SIPRI Yearbook 2011
II. Understanding corruption in the arms trade
Corruption is a term with great emotive force that is often used without being precisely defined. Even in key international agreements it is often left vague. For example, the 2003 United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) fails to define the term because ‘consensus on the definition of corruption had not been reached during the negotiating process’.3 Instead, UNCAC attempts to address ‘specific kinds of corruption’ without providing a prescriptive overarching definitional framework. Nonetheless, UNCAC is legally binding and obliges member states to introduce legal mechanisms to limit corruption. Like UNCAC, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) refrains from providing a definition of corruption, despite operating an anti-bribery and corruption programme and monitoring both bribery and corruption. The OECD’s 1997 Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions focuses on the specific issue of bribery that is directed at foreign public officials.4 However, the convention is not legally binding and instead requests that OECD member countries each enact supporting legislation.
- Citation (MLA):
- Feinstein, Andrew, Paul Holden, and Barnaby Pace. "1. Corruption and the arms trade: sins of commission." SIPRI Yearbook. SIPRI. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2016. Web. 17 Jan. 2025. <https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199695522/sipri-9780199695522-div1-6.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Feinstein, A., Holden, P., & Pace, B. (2016). 1. Corruption and the arms trade: sins of commission. In SIPRI, SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 Jan. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199695522/sipri-9780199695522-div1-6.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Feinstein, Andrew, Paul Holden, and Barnaby Pace. "1. Corruption and the arms trade: sins of commission." In SIPRI Yearbook 2011: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, SIPRI. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). Retrieved 17 Jan. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199695522/sipri-9780199695522-div1-6.xml
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