This podcast series features in-depth interviews with a wide range of corruption experts, on questions such as: What have we learned from 20+ years of (anti)corruption research? Why and how does power corrupt? Which theories help to make sense of corruption? What can we do to manage corruption? How to recovery stolen assets?
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In this episode of KickBack, host Professor Liz David-Barrett is joined by Robert Barrington, Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice at the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption, to discuss his recently published book ‘Corrupted Kingdom: Britain’s Disappearing Integrity – And How We Can Get It Back’. The conversation explores the state of corruption in the UK and why a country…
In this episode of KickBack, host Robert Barrington is joined by Professor Bonnie Palifka, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Tecnológico de Monterrey, to discuss corruption research, measurement, and the evolving challenges facing anti-corruption efforts. The conversation explores Palifka’s journey into the field of corruption studies, from her early personal experience with…
In this episode of KickBack, host Robert Barrington is joined by Professor Matthew Stephenson, one of the podcast’s original founders, and Professor Liz David-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity and Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, to take a wide-ranging look at trends in corruption and anti-corruption. The conversation explores key…
In this episode of KickBack, host Rebecca Dobson-Phillips is joined by David Jackson, Principal Adviser at the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, to explore the changing landscape of anti-corruption and the key themes of the new book Anti-Corruption in a Discordant World. Reflecting on three decades of progress in the anti-corruption field, the conversation examines how contemporary political…
In this episode of Kickback, host Tom Shipley sits down with Thom Townsend, the executive director of Open Ownership, and Alanna Markle, the senior manager for policy and research at Open Ownership, to map out the global research agenda for Beneficial Ownership Transparency (BOT). Highlighting cutting-edge research from a recent symposium of 150 global experts, the conversation explores how BOT is…
In this episode of Kickback, host Elizabeth David-Barrett is joined by Marina Nistotskaya, Professor at the Department of Political Science and researcher at the Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg. The conversation explores the role of merit-based recruitment in shaping effective and impartial bureaucracies. Marina discusses how hiring processes influence both competence and…
The UK's anti-money laundering system involves 88 organizations across policy, supervision, and enforcement, but does this complex network actually work? In this episode, host Robert Barrington speaks with Diana Bociga about her research using social network analysis to map how these organizations collaborate. Diana's findings reveal a system operating across two disconnected dimensions, strategic…
Despite significant volumes of illicit finance flowing through the UK, asset recovery from kleptocratic networks remains limited. In this episode, regular KB host Robert Barrington speaks with Maria Nizzero, the Head of Sanctions Policy at UK Finance and Honorary Research Fellow at Exeter University, about her recent research that proposes reconceptualizing kleptocracy as a transnational criminal…
Why do liberation movements that fight for freedom so often succumb to corruption once in power? In this episode, Liz David-Barrett speaks with Lord Peter Hain about his new book Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail. Drawing on his personal connection to South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle and examining cases from Nicaragua to India, Peter explores how movements that come to…
After a three-year gap, the UK finally has a new anti-corruption strategy. To discuss, Robert Barrington is joined by Rachel Davies from Transparency International UK and Tom Shipley from the Centre for the Study of Corruption. They assess what the December 2025 strategy gets right, where it falls short, and whether it will actually make a difference. The discussion examines the strategy's…
