This Anti-Corruption Helpdesk brief was produced in response to a query from one of Transparency International’s national chapters. The Anti-Corruption Helpdesk is operated by Transparency International and funded by the European Union.
Query
How can public integrity and anti-corruption measures contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict societies?
Summary
The potential contribution of public-integrity measures to peacebuilding lies in changing how public power is exercised in post-conflict societies. Given the well-established relationship between corruption and conflict, reforms that make governance more impartial, accountable and inclusive may help address some underlying drivers of conflict, including exclusion, weak institutional legitimacy, limited state capacity and illicit political and economic networks. However, the available evidence on the direct impact of specific public integrity measures on peacebuilding remains limited and does not support confident conclusions that individual interventions themselves produce peacebuilding outcomes. Their effects also depend heavily on context: reforms can be weakened by informal norms and political settlements or applied selectively in ways that deepen distrust and instability. Public integrity is therefore best understood as contributing to the institutional foundations of sustainable peace rather than as a direct means of producing it.
Main Points
- In some peace processes, corruption, patronage and state capture have been tolerated as the price of ending immediate violence. The resulting arrangements may produce conditions of “no war, no peace” rather than sustainable peace.
- Public integrity matters because institutions determine how power and resources are distributed, whether rules are applied impartially, and whether citizens can challenge abuse.
- Direct evidence linking specific public integrity measures to peacebuilding outcomes remains limited. For example, there is little evidence that simply establishing an anti-corruption agency increases social cohesion or reduces conflict risks.
- Corruption can nevertheless aggravate conflict drivers. It is therefore plausible that public integrity measures that reduce corruption support peacebuilding indirectly by addressing these factors.
- Design and implementation of integrity measures matter. When they are applied selectively or weaponised, they can be used to target opponents and deepen distrust rather than support peacebuilding.
- Participatory and civil society-led approaches can complement state-led reforms by widening participation and creating additional accountability channels.
Authors
Mathias Bak
Reviewers
Maria Constanza Castro (TI), Vlora Rechica (TI), Alexander Chance (TI-IE)
Date
24/09/2026
