For our first episode of 2026, regular host Liz David-Barrett is joined by Anna Persson, associate professor and senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.
Anna draws on extensive field research to challenge simplistic understandings of political will, and explore systemic corruption as a complex collective action problem. Anna examines how moral hazard and adverse selection shape leadership behaviour, and how corruption becomes "expected behaviour" in societies where the high individual costs of resisting systemic corruption make transparency measures insufficient. The episode also challenges the "coherent state" model, examining how competing authorities and variations in state effectiveness within countries impact anticorruption efforts.
Links to Anna's research:
Why Anticorruption Reforms Fail—Systemic Corruption as a Collective Action Problem https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01604.x?saml_referrer
The Power of Ideational Reach: A New Approach to State Capacity
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gove.70020
Responsive and Responsible Leaders: A Matter of Political Will?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/responsive-and-responsible-leaders-a-matter-of-political-will/DD7C9258D3E95E8B79CB70FA10126275
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For our first episode of 2026, regular host Liz David-Barrett is joined by Anna Persson, associate professor and senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.
Anna draws on extensive field research to challenge simplistic understandings of political will, and explore systemic corruption as a complex collective action problem. Anna examines how moral hazard and adverse selection shape leadership behaviour, and how corruption becomes "expected behaviour" in societies where the high individual costs of resisting systemic corruption make transparency measures insufficient. The episode also challenges the "coherent state" model, examining how competing authorities and variations in state effectiveness within countries impact anticorruption efforts.
Links to Anna's research:
Why Anticorruption Reforms Fail—Systemic Corruption as a Collective Action Problem https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01604.x?saml_referrer
The Power of Ideational Reach: A New Approach to State Capacity
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gove.70020
Responsive and Responsible Leaders: A Matter of Political Will?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/responsive-and-responsible-leaders-a-matter-of-political-will/DD7C9258D3E95E8B79CB70FA10126275
129. Marianne Camerer & Devi Pillay on State Capture in South Africa
KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast
53 minutes 29 seconds
9 months ago
129. Marianne Camerer & Devi Pillay on State Capture in South Africa
For this episode Dr Marianne Camerer, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, and Devi Pillay, a research fellow with the GI-ACE programme, join regular KB host Liz David-Barrett to discuss the experience of state capture in South Africa, under the presidency of Jacob Zuma.
Check out the following resources to learn more about the issues discussed in this episode:
The Open Secrets website which houses the Civil Society Working Group Against State Capture
https://www.opensecrets.org.za/civil-society-working-group-on-state-capture/
The State Capture Commission website
https://www.statecapture.org.za/
The Public Protector’s 2016 report
https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/state-capture-report-public-protector-14-october-2016
A short summary written by Devi of the Commission and its findings https://pari.org.za/summary-the-state-capture-commission
And the book "State Capture in South Africa: How and why it happened", edited by Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Peter Vale
https://pari.org.za/new-book-state-capture-in-south-africa-how-and-why-it-happened/
KickBack - The Global Anticorruption Podcast
For our first episode of 2026, regular host Liz David-Barrett is joined by Anna Persson, associate professor and senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.
Anna draws on extensive field research to challenge simplistic understandings of political will, and explore systemic corruption as a complex collective action problem. Anna examines how moral hazard and adverse selection shape leadership behaviour, and how corruption becomes "expected behaviour" in societies where the high individual costs of resisting systemic corruption make transparency measures insufficient. The episode also challenges the "coherent state" model, examining how competing authorities and variations in state effectiveness within countries impact anticorruption efforts.
Links to Anna's research:
Why Anticorruption Reforms Fail—Systemic Corruption as a Collective Action Problem https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01604.x?saml_referrer
The Power of Ideational Reach: A New Approach to State Capacity
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gove.70020
Responsive and Responsible Leaders: A Matter of Political Will?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/responsive-and-responsible-leaders-a-matter-of-political-will/DD7C9258D3E95E8B79CB70FA10126275
