This guide is intended to provide a list of resources for individuals who are researching municipal corruption whether they are academics, municipal employees, elected officials, lawyers or otherwise. This list is not exhaustive and is intended to provide individuals with starting points for researching municipal corruption, in Canada and around the world.

The focus of this bibliography is on criminal acts of corruption (bribery, fraud, embezzlement, vote buying, breach of trust, etc.) and their prevention as opposed to ‘soft’ or noncriminal corruption. Some sources are included to help readers delineate between criminal and non-criminal acts of corruption. Additionally, some sources that were not municipally focused were included due to their applicability to municipal issues. Police corruption was not a focus as it is often studied outside the municipal context.

There is a Canadian emphasis due to the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy being a Canada-based research centre. Following the creation of a section on Canadian legislation, case law, and secondary sources, a thorough review of international sources such as journals, books, reports, and other publications was conducted. Documents, guides, and reports by inter-governmental organizations as well as NGOs are included, many of which contain frameworks that are designed to be applicable to any jurisdiction.

Some regions may be absent or may have a limited number of sources due to either a lack of available research, research being unavailable in English, or due to time constraints. Some sources are not in English but have English descriptions indicating the contents. Sources that did not have an English description were excluded.

There is a focus on both recent and online sources. Recent sources were emphasized because they often summarize prior research in their literature review sections. The emphasis on online sources was necessitated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all sources are hyperlinked either directly or to a page that contains a description and direct link to the resource.

A modified McGill citation style was used, with clarity and usability as the main principles (e.g. hyperlinks used instead of written URLs). Sources are listed alphabetically unless denoted otherwise, with listings by the same primary author chronologized. Sources with no attributions to an author are listed at the start of their respective sections as they are often government reports or key sources.

Read the full bibliography here.

Photo by Beatriz Pérez Moya on Unsplash.