Anja Gebel
Tel: +44 (0)1970 623111 ext 4991
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622709
Email: acg08@aber.ac.uk
Project work
Hegemony and Antagonism - Opening up the International Anti-Corruption Consensus
The thesis critically investigates the so-called international anti-corruption consensus (on the importance of corruption as well as on adequate counter-measures) which has arguably evolved since the early 1990s. It starts from the assumption that, as a negative-normative concept, corruption implicitly carries conceptions of a politico-economic ideal that is being subverted by corruption.
Drawing on Laclau-Mouffian discourse and hegemony theory, the thesis aims to inquire deeply into the nature of these ideals, asking to what extent the IAC discourse actually constitutes one consensual, hegemonic interpretation of corruption and the respective politico-economic ideals (which exists against the background of a set of marginalised antagonistic discourses on corruption); or whether the different discourses on corruption and anti-corruption brought forward by different institutions articulate differing and partly contradictory conceptions of corruption. The nature of these discourses is being analysed through a discourse analysis of policy documents as well as practices of three major and diverse IAC institutions - World Bank, UNDP and Transparency International.
The overall aim of the thesis is therefore to say something towards the question how the meanings of corruption, politics and economics are being shaped and fixed (and given universal relevance?) through their articulation in IAC discourse.
Publications and conference presentations
‘Dealing with dislocations – international anticorruption discourse and neoliberal hegemony’, paper prepared for the International Studies Association Annual Convention 2012, April 1-4 (San Diego).
'Occupy - alternativenfreier Protest als Verkoerperung Foucaultscher Kritik? Kritische Anmerkungen‘, input given at Hegemonie- und Diskurstheorie-Workshop VI [Workshop on Hegemony and Discourse Theory VI], 20/21 April 2012 (Frankfurt/Main).
Human nature and morality in the anti-corruption discourse of Transparency International, in: Public Administration and Development 2012 / 32 / 1, pp. 109-128.
‘The ‘local’ in the World Bank’s anticorruption discourse’. Presentation held at Third World Politics Research Group Workshop ‘Unpacking ‘The Local’ in Research and Practice’, Aberystwyth University, 10 June 2011.
Macht Relativismus Forschung unmöglich? Ein Argument für epistemologischen Relativismus am Beispiel der Korruption, in: Kölner Forum für Internationale Beziehungen und Sicherheitspolitik e. V. (KFIBS), KFIBS-Studie, deutsche Online-Ausgabe (German online edition) 1/2011, 29 pages (available online at http://www.kfibs.org/assets/files/article/onlineausgabe/KFIBS2011-01_gebel_macht_relativismus.pdf)
‘As corrupt as the system allows – integrity, ethics and prevention in Transparency International’s anticorruption discourse’. Presentation held at British International Studies Association Annual Conference, Manchester, 27-29 April 2011
(with Malte Gephart) ‘The International Anti-Corruption Campaign: Consensus and Contestation at the International and Local Level’. Presentation held at International Studies Association Annual Convention, Montreal, CAN, 16-19 March, 2011.
(with Malte Gephart) ‘Governing Corruption: Exploring the Political Dynamics of the International Anti-Corruption Enterprise’. Panel organised at
International Studies Association Annual Convention, Montreal, CAN, 16-19 March 2011.
‘Korruption als Mangel an Allgemeinem, und der Ort der Kritik: Universale Idealvorstellungen von Politik und Wirtschaft im internationalen Antikorruptionsdiskurs’ [‘Corruption as lack of the universal, and the location of the critique: universal ideals of politics and economics in the international anticorruption discourse’]. Presentation held at Diskursanalyse und Kritik II, Bremen, 3-5 March, 2011.
‘Das Schoene und das Biest - politisch-ökonomische Ideale in Transparency Internationals Antikorruptionsdiskurs’ [‘The beautiful and the beast – politico-economic ideals in Transparency Internationals anticorruption discourse’]. Presentation held at Hegemonie- und Diskurstheorie-Workshop III [Workshop on Hegemony and Discourse Theory III], Berlin, 8/9 October 2010.
‘Relativ ja, irrelevant nein – ein Argument für Relativismus am Beispiel Korruption’ [‘Relative yes, irrelevant no - an argument for relativism using the example of corruption‘], Paper presented at DVPW Sektion Entwicklungstheorie und Entwicklungspolitik Jahrestagung 2010 ‘Entwicklungstheorien re-loaded – Stand und Perspektiven der entwicklungstheoretischen Diskussion’ [‚Development theories reloaded – state of art and perspectives in development theory’], Hamburg, 15-17 July, 2010.
‘Hegemonietheorie als Weg zur kritischen Analyse des Internationalen Anti-Korruptions Konsensus’ [’Hegemony Theory as a way to critically analyse the International Anticorruption Consensus’]. Presentation held at Hegemonie- und Diskurstheorie-Workshop II [Workshop on Hegemony and Discourse Theory II], Erlangen, 9/10 April 2010.
‘Conceptions of political corruption – challenges to mainstream international anti-corruption theory and practice’. Project presented at the 4th International Conference in Interpretive Policy Analysis, Kassel, 25-27 June, 2009
