Over the last thirty-five years, governments worldwide have been engaged in an important and laudable battle against bribery in international business transactions. The core of the U.S. anti bribery strategy is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a federal law that imposes criminal penalties on those -- and only those -- who give bribes to foreign officials and that largely relies on voluntary disclosure to detect such corruption. This supply-side criminalization strategy, however, is ineffective, incomplete, inefficient, and inequitable. It punishes many extorted persons who do not deserve it and largely fails to punish the corrupt foreign officials who do. By punishing companies that voluntarily disclose their payments and denying them opportunities to recover their losses from extortion, it also establishes a perverse incentive structure that virtually ensures bribery will remain secret in most cases. The focus of the U.S. strategy should be shifted to prevention, not punishment. To this end, Congress should decriminalize the giving of bribes, replacing it with a robust mandatory disclosure regime that will enable foreign countries and business competitors to take action against willing bribe givers and allow victims of extortion to shield themselves from needless litigation, while obtaining meaningful restitution for the losses they have incurred. The U.S. government should then use the mandatory reports of unwilling payments to criminally prosecute the corrupt foreign officials who demand such payments, if foreign governments are unwilling or unable to do so.

Non-trial resolutions, often referred to as settlements, have been the predominant means of enforcing foreign bribery and other related offences since the entry into force of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention 20 years ago. The last decade has seen a steady increase in the use of coordinated multi-jurisdictional non-trial resolutions, which have, to date, permitted the highest global amount of combined financial penalties in foreign bribery cases. This study is the first cross-country examination of the different types of resolutions that can be used to resolve foreign bribery cases.

It is common practice to assume that business practices are universally similar. Business and social attitudes to corruption, however, vary according to the wide variety of cultural norms across the countries of the world. International business involves complex, ethically challenging, and sometimes threatening, dilemmas that can involve political and personal agendas. Corruption in International Business presents a broad range of perspectives on how corruption can be defined; the responsibilities of those working for publicly traded companies to their shareholders; and the positive influences that corporations can have upon combating international corruption. The authors differentiate between public and private sector corruption and explore the implications of both, as well as methods for qualifying and quantifying corruption and the challenges facing policy makers, legal systems, corporations, and NGOs, as they seek to mitigate the effects of corruption and enable cultural and social change.

The Bribery Act 2010 is the most significant reform of UK bribery law in a century. This critical analysis offers an explanation of the Act, makes comparisons with similar legislation in other jurisdictions and provides a critical commentary, from both a UK and a US perspective, on the collapse of the distinction between public and private sector bribery. Drawing on their academic and practical experience, the contributors also analyse the prospects for enforcement and the difficulties facing lawyers seeking asset recovery following the laundering of the proceeds of bribery. International perspectives are provided via comparisons with the law in Spain, Hong Kong, the USA and Italy, together with broader analysis of the application of the law in relation to EU anti-corruption initiatives, international development and the arms trade.

Bribery plays a significant role in international criminal activity. Terrorists pay bribes. Money-launderers pay bribes. Those who traffic in people, narcotics, and illegal arms pay bribes. People pay immigration officers not to ask, customs officials not to inspect, and police officers not to investigate. Bribes follow patterns that are not at all mysterious to the officials, salesmen, and citizens who seek them and pay them. Using a series of international cases, Wrage examines bribery, peeling back the mystique and ambiguity and exposing the very simple transactions that lie beneath. She shows how these seemingly everyday transactions can affect security, democratization, and human aid. Examples from around the world help to illustrate the nature of the problem and efforts at combating it. Bribery plays a significant role in international criminal activity. Terrorists pay bribes. Money-launderers pay bribes. Those who traffic in people, narcotics, and illegal arms pay bribes. People pay immigration officers not to ask, customs officials not to inspect, and police officers not to investigate. At corporate headquarters in the United States, it can be easy to dismiss modest bribes in distant countries as an unfortunate cost of doing business. Bribes follow patterns that are not at all mysterious to the officials, salesmen, and citizens who seek them and pay them. Using a series of international cases, Wrage examines bribery, peeling back the mystique and ambiguity and exposing the very simple transactions that lie beneath. She shows how these seemingly everyday transactions can affect security, democratization, and human aid around the globe. Bribery and Extortion presents a clear picture of the world of bribery and the havoc it can wreak on whole populations. Wrage covers commercial bribery, administrative and service-based bribery, and extortion. She considers bribery and extortion at both high levels of government and lower levels on the street. Examples from around the world help to illustrate the nature of the problem and efforts at combating it. The book concludes with practical suggestions and an assessment of current efforts to stem the tide of bribery and restore transparency to everyday transactions in all realms.