Mission and Vision
BridgeGap is a 4 years (January 2024 -December 2027) Horizon research project designed as a follow up to ANTICORRP, the previous EU funded anticorruption research project by the same scientific team, based across several European research centers. Its chief mission is to complete the creation of a new generation of scientific evidence to enable corruption deterrence and empower reformers, civil societies and the press to prevent power abuse for personal, group or network gain. The entire academic project, written by professor Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, also the main author of the ‘ANTICORRP’ project, can be read on Research Gate, where you can also become of a follower of the BridgeGap Lab.
Both projects aimed to achieve an overall and deeper understanding of corruption from an interdisciplinary perspective, increase knowledge and data on political corruption (and other undue influences) as well as support and further stimulate the potential usage of modern technologies to detect, prevent and fight corruption. BridgeGap will also continue to develop the objective measurements of corruption that the cited previous projects managed to institutionalize in public databases like www.europam.eu or www.corruptionrisk.org, covering regularly over 140 countries.
Key Objectives
What is new about BridgeGap is that it exclusively treats corruption as a policy problem and focuses on understanding aside the domestic vulnerabilities also the cross-border factors that undermine the control of corruption. BridgeGap will aim to:
- Fill the knowledge gaps regarding the degree to which corruption infiltrates open societies and threatens the democratic order, and the mechanism used.
- Assess, explain and find solutions to the digital transparency gaps, ranging from the use of technology in corruption and anticorruption to public accountability and integrity.
- Find solutions to regulatory gaps and enforcement gaps assessing the comprehensiveness, consistency and adequacy of public accountability and anticorruption regulation across EU member states and neighbouring countries.
- Fill the academia–policy gap in corruption studies by evaluating the effectiveness of anticorruption regulation and policies and identifying the enabling contexts of anticorruption action.
THE STAKES
In recent years, corruption has gained recognition as a threat to the security of liberal democracies and the free world, as well a subverter of development and equality. It extends its influence over public funds, public health, public security, and, notably, public trust in democratic systems. As emphasised by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the Union address, in order to uphold European values credibly, the EU must address corruption domestically and combat it vigorously both within the EU and globally, utilising legal measures to their fullest extent. These efforts can only succeed if grounded in a sound basis of scientific evidence, and with the full support of civil societies.