Engaging Citizens in the fight against corruption : Results of the EU-Project “ALACs (Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres): Promotion of Participation and Citizenship in Europe”

Abstract

The paper aims at presenting first results from the EU-funded project entitled “Promotion of Participation and Citizenship in Europe through the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs) of Transparency International” supported by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme. The research project is a joined venture between the Transparency International Secretariat and a team of scholars based at the universities of Konstanz, Duisburg-Essen and Warwick. ALACs have become over the last years an important instrument within the frame of the so-called International Anticorruption Regimes. ALACs enable direct engagement of citizens in the fight against corruption. They empower both victims and witnesses of corruption and provide channels for their grievances. The paper provides first of all insights into history, structure and function of ALACs as an important anti-corruption tool. By doing so, the paper comparatively focuses on how ALACs translate concerns of ordinary citizens on corruption cases into actions for systemic (legal, administrative and institutional) anti-corruption improvements through case and public advocacy.