Introduction to PAR Symposium of Understanding and Reducing Public Corruption (Editorial)

Abstract

A s public corruption continues to draw media attention as a global concern, and as one of the most pressing policy challenges to tackle, scholarly investigation into this subject has been relatively meager, especially in public administration and related fields. Due to the literature scarcity, several critical questions remain understudied and are thus poorly understood. For instance, although many countries have made great efforts to fight corruption, why did many of them fail? We argue that the success of anticorruption initiatives depends on a better understanding of the problem at all levels—national, organizational, and individual. The PAR symposium of Understanding and Reducing Public Corruption aims to advance research on public corruption to extend the knowledge base for a deeper understanding of this complex phenomenon.