A new Future of Peace Operations Program (FOPO) study, Mapping and Fighting Corruption in War-Torn States, examines corruption in war-torn states and summarizes best practices for fighting it. The study reviews and consolidates, from the English-language literature on the subject, what the world’s specialists in corruption have to say about how to recognize and fight it in post-conflict circumstances, especially where international peace operations are deployed. Its structured summary or “meta-analysis ” of the literature is built around two charts: one that depicts patterns of corruption in post-conflict states and a second that maps and connects the most frequently mentioned steps for dealing with it. The latter closely resembles a comprehensive state-building strategy.

The study contains a preliminary assessment of anticorruption efforts in Liberia and concludes with recommendations on the sequencing of such measures in war-torn states. The study was presented in draft form at two international conferences, at Nuffield College in Oxford, England, and at the Naval Post-Graduate School’s Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction in Monterey, California.

This study is one of five FOPO studies on essential aspects of improving rule of law in post-conflict states. Other studies focus on the creation of a standing UN police capacity, improving border control and border security, increasing accountability for non-military personnel in peace operations, and using UN Panels of Experts more effectively to combat spoilers and monitor targeted sanctions.