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Corruption: A Global Approach (LAWS90149)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable (login required)(opens in new window)
Contact information
April
Lecturer
Timothy K Kuhner (Coordinator)
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | April |
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Fees | Look up fees |
From one of the earliest concerns of political philosophy to the subject of a treaty ratified by almost every country in the world, corruption has played a fascinating role in human affairs. Corruption’s importance as a matter of law and policy has grown in recent decades, thanks to increasing awareness of its devastating effects on development efforts, human rights, democracies, economies, and environmental protection efforts. Responding to that growing importance, this subject provides an overview of domestic, regional, and global approaches to corruption.
Although this seminar provides an overview of many aspects of anti-corruption law and policy, it covers issues of political corruption in greater depth, such as bribery of public officials, campaign and party financing, lobbying, and conflicts of interest. It also covers in greater depth several current issues in Australian anti-corruption law—including the prospects for a national anti-corruption body—and several “global pressure points”—including the effects of corruption on climate change mitigation efforts.
The domestic approaches examined in this subject include those undertaken by Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, as well as several Latin American and Asian countries. The regional approaches targeted include those sponsored by the Organization of American States, the Asian Development Bank, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank. Finally, at the global level, this seminar covers the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
Entering into force in 2005 and obtaining 189 States Parties by November 2021, UNCAC has brought about a comprehensive, global approach to corruption. This subject explores the five pillars of that approach—international cooperation, preventative measures, criminalization and law enforcement measures, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange—and their relationship with domestic and regional initiatives. A major question at this stage will be UNCAC’s ability (or potential) to improve those pre-existing initiatives.
At each of its three levels of legal inquiry (domestic, regional, and global), this seminar examines questions of substantive law (what conduct is targeted), procedure (how are suspected violations of the law exposed and addressed), institutions (how is each legal framework administered and modified), and effectiveness. This subject addresses not only the merits of anti-corruption law, but the criticisms and dangers of it as well.
Although this subject relies primarily on legal analysis, it also applies perspectives and findings from the fields of economics, history, and political science. That interdisciplinarity enables the consideration of the broader questions that inform anti-corruption law. Those questions include: How are definitions and patterns of corruption changing over time? What effects does corruption have on development, businesses, local economies, and global capitalism? What effects does it have on human rights, democratization, elections, and lawmaking? What lessons have been learned about the effectiveness of different legal approaches to corruption? How could domestic, regional, and international anti-corruption initiatives be improved?
Principal topics include:
- What is corruption? How is corruption defined by different legal regimes?
- How does corruption manifest in distinct environments, including campaign and party finance, elections, lawmaking, law enforcement, government procurement, business, international development and climate change mitigation efforts, and banking and finance? What are corruption’s economic, political, and social effects?
- What are the regulatory challenges involved in preventing, exposing, and punishing corruption in its distinct environments? To what extent have domestic, regional, and international legal regimes been successful in meeting those challenges?
- How could those laws and institutions be improved? In particular, what are the main successes and shortcomings of the UN system for preventing and combating corruption? What are its prospects for improvement?
- What are the different roles that lawyers play in addressing corruption? What skill sets do they employ?
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject should have developed and demonstrated:
- A sophisticated awareness of the effects and challenges that corruption poses for contemporary concerns over poverty and development, environmental protection, human rights, capitalism, and democracy
- An integrated understanding of anti-corruption law at regional and global levels, including key questions of substantive law, institutional design and international collaboration
- An advanced ability to assess the strengths and limitations of such bodies of law and institutions—including ones that the student has not encountered before
- Specialised knowledge of the roles lawyers play in all of the above—including some initial experience applying the legal standards and navigating the legal institutions that seek to prevent and punish corruption-related offenses.
Last updated: 23 March 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 23 March 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Class participation | Throughout the teaching period | 20% |
Research paper on a topic approved by the subject coordinator
| 12 June 2024 | 80% |
Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance is required. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 23 March 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- April
Coordinator Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching start date 13 March 2024 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to the Reading Guide on the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 10 April 2024 to 16 April 2024 Last self-enrol date 18 March 2024 Census date 11 April 2024 Last date to withdraw without fail 17 May 2024 Assessment period ends 12 June 2024 April contact information
Lecturer
Timothy K Kuhner (Coordinator)
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 30 students.
Enrolment is on a 'first in' basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of waitlisted places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 23 March 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Specialist materials will be made available via the LMS during the pre-teaching period.
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If required, please contact law-masters@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 23 March 2024