Helfer, Rose, & Brewster: Flexible Institution Building in the International Anti-Corruption Regime: Proposing a Transnational Asset Recovery Mechanism

Laurence R. Helfer (Duke Univ. - Law), Cecily Rose (Leiden Univ. - Law), & Rachel Brewster (Duke University School of Law) have posted Flexible Institution Building in the International Anti-Corruption Regime: Proposing a Transnational Asset Recovery Mechanism (American Journal of International Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Asset recovery is a fundamental principle of anticorruption law, without which the financial damage from corruption cannot be repaired. Yet recovering assets is notoriously difficult and time-consuming, and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption provides little technical or institutional support to facilitate such returns. To remedy this, we propose the creation of a transnational asset recovery mechanism that could provide myriad services to states on upon request, including gathering and publishing information, providing technical assistance and capacity-building, offering mediation services to help conclude agreements on asset return, and monitoring returned funds. Theoretically, we argue that such a flexible mechanism has advantages over formal international organizations to address this critical issue. Although more modest than efforts to create an international anti-corruption court, our proposal offers substantial benefits, including lower financial and political costs, enhanced adaptability, and a greater likelihood of enhancing interstate cooperation regarding asset returns.