Democracy today is being put to the test. Confidence in democracy is at a low point and illiberal democracies are on the rise in many countries, including the EU, which, according to some, may be facing its own wave of autocratization. A critical driver of this erosion is political corruption - both real and perceived - which undermines citizens' trust in democratic processes and institutions. However, current corruption studies have significant gaps. They focus primarily on criminal offences while overlooking legitimate forms of political influence that can distort democratic decision-making without necessarily breaking laws. At the same time, they do not pay enough attention to the digital transformations that have fundamentally changed and will continue to change how corruption operates and how anti-corruption, both within and outside institutions, can be carried on. Finally, while cross-border corruption has become increasingly sophisticated, we lack a systematic understanding of how it works, especially concerning its connection with legitimate forms of political influence and considering how digital technologies enable and combat these practices.
RESPOND is a five-year, large-scale collaborative project that aims to fill these critical gaps in our knowledge of political corruption and its impact on democracy. It does so by reaching four objectives: 1) Expanding our understanding of political corruption beyond criminal definitions to include five key forms of political influence that can lead to political corruption: political finance, lobbying, personal ties, revolving doors, and media capture; 2) Investigating how digitalization and datafication processes, and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, both sustain and combat corruption; 3) Examining how key forms of political influence in societies, when leading to political corruption, have an impact on citizens' understanding of democracy and their political participation; 4) Co-creating concrete solutions with stakeholders to increase integrity and curb political corruption, with a specific focus on key forms of political influence in societies.
To reach these four objectives, RESPOND employs mixed-method comparative research across all 27 EU member states and 11 neighbouring countries, with in-depth qualitative analysis in 9 strategically selected countries representing diverse democratic contexts (Sweden, France, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria). This comprehensive approach combines computational, quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methods.
At the policy level, RESPOND will provide evidence-based recommendations to EU institutions, national governments, and international organisations (OECD, UNODC) to strengthen anti-corruption frameworks and democratic governance. The project will train law enforcement officers across EU member states in advanced corruption detection methods and empower representatives from civil society organisations with new digital analytical tools. Educational impact includes reaching students across three EU member states with enhanced democracy education and potentially raising awareness among 1European citizens through media campaigns and public engagement activities. Technologically, the project will democratize access to anti-corruption tools through user-friendly interfaces co-created with stakeholders while contributing to the human-centred development of digital technologies for integrity promotion.
