How do consulting giants enable state capture?

@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social talks to @devipillay.co.za on McKinsey’s role in South Africa, drawing on the Zondo Commission.
🔗Listen: bit.ly/KBspotify138
🔗Paper: lnkd.in/eczS5NAM

#StateCapture #SouthAfrica #AntiCorruption

🌍 Applications are open for the Ibrahim Leadership Fellowship at ITC (Geneva).

Work with a UN–WTO agency supporting SMEs in developing countries, contribute to trade strategies, and take part in high-level discussions.

Deadline: 20/11/25

🔗 Apply now: https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/fellowships

Really enjoyed chatting cleaning up politics with @politicshome.bsky.social along with @petergeoghegan.bsky.social, @danieljbruce.bsky.social and Lloyd Hatton MP. Lots to do still...

Join us on 18 September as we kickoff our first #GIACESeminar with Dan Marks & @jenniferscotland.bsky.social from @rusi.bsky.social, and reflections from Pablo Fernandez (EcoSecurities).

📖 Scoping Corruption in Voluntary Carbon Markets
🕰️ 12:30–1:30 PM (UK time)
🔗 bit.ly/GIACESeminar1

#GIACE hosted our Mid-Year Conference (8–9 Sept) with researchers, Fellows, FCDO & CSO partners.
Day 1 featured multiple panels on research themes, ending with a roundtable on the Changing Global Order.
Day 2 focused on impact - turning research into real-world solutions and more.

bit.ly/giaceconf

@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social co-chaired a panel on state capture at the @ecpr.bsky.social annual meeting in Thessaloniki.

Our takeaway: Tackling capture means understanding not just corruption itself, but the mechanisms & motivations that make states vulnerable.

Recap blog> bit.ly/ecprconferen...

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

New paper!

Q: Does State Capture Facilitate Strategic Corruption? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A: Not necessarily. Even where states are deeply captured, supra-national and domestic institutions with oversight functions can create regulatory barriers

Masking who wields real influence …..? Time to introduce a comprehensive statutory lobbying register to shine a light on lobbying whatever name it goes by….?
@danieljbruce.bsky.social @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social

Portugal’s Attorney General has launched a probe into possible corruption involving Portuguese construction firm Zagope and the eldest son of Equatorial Guinea’s longtime dictator, following an exposé by ICIJ and its media partners.

Read our latest: www.icij.org/news/2025/07...

📚 Highlights from the CSC Summer Academy!

Two days of rich discussion on state capture, grand corruption, integrity in sport, and more. Interested in anti-corruption?
Apply to our MA in Corruption & Governance:
lnkd.in/e-vEK2sb
#AntiCorruption #GoodGovernance #CSC

Thanks Mo @mo.ibrahim.foundation for a really fascinating discussion about #anticorruption, #goodgovernance, #aid and #doingbusiness in Africa!

Check out this very frank and open conversation with Mo Ibrahim about how to tackle corruption and improve governance in Africa!

David Lammy has announced a UK-led Summit on illicit financial flows- will it deliver in tackling kleptocracy and corruption? blogs.sussex.ac.uk/centre-for-t... @spotlightcorruption.org @racheldavies.bsky.social @duncanhames.bsky.social @sussexscsc.bsky.social @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social

Is it now time for national and international law to designate the “kleptocratic enterprise” of elites and professionals as a form of serious organised crime?
@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social @danieljbruce.bsky.social
theconversation.com/come-meet-us...

@danieljbruce.bsky.social shared his insights on global corruption with us in Feb ‘22, and @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social joined us in Nov ‘22 to talk about #statecapture You can view both via our archive
www.kwaku.org.uk/Video.html

Financial institutions are the arteries of modern economies—but when captured, they become pipelines for illicit wealth.
@acdatacollective.bsky.social's new brief "Inside the Congo Hold-Up" shows how BGFIBank DRC was hijacked by the Kabila regime to launder public funds.

🔗 bit.ly/ACDCPolicyBr...

Come work with us!

📺NEW VIDEO📺

Last night, key British offshore financial centres failed to meet their own deadline for revealing who owns companies registered there.

It’s time the UK Government escalates its response & ensures places like the BVI are no longer safe havens for the world's corrupt.

Watch and read ⤵️

Trump v. Musk. How buddying up to autocrats can turn sour for business leaders...

Fear and favour in captured states

open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

What does state capture mean for UNCAC implementation?
In a new #GIACE blog, Tom Shipley explores how the UNCAC process often overlooks the systemic nature of capture, and what a more effective approach could look like.

🔗 Blog: giace.org/statecapture...
🔗 Also Read: bit.ly/uncaccoaliti...

State capture is a deliberate strategy to dismantle democratic checks & repurpose public institutions for private gain.

The @uncaccoalition.bsky.social warns it’s eroding the very institutions UNCAC helped build, turning anti-corruption bodies into political tools.

📖 bit.ly/uncaccoalitionstatement

🚨 Upcoming ACE Seminar
Inside the Congo Hold-Up: How a Captured Bank Enabled Grand Corruption

🗓️ 10 July 2025
🕓 4–5 PM UK Time
💻 Online
🔗 Register: bit.ly/aceseminar8

@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social @sussexscsc.bsky.social @szakonyi.bsky.social @acdatacollective.bsky.social

Join @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social (GI ACE) as she chairs a crucial conversation with:
🔹 @szakonyi.bsky.social (@acdatacollective.bsky.social)
🔹 Anrike Visser (Global Ground Consulting)

They’ll unpack how financial institutions are weaponised for corruption — and what this means for reform.