Dec 19, 2022Love and anti-corruption trainingyes, they really have a lot in common — despite this cheap try of attention-grabbing Love and anti-corruption training: everyone is very much invested in it, many say they are really good at it, few candidly talk about it and there is a general suspicion that things are actually not…Integrity4 min readIntegrity4 min read
Nov 10, 2022One thing that’s badly missing in our thinking about money-in-politics and lobbyingLet’s call it CJA — Imagine the money-in-politics and responsible lobbying research and policy world has a tremendous blind spot. Imagine it fails to properly examine, not to mention regulate one entire third of government. It overlooks a set of highly innovative and special influencing strategies that promise returns on investment to special corporate interests…Lobbying6 min readLobbying6 min read
Nov 9, 2021The brown transformation — will we manage to get there?To avert galactic collapse, we must embrace a new, brown future — and embark on a most unprecedented and treacherous journey for all of humankind We are at the brink of catastrophe. And this time is real. The scientific consensus is sound, and its implications are ever more urgent: we…Climate12 min readClimate12 min read
Jan 30, 2019Overlooked and troubling: information wants to be really expensive, not freeHere is the conventional story-line of digital information markets in very broad strokes: The ability to copy and distribute digital information at basically no cost paired with new business models based on monetizing eyeballs or user data essentially mean that news and other information types resemble digital loss leaders, free-ish…Digital Transformation4 min readDigital Transformation4 min read
Apr 27, 2018Levelling up rather than levelling down — a fresh approach for tackling big money in politics?Too much money in politics is a big problem. Disproportionate influence on policies and regulations by a small cabal of the wealthy, connected and organized at the expense of the broader public is a perennial concern for good governance folks around the world. The intuitive response to these concerns and…Corruption19 min readCorruption19 min read
Mar 8, 2018Where to next in corruption research?nine half-baked observations/ideas — *I wrote this essay in late 2017 as a contribution to the Expert Network on Rethinking Corruption kindly convened by The British Academy-Department for International Development Anti-Corruption Evidence (ACE) Programme. It is deliberately written in a somewhat speculative and provocative tone in order to inspire a good debate on these…Innovation15 min readInnovation15 min read
Jul 19, 2017And the answer is: the blockchain! — really?“ For example, you can’t say in cryptoeconomics, “It’s illegal to bribe people,” because there’s really no simple way to define what a bribe is. …Blockchain12 min readBlockchain12 min read
Jul 2, 2017Of good shows, essential word-smithing, and a snowmobile for the futuresome notes from an exciting get-together of CSO horizon scanners — I just spent a wonderful three days with great people who work on foresight, future trends for some of the larger NGO networks (thanks to ICSC for convening this!). Now as is the case with many truly inspiring workshops, the formal proceedings or group work outputs may be great, but…Foresight6 min readForesight6 min read
Published inVoices for Transparency·Apr 16, 2017Three little things about inequality that struck me — and first a quick note on trend-spottingI feel very privileged to be part of a really interesting bunch of civil society people that work on future trends of relevance to the sector, an initiative convened by by the International Civil Society Centre. Now one thing that I have learnt in this group is that for me…Economics6 min readEconomics6 min read
Dec 1, 2016Trump and anti-corruption — scary but could we talk Tea?Over at the fantastic Global Anti-Corruption Blog Matthew Stephenson kicked us off on this highly important discussion what the era of Trump means for anti-corruption activism. I agree, there is a 99% chance that Trumpism is going to be awful for many things in anti-corruption and that a pro-active strategy…Politics5 min readPolitics5 min read
