The success of CICIG: explaining a successful anti-corruption agency

Sammanfattning: The international anti-corruption commission CICIG managed to achieve unexpected success when they dismantled a corruption ring within Guatemala’s government. The results are remarkable since Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACA) often fail due to societal corruption, which is a big problem in Guatemala. But CICIG is also controversial since it is an international organisation with the authority to investigate politicians in a sovereign nation. On the other hand, CICIG has been an effective mechanism against the Grand Corruption, a major problem in many nations. The international community has pushed for similar initiatives, but there is still no clear theoretical explanation to the effectiveness of CICIG. This thesis will therefore ask the question; why was CICIG effective according to theory? The method used will be Process tracing and it will apply three different hypotheses on the case of CICIG. The hypotheses analyse the support from the societal elites, Quality of Government and CICIGs implementation process. The study finds that the independence and collaboration with Guatemalan prosecutors allowed CICIGs officials to implement a modern investigative organisation. The implementation process explains how CICIG could avoid problems faced by similar ACAs.