Corruption is a serious problem in the Asia-Pacific, judging from the rankings and
scores of the 32 Asia-Pacific countries included in the Transparency International’s
Corruption Perceptions Index of 2008. The governments in these countries have
initiated various anti-corruption measures since the 1950s but, with few exceptions,
have not been effective in curbing corruption. In 1968, the Swedish economist, Gunnar
Myrdal, had attributed the lack of research on corruption in South Asian countries to
the existing research taboo on corruption.
Fortunately, this research taboo on corruption in the Asia-Pacific countries no longer
exists and this is manifested in the tremendous increase in the number of country studies
on corruption since the 1990s. Indeed, in contrast to the dearth of research on
corruption in the 1960s, research on corruption in these countries has mushroomed into
a growth industry during the past two decades.
Given the vast literature on corruption in the Asia-Pacific countries, the purpose of this
paper is twofold. First, it reviews the literature to identify the major strategies adopted
by the Asia-Pacific countries to combat corruption. Second, the paper provides an
evaluation of these anti-corruption strategies to identify their strengths and weaknesses
and to enhance their effectiveness by suggesting how their weaknesses can be rectified.