This episode unpacks the problem of sexual corruption and how to design effective policy responses to it. Our two guests are Associate Professor of Public Policy, Anna Petherick, who is based at the Blavatnik School of Government, University Oxford, and is also the Director of the Lemann Foundation Programme at the school, and Dr. Ortrun Merkle, Research Fellow at United Nations University-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute.

Anna and Ortrun are specialists in this topic and also work on the broader theme of gender and corruption. They talk through how the literature has evolved over the last two decades and particularly debates on conceptualizing the problem of sexual corruption. Both also provide useful guidance on how to research these extremely sensitive issues and offer their thoughts on the policy responses available.

Here are some links to writing on this topic by Anna, Ortrun and others if you are looking for further reading.

The Chandler Papers: Sexual Corruption, (by Anna, Monika Bauhr and Bolaji Owasanoye) -https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/chandler-papers-sexual-corruption

A gender perspective on corruption encountered during forced and irregular migration (by Ortrun, Julia Reinold and Melissa Siegel) - https://www.giz.de/de/downloads/giz2017_eng_Gender-perspective-on-corruption-encountered-during-migration.pdf

Sexual corruption is abuse of power - and there's more to it than 'sextortion' alone (by Elin Bjarnegård, Dolores Calvo, Åsa Eldén and Silje Lundgren) - https://www.u4.no/blog/sexual-corruption-is-abuse-of-power-and-theres-more-to-it-than-sextortion-alone

Bribe to survive: sextortion and LGBTQ discrimination (by Victoria Abut) - https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2022/06/13/bribe-to-survive-sextortion-and-lgbtq-discrimination/