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Public policy Analysis

Bridging the Gaps in Evidence, Regulation and Impact of Anticorruption Policies (BRIDGEGAP). 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2027

Abstract

BRIDGEGAP is a multidisciplinary research project reuniting former members of the ANTICORRP consortium (Transparency International, ERCAS/SAR, CSD, University of PISA, University of Perugia) who have continued to invest in the development of data commons allowing corruption understanding and monitoring on the basis of objective data (e.g. Integrity Watch, Index for Public Integrity, T-Index, Russian Economic Footprint), with new academic partners who published novel methods to measure money laundering (Utrecht University) anthropologists and criminologists who pioneered corruption studies in liberal democracies (IFFS), and new IT groups like the Ukrainian organisation YouControl, the first to interconnect data to enable searches of the assets of sanctioned individuals through its algorithm Follow the Money. BRIDGEGAP fills the knowledge gaps regarding both the extent to and the mechanisms by which corruption infiltrates open societies even across borders and it produces measurements of corruption across countries and time by itsinnovative models, as well associal network maps. It also assesses and offerssolutionsto the digital transparency gaps, ranging from the tools of transparency, the use and abuse of technology in corruption and anticorruption to the state of it. Finally, it assesses public accountability and anticorruption regulation across EUMS and candidate states to identify regulatory and impact gaps, thus addressing the academia–policy gap in corruption studies. The research will result in academic publications as well as in interactive analytical and research commons like comparative law repositories EU Compass, European Transparency Index, Follow the Money search engines across newly interconnected databases. All its pooled data will be displayed transparently on the website as a Data Hub and will offer end users the same investigation and analytical tools as the project researchers, inviting crowd-sourcing and offering online tutorials. The Work Package of the University of Antwerp will carry out an original survey assessing managers' perceptions, trust and propensity to comply with organisational Integrity Management Systems. Then, it will execute survey experiments in order to extend the understanding of the impact of the integrity systems on the perceptions, trust and behaviour of top and middle managers in different contexts (e.g., private vs public vs hybrid organisations and partnerships, controlling for cultural values). Participants in both surveys and experiments are recruited as part of panels of managers from selected industries such as banking, competition agencies and energy providers.

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  • Research Project