The doctoral dissertation analyses the international anticorruption discourse by the World Bank, UNDP and Transparency International. It draws out implicit conceptions of an ideal uncorrupted society. While international anticorruption discourse is found to be broadly reflective of what can be called advanced liberal ideals of governing, the thesis enables an in-depth understanding of the manifold and complex discursive moves through which these particular ideals are con...

"Overall, IAC discourse delegitimizes any social constellation and political project that involves a conception of human beings which differs from ‘rational and self-interested’. [...] These negations of different social structures and political projects are related to other negations, such as of non-positivist ways of acquiring knowledge and investigating corruption and possible counter-measures. In a political project that is structured consistently according to the pr...