Anticorruption frames: Bridging accountability

Studies indicate that the success of anticorruption reforms depends upon the support of civil society actors (CSAs), whereas bottom-up initiatives need a certain degree of vertical integration with political elites to bring about long-lasting change. Indeed, anticorruption is a multi-actor field populated by political parties, the media, NGOs, interest groups, and social movements. Each of these actors shapes the outcome of the anticorruption struggle, bringing to the fore its logic, goals, strategies, and, most importantly, its discourses. Studies on frames and discourses have shown how corruption narratives inform policymaking. However, few studies have examined institutional and civil society anticorruption frames and their impact on anticorruption policies simultaneously. Focusing on the Italian case through a frame analysis of parties’, regulatory agencies’, and CSAs’ documents, newspapers, and interviews, this work looks at processes of frame alignment and frame disputes between civic and institutional actors and tries to assess their impact in shaping the Whistleblowing Protection Act (2017). The article aims at reintroducing the analysis of grassroots frames alongside institutional ones to understand the impact of discourses on anticorruption policymaking.