Combating corruption to drive democratic renewal

On December 6, the Brookings Institution, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Center for European Policy Analysis, the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group, the FACT Coalition, and the Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption initiative co-hosted a seminar on the fight against corruption and its relationship to advancing democracy and addressing democratic backsliding globally.   

The event began with a keynote address from Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Wally Adeyemo, who spoke about the Biden administration’s domestic and international anti-corruption agenda. He then joined Brookings President John R. Allen in conversation to further address anti-corruption priorities such as advancing economic fairness, combating money laundering, stemming illicit financial flows, and implementing beneficial ownership transparency as well as opportunities for cross-sector collaboration to address these challenges.  

A panel discussion then looked at anti-corruption issues through the lens of the upcoming U.S.-led Summit for Democracy and the release of the “Democracy Playbook 2021: 10 Commitments for Advancing Democracy.” This new report grounds possible commitments and deliverables to be made by governments and other participants in the summit. Expert panelists unpacked those commitments using the example of anti-corruption, but also discussed more broadly how the Summit for Democracy and the “year of action” to follow can renew and strengthen democracy, fight growing authoritarianism, and usher in an era of improved governance.  

After the session, panelists took audience questions. Viewers submitted questions for speakers by emailing [email protected] or via Twitter at @BrookingsGov by using #DemocracyPlaybook.