Read on Twitter
A lot of people wrote to me asking to read my PhD or to learn more about my research more generally:
Here is my attempt trying to summarise what I worked on in five years as a researcher @thehertieschool.
A thread about #anticorruption, #digitalisation, #civilsociety
1/19
Here is my attempt trying to summarise what I worked on in five years as a researcher @thehertieschool.
A thread about #anticorruption, #digitalisation, #civilsociety
1/19
I started by looking at a very broad question: how does the use of digital technology impact the fight against corruption?
As with most academic research, this led me on to a review of all the literature that was written on this since the dawn of time. There is a lot.
2/19
As with most academic research, this led me on to a review of all the literature that was written on this since the dawn of time. There is a lot.
2/19
Reviewing all this literature helped me to sum it up and categorise it ( #ShitsAcademicsDo) and structure it according to their focus on: #internetaccess, #transparency, #egovernment, #moblisation and finally: the role of #civilsociety in this context.
3/19
3/19
This review and restructuring of literature, as well as the many open research questions that result from it, was published this year as a book chapter with @ElgarPublishing, in a volume edited by @pmheywood & @MungiuPippidi
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789904994/9781789904994.00019.xml
4/19
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789904994/9781789904994.00019.xml
4/19
If you do not regularly access academic books (how dare you!?), there are two options if you want to read it:
An early (!) version of the paper is available here from @ECPR:
https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/a7770504-e63d-4f96-9a50-9448b15c74c7.pdf
5/19
An early (!) version of the paper is available here from @ECPR:
https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/a7770504-e63d-4f96-9a50-9448b15c74c7.pdf
5/19
However, I was also was able to use my research to consult organisations working in the #anticorruption space.
For the @giz_gmbh, the wonderful @toridykes & I wrote an overview on ICT in anti-corruption. Big parts of my research fed into this:
https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/giz2018-eng_ICT-to-strengthen-Anti-Corruption.pdf
6/19
For the @giz_gmbh, the wonderful @toridykes & I wrote an overview on ICT in anti-corruption. Big parts of my research fed into this:
https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/giz2018-eng_ICT-to-strengthen-Anti-Corruption.pdf
6/19
At that point, I got slightly side-tracked from the main focus of my PhD: I set out to discover uses of #blockchain / #DLT in anti-corruption and in #publicadministration generally.
A short output from this was published by @anticorruption:
https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/helpdesk/bitcoin-blockchain-and-corruption-an-overview
7/19
A short output from this was published by @anticorruption:
https://knowledgehub.transparency.org/helpdesk/bitcoin-blockchain-and-corruption-an-overview
7/19
Spoiler: yes, #blockchain can serve as anti-corruption tool, but only when looking to address very specific corruption risk factors. Don’t expect it to be a panacea!
A more detailed report on this can be found here: https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/Blockchain_Anticorruption-2020.pdf
8/19
A more detailed report on this can be found here: https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/Blockchain_Anticorruption-2020.pdf
8/19
I also wrote about how #blockchain can be used in #publicadministration more generally and wrote a working paper on this that was never developed further- at some point I had to get back to work on the core of the PhD. You can read it here though:
https://www.againstcorruption.eu/publications/beyond-the-hype-distributed-ledger-technology-in-the-field-of-public-administration/
9/19
https://www.againstcorruption.eu/publications/beyond-the-hype-distributed-ledger-technology-in-the-field-of-public-administration/
9/19
I focussed on coming up with a theory on how digital technologies feed into anti-corruption work. Together with @rkukutschka, I built on anti-corruption theory and added quantitative evidence.
This was published here and is under #OpenAccess: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-017-9696-0
10/19
This was published here and is under #OpenAccess: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-017-9696-0
10/19
Tl;dr– we found evidence that digital technologies support #civilsociety’s struggle against corruption and that digital technologies can only be effective if there is enough civil society capacity to use them. That sounds intuitive, but is actually often enough ignored.
11/19
11/19
To test this take on anti-corruption theory, I dived into a case study on digital anti-corruption reforms implemented in a specific setting. I chose to focus on #publicprocurement reforms in #Ukraine and looked at @the_prozorro.
12/19
12/19
I took A LOT of tender data from the #ProZorro dataset. I downloaded a bit more than 4 Million tenders and tried to make sense of them. In the end I broke this down to average numbers per Ukrainian region to look for corruption risks indicators.
13/19
13/19
Spoiler: corruption risks in Ukrainian procurement are still very high, even though the ProZorro project did a fantastic job on making this field more transparent than ever.
I then tested if corruption risks where related to civil society capacity in different regions.
14/19
I then tested if corruption risks where related to civil society capacity in different regions.
14/19
According to my theory, I should have found a correlation between the two.
At this point, I welcome you to the frustrations of academia: I did not find enough evidence to confirm this hypothesis.
15/19
At this point, I welcome you to the frustrations of academia: I did not find enough evidence to confirm this hypothesis.
15/19
There was definitely an issue with data quality and the short time frame that I analysed.
However, having also conducted interviews in Ukraine I found that political will was more important than I thought. Without it, change is difficult to achieve.
16/19
However, having also conducted interviews in Ukraine I found that political will was more important than I thought. Without it, change is difficult to achieve.
16/19
To me, that was a difficult conclusion to draw.
But academic research is the pursuit of knowledge, not the pursuit of happiness. As such, the lack of definitive data and the role of political will in this context became the main conclusion of my case study research.
17/19
But academic research is the pursuit of knowledge, not the pursuit of happiness. As such, the lack of definitive data and the role of political will in this context became the main conclusion of my case study research.
17/19
This final paper has not yet been published, but was now submitted as part of my PhD. I hope to get it through peer review at some point after my defence and until then look forward to comments.
For now, however, I will take a well-needed holiday
18/19
For now, however, I will take a well-needed holiday
18/19
If you made it this far: thank you for all the interest. This was my first ever long twitter thread- I hope this was useful 
If you want to know more, reach out to me here or via my LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkossow/
19/19
If you want to know more, reach out to me here or via my LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkossow/
19/19
