Across diverse producer countries, oil and mining sector corruption has led to political strife and billions lost in public funds. Much of this corruption stems from the cozy relations between the industry and political elites. During the current moment of economic stress and market instability, corruption has become even more unaffordable for resource-dependent countries, and anti-corruption efforts face new obstacles.

In this one-hour discussion, co-hosted by CCSI, NRGI, and the SDG Academy, Dr. Leila Kazemi and Dr. Alexandra Gillies discussed how the threat posed by corruption has evolved in recent months, and how we might arrive at politically-astute approaches to fending it off.  Gillies drew on her new book, Crude Intentions: How Oil Corruption Contaminates the World (OUP, 2020), and Kazemi on a multi-year project to examine the political-economy of extractive sector governance initiatives.

About the speakers

Leila Kazemi is the project lead of the Executive Session on the Politics of Extractive Industries at the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment (CCSI).

Alexandra Gillies leads the anticorruption programs at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI).