first phase, established that the country had a system of political relationships in which the competing elites struggled for power, providing the voters with material and immaterial benefits in exchange for political support; the system was characterized by shorter time horizons, poor opportunities for development and widespread political corruption with no examples of horizontal control;
2. In the second phase, confirmed that the formal mechanisms of vertical accountability were ineffective and there were no entry points. However, the SOAS-ACE experts also established that small and medium enterprises (SMEs), on the one hand, faced the legal restrictions that made them commit offences, in particular, by not paying for electricity consumption at a set rate; on the other hand, they found solutions to satisfy their needs for electricity from other sources in their collective effort. That indicated trust between SMEs, as well as the potential for implementing horizontal control;
3. In the final phase, verified the hypothesis about whether SMEs were inclined to pay for reliable electricity supply at the best price (higher than the rates of the power grid that did not provide stable supply, but more profitable than the expensive own production), which proved that the removal of the legal restrictions that made some actors violated the rules, and the provision of reliable electricity supply through mini-grids for SMEs would encourage mutual control, creating effective horizontal mechanisms outside the national grid under political control thereby encouraging compliance with the rules.

Based on the findings of the analysis the SOAS-ACE experts developed a pilot project with the use of solar power mini-grids SMEs in Abuja thereby creating the conditions for potential horizontal control due to mutual interest.

In order to enhance collective influence on the fight against corruption and support for the development and implementation of effective public policies, the SOAS-ACE experts recommend:

• Providing stakeholders with the possibility to apply the SOAS-ACE approach to combating corruption and countering associated challenges in implementing public policies;
• Facilitating joint analysis and generation of knowledge about the SOAS-ACE approach and associated approaches with the aim to improve and justify their employment;
• Engaging in wider discussions of how to address complex social challenges and associated disproportions in the distribution of power, supporting reforms in public administration adapted to specific contexts.

*SOAS-ACE is an element of the research programme “Anti-Corruption Evidence” funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and focused on the analysis of anti-corruption data from the viewpoint of different disciplines: political science, economics, anthropology, sociology and law.

Under SOAS-ACE, operating on the basis of SOAS of the University of London, the researchers’ attention is primarily centered on such countries as Tanzania, Bangladesh and Nigeria. The projects implemented provide for exploring corruption in five main areas: the activities of the media and the public bodies, in the healthcare, manufacturing sector, provision of public goods and services (for example, education) and implementation of infrastructure projects (for instance, power plants construction).