Public Integrity

Integrity and Historical Consciousness: Divergent Paths in Anti-Corruption Policy

We invite scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to submit proposals for a special issue that explores the complex nature of integrity conceived not as mere compliance, but as a dynamic governance capability to coordinate actions and resources in the pursuit of a collective good against corruption.

This special issue frames anticorruption reforms in context by integrating historical consciousness as a lens of analysis to highlight how past institutions, policies, and abuses of power shape contemporary values and governance structures. By looking at anticorruption reforms in their historical context we seek to identify the sequence of events and decisions rooted in a specific setting that shaped the governance modes, understood as coordination, steering and power distribution arrangements, and influenced the divergent trajectories of such efforts to curb corruption, either policies or institutions.

While integrity is often treated as a static outcome or a technical fix, this issue challenges that view, framing integrity as a process of ethical alignment, adaptive collaboration, and continuous development subject to a bounded innovation process constrained by the prevailing governance mode and its self-reinforcing mechanisms of reproduction. The issue aims to advance an interdisciplinary and practical understanding of why anticorruption institutions and policies, shaped by contradictory public values and limited coordination arrangements, take such divergent paths in curbing corruption, especially in contexts of systemic corruption and democratic transition.

Drawing on experiences from the Global South and North, and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the issue seeks to translate these historical lessons into actionable, integrity-driven governance strategies.

We welcome submissions that address the following themes:

1. Corruption and Democratization
How do corruption dynamics evolve in fragile and transitioning states?
What role does systemic corruption play in the historical development of democracies? What coordination arrangements determine whether anticorruption reforms function as intended?

2. Historical Consciousness and Integrity
How can societies draw on historical memory to inform present-day outcomes in anticorruption reforms? What is the role of collective memory and civic narratives in shaping public trust and reform legitimacy?

3. Innovation and Institutional Design
How can anti-corruption efforts learn from historical lessons to innovate institutional design? How can civil society, community networks, and grassroots initiatives complement formal integrity mechanisms?

4. Global Learning and Policy Transfer
What lessons can be transferred between anticorruption experiences in the Global South and Global North, and vice versa? How do integrity and historical consciousness contribute to SDG 16 and broader democratic resilience?