142. Anna Persson on systemic corruption and political will

About this episode

Anna Persson discusses systemic corruption and the complexities of political will in this episode.

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…

People in this episode

Guest: Anna Persson

Topics covered

• systemic corruption
• political will
• collective action
• leadership behaviour
• anticorruption efforts

Keywords

• moral hazard
• adverse selection
• expected behaviour
• transparency measures
• coherent state model

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Power of Ideational Reach: A New Approach to State Capacity

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