Social network analysis
News & Blog
8 Jul 2021
BlogNew analysis of the Toledo-Odebrecht case illuminates the complex transnational networks behind corruption and money laundering schemes
Asset Recovery, Prevention, Research and Innovation
17 Mar 2021
NewsNew policy brief: Bringing intelligence and social network analysis together to fight illegal wildlife trade
Green Corruption, Prevention, Research and Innovation
9 Mar 2021
NewsNew Working Paper: Social network analysis applied to illegal wildlife trade
Green Corruption
31 Mar 2020
BlogMind the gap: building a bridge between research and practice to better fight illegal wildlife trade
Green Corruption, Prevention, Research and Innovation
29 Jan 2020
NewsNew report explores social network analysis applied to wildlife trafficking
Green Corruption
Publications
Research case study 4: Deconstructing a criminal network involved in illegal wildlife trade between East Africa and Southeast Asia
The illegal wildlife trade threatens biodiversity and security worldwide. Criminal networks pocket billions of dollars in illicit profits from stripping the world bare of endangered species and corrupting politicians and public officials in the process.
Yet there is very little empirical evidence on the role of both ordinary citizens and criminal networks in the illegal wildlife trade. Our research aims to fill this gap.
We used social network analysis and network ethnography techniques to study the criminal network of a wildlife trafficker based in East Africa. The insights can bolster law enforcement efforts aimed at identifying and dismantling wildlife trafficking networks.
Organisational forms of corruption networks: the Odebrecht-Toledo case
Actors in grand corruption schemes often conspire and deliberately create sophisticated networks to extract huge amounts of public resources from government systems. They hide such conspiracies behind hybrid formal/informal arrangements.
Using a mixed methods approach, this study investigates the corruption scheme initiated by former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo and the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht Group. We argue that separating the networks of the client (Odebrecht) and the agent (Toledo) sides provides analytical leverage for studying complex corrupt arrangements.
We found that the organisational forms designed by corrupt actors on either side were essential to ensuring the secret and safe operation of the network. Introducing the concept of organisational form into corruption research helps better understand the nature of these networks. We also found that different parts of the networks are shaped by different types of corruption. The article concludes with implications for practice.
Research Case Study 3: Exposing the networks behind transnational corruption and money laundering schemes
Corruption is increasingly understood as a form of collective, social behaviour. It slips easily across borders and involves sophisticated financial strategies and transactions to launder the stolen money.
Yet the nexus between corruption and money laundering is poorly understood. So too are the structures, functions and mechanisms that enable these crimes.
We applied analytical tools to reveal the complex networks behind a corruption and money laundering scheme involving Odebrecht and Peru’s former president. The insights can support strategic approaches to fight transnational corruption.
Adopting a peer-led approach to disseminate anti-corruption messages: Results of the network survey
This report relates to the research project Addressing bribery in the Tanzanian health sector: A behavioural approach. As part of the project, a pilot behavioural intervention was implemented at a Tanzanian hospital that aimed to shift hospital users’ and health providers’ attitudes and perceived social norms around gift-giving. It also aimed to reduce actual exchanges of gifts.
The report complements the final technical report from the project, Using behavioural insights to reduce gift giving in a Tanzanian public hospital, by providing details about the use of social network analysis (SNA) to assess how the information about the intervention was disseminated through the hospital.
It provides a breakdown of results, the questionnaire used in the surveys, and methodological notes for future studies.
The research project as a whole was funded by the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), funded with UK aid from the UK government. The project implementation was a collaboration between the Basel Institute on Governance, the UK Behavioural Insights Team, the University of Dar es Salam and the University of Utrecht.
The technical report is free to share under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence.
Quick Guide 23: Informal networks and anti-corruption
Why do many countries still struggle with high levels of corruption, in spite of years of investment in anti-corruption programmes and even where the right laws, rules and institutions are in place?
We believe one reason is that anti-corruption laws and policies are too often focused narrowly on individuals, rather than networks of individuals.
In our research, we see repeatedly how high levels of corruption are rarely the result of individual behaviour – some isolated rotten apples transgressing the formal legal order and leading others astray. Rather, corruption more frequently springs from the social norms and group dynamics of well-articulated and resilient informal networks.
And it’s those networks that have much to lose from integrity and ethics. Their behaviour as a group entrenches corruption, and they block attempts at reforms. This quick guide takes a look at what this means and the implications for anti-corruption programming.
About this Quick Guide
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. It is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Quick Guide series, ISSN 2673-5229.
