Family Corruption

Open Call for Contributions to the Encyclopaedia of Family Corruption

The Global Informality Project invites contributions to the Encyclopaedia of Family (Kinship) Corruption, edited by David Jancsics (San Diego State University) and Alena Ledeneva (University College London). The planned volume examines how family and kinship ties shape corrupt practices in politics, business, public administration and everyday life. We are looking for short, case-based entries from researchers and practitioners in any discipline and region, including early-career scholars.

We understand corruption broadly. The volume covers bribery and embezzlement, but also nepotism, favouritism, patronage and the grey zones where loyalty to relatives, moral obligation and formal rules collide. Family itself means different things in different places: households, lineages, clans, godparents, in-laws, and fictive or chosen kin. We would like entries to reflect how people themselves describe these relationships.

Each entry focuses on a specific practice, concept, configuration or regional manifestation. Possible topics include political dynasties and succession, family firms and conglomerates, hiring and appointments, kin-based survival networks and economies of favours, and transnational or diasporic family networks. We want the volume to be interdisciplinary. Contributions from sociology, anthropology, political science, law, economics, management, history, development studies, public administration and area studies are all welcome, as are entries drawing on local-language sources and regions that are rarely covered in the corruption literature.
The Encyclopaedia is under contract with UCL Press in the FRINGE series and will be published in open access. It builds on the three volumes of the Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, which have been downloaded more than 250,000 times in 213 countries. Accepted entries first appear on the Global Informality Project website, usually soon after acceptance, and will be included in the printed volume.

How to contribute

• Length: ~1,000 words, including references.
  

• Structure: Definition; context and background; illustrative cases; mechanisms; implications for governance and society; suggested readings.
  

• Basis: An entry can be a short version of your published work. No new research is needed.
  

• Expression of Interest: A title, an abstract of about 200 words, a short biography (100 words), and the deadline that would suit you. This is an ongoing project, and the volume is due for submission at the end of 2027.
  

• Submission email: familycorruption2026@gmail.com.
  

• Questions: djancsics@sdsu.edu.
  

For further information about the project, please browse the Global Informality Project.

Final selection of entries is subject to editorial approval and the approval of UCL Press.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!