About Dieter Zinnbauer

Dieter Zinnbauer is Senior Programme Manager - Emerging Policy Issues in Research and Knowledge Department of Transparency International.
Author Archive | Dieter Zinnbauer

History matters II – what stone carvings and magic lanterns have to do with fighting corruption

By on 8 February 2013 in Accountability, Measurement and Research, Politics and government

Some time ago I argued on this blog that looking back into history provides a very promising source for inspiration and innovation in the fight against corruption. Many things we consider new to modern government, such as measures managing conflicts of interest and insulating decision-making from policy capture were foreshadowed by and startlingly resemble many [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

Back to the future: the big and bad e-government 1.0 attention void

By on 20 December 2012 in Politics and government, Technology

Imagine you are an NGO lobbying your government to clean up one of the most notorious areas for corruption: public procurement. In response the government declares that a centrepiece of its anti-corruption strategy will be an electronic procurement system that will make corrupt interference all but impossible. What do you do? Do you applaud this move?  How about [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Fighting corruption with bumper stickers and public toilets: ambient accountability

By on 2 November 2012 in Access to information, Accountability, Technology

Anti-corruption activists try to make those in power answerable to people. We call this accountability. NGOs try to make “accountability” happen by training citizens to audit local government or monitor elections, often using social media to report and collaborate. But when the initial enthusiasm for what are often called social accountability instruments fails or issues [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Institutions and corruption: why history matters (part 1)

By on 29 July 2011 in Measurement and Research

While designing the new TI anti-corruption lab, Dieter Zinnbauer looks to the past for inspiration. Rummaging through the past can provide a lot of inspiration for innovative approaches and solutions – also in the field of anti-corruption. Or as foresight experts would put it: you need to look back, in order to be able to [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

Fighting corruption in 1811 and 2011 – what’s new?

By on 18 February 2011 in Measurement and Research, Technology

Has the world ever been more fed up with corruption? In North Africa and the Middle East, disgust with corruption is one driver of the most astounding movement for political reform in decades. A recent BBC poll of more than 13,000 people across 26 countries confirms that corruption is the most talked about global problem, [...]

Read full story • Comments { 4 }