The Rise of Corporate Compliance as a Legal Strategy Against Corruption: International Influence and the Experience in Latin America

• Grant number: 21/13143-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2022
• End date: February 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law
• Principal Investigator: Mariana Souza Pargendler
• Grantee: Dalila Martins Viol
• Host Institution: Escola de Direito de São Paulo. Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The anti-corruption agenda is shared on a global scale, as are strategies to fight the problem. According to a recent OECD study, ten years ago, compliance programs were a topic of interest only in a limited number of countries and, currently, anti-corruption compliance systems are adopted in companies across the world. In recent times, several countries have reformed their legal systems to promote compliance programs. However, scholars have not yet systematically studied this phenomenon. More broadly, there is a dearth of literature on comparative anti-corruption strategies, with the few existing studies focusing on a limited number of jurisdictions from the Global North. This project aims to undertake the comparative study of the legal incentives for the adoption of corporate compliance programs, with a focus on Latin America. For these purposes, it seeks to examine the driving forces and contours of the transnational diffusion of corporate compliance programs, whose origin is commonly attributed to the United States; map and compare the legislative reforms that have taken place in Latin America to promote corporate compliance programs as a public policy; and study the Brazilian case in-depth to examine the motivation and role of the state and private organizations in promoting compliance programs, as well as analyze the particular legal strategies adopted. This doctoral thesis will contribute to comparative compliance studies as a new field of comparative law scholarship, as well as to the growing understanding of the development of new legal institutions in the Global South.