The Rise of the Kleptocrats? Corruption in an Age of Disruption

Throughout the world, corruption props up dictators, energizes criminal organizations, diverts resources from economic development, and corrodes public trust. Corruption contributes to leaving millions around the world insecure and impoverished. In today’s globalized world, corruption crosses borders: billions of dollars flow illicitly through the international financial system, bribes pass between countries, and authoritarian regimes—from Russia to China to Iran—weaponize corruption to achieve their objectives.
US administrations for decades have paid attention to fighting the problem of global corruption. For example, in 2021, the Biden administration called fighting corruption a “Core United States National Security Interest” and developed a strategy to implement it. The second Trump administration has effectively dismantled many of the programs designed to fight corruption, kleptocracy, and bribery abroad.
What is the current state of global anti-corruption efforts? How does today’s corruption affect global democracy? Do efforts to combat corruption—like sanctions—help, or do they exacerbate problems? What steps should government and civil society take to push back on corrupt actors without the U.S. in the lead?

Panelists

Philip Nichols is the Joseph Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility in Business and a Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching generally deals with emerging economies, but for the last thirty years he has specifically studied corruption, and has worked with polities and organizations around the world to understand corruption and to develop strategies for its control. Professor Nichols has served as the President of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, as Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s Anti-Corruption Group and its Economic Law Interest Group, and as Co-Chair of UNCEFACT/LG, a United Nations experts committee on electronic commerce.

Casey Michel is the director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation. He has written multiple books on international corruption and foreign influence, and his writing regularly appears in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and many more outlets. He is currently sanctioned by the Russian regime for his work.

Dani Schulkin is the Director of Democracy Initiatives at the law-and-policy journal Just Security, based at NYU School of Law. She co-leads "When Guardrails Erode," an anti-corruption series and accompanying Anti-Corruption Tracker cataloging the systematic weakening of U.S. oversight and accountability mechanisms designed to police corruption.Schulkin previously served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice and as Senior Advisor to the Homeland Security Advisor at the White House National Security Council during the Biden Administration. Her previous roles include the White House Office of the Staff Secretary, Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), the New York Attorney General's Bureau of Internet and Technology, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Moderator

Richard Nephew returned from a public service leave of absence to the Center on Global Energy Policy and Faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs on 1 July 2024.

During his most recent leave, he was the inaugural U.S. Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption at the Department of State (2022-2024). He was also elected as the President of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption. During his government career, he has also served as the Deputy Special Envoy for Iran (2021), Principal Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the Department of State (2013-2015), and Director for Iran at the National Security Council (2011-2013), among other senior civil service staff roles from 2003-2011.

While a senior research scholar at SIPA since 2015, Nephew has written dozens of reports and articles for various publications focused on geopolitics and their intersection with energy markets, economic statecraft, nuclear topics, and sanctions. He is also the author of The Art of Sanctions: A View from the Field, published by Columbia University Press in 2018.

In addition to his primary appointment at CGEP, he is an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and operates his own consulting LLC, “Go Beyond Compliance.” In the latter capacity, he acts as a nonproliferation consultant to Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

Nephew holds a Masters in Security Policy Studies and a Bachelors in International Affairs, both from The George Washington University. He is married with three children.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Perry World House