BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.4//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:The Law in World Affairs program at the Moynihan Institute of G lobal Affairs presents a virtual talk with Ezequiel González-Ocantos\, pro fessor of comparative and judicial politics at the University of Oxford.\n \nLava Jato\, an unprecedented transnational bribery investigation that st arted in Brazil in 2014 and spread throughout Latin America\, paralyzed ec onomies\, upended elections and collapsed governments. What made Lava Jato possible in a part of the world where impunity for grand corruption is th e norm? Why did it expand beyond Brazil and why did prosecutors prove effe ctive in some countries but not in others? To answer this question\, our b ook traces the legacy of reforms that enhanced prosecutors’ structural cap acity to combat white-collar crime. We also show that Lava Jato only becam e a full-blown anti-corruption crusade where reforms were coupled with inv estigators’ tactical decision to operate under the umbrella of taskforces that catalysed legal innovation and aggressive fact-finding. For some memb ers of the elite\, the aggressive and unconventional methods deployed to u ncover grand corruption were necessary and perfectly justified. Others saw dangerous affronts to the rule of law and democracy. Given these controve rsies\, we also ask: How did voters in contexts with different levels of p artisan polarization and aversion to politicians react to a once-in-a-gene ration attempt to clean politics? Did they instinctively back anti-corrupt ion or did this zealous and unorthodox form of anti-corruption prove too d ifficult to support despite the long-standing yearning for a different kin d of politics? Are anti-corruption crusades like Lava Jato capable of buil ding strong and durable anti-corruption coalitions\, or do anti-corruption methods sooner or later become fatally contested? The book is ultimately a study of the impact of accountability through criminalization\, one that dissects the drivers and dilemmas of resolute transparency efforts.This e vent is co-sponsored by the Political Science Department.Ezequiel González -Ocantos \;is professor of comparative and judicial politics in the De partment of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxfo rd\, and professorial fellow of Nuffield College. He also serves as the po litics and international relations delegate at Oxford University Press. In addition to articles in political science\, methodology and socio-legal s tudies journals\, Ezequiel has published four books with Cambridge Univers ity Press including \;Shifting Legal Visions: Judicial Change and Huma n Rights Trials in Latin America \;(2016) and \;Prosecutors\, Vote rs\, and the Criminalisation of Corruption in Latin America \;(2023). These books won multiple awards from APSA\, IPSA\, LASA and ISA. His new b ook\, \;Latin American Polarisations: Factionalism in Changing Party S ystems\, \;is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. DTEND:20260928T213000Z DTSTAMP:20261010T012527Z DTSTART:20260928T200000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Prosecutors\, Voters\, and the Criminalization of Corruption in Lat in America: The Case of Lava Jato UID:RFCALITEM639271779275631882 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

The Law in World Affairs program at the Moy nihan Institute of Global Affairs presents a virtual talk with Ezequiel Go nzález-Ocantos\, professor of comparative and judicial politics at the Uni versity of Oxford.\n\n

Lava Jato\, an unprecedented transnational br ibery investigation that started in Brazil in 2014 and spread throughout L atin America\, paralyzed economies\, upended elections and collapsed gover nments. What made Lava Jato possible in a part of the world where impunity for grand corruption is the norm? Why did it expand beyond Brazil and why did prosecutors prove effective in some countries but not in others?

To answer this question\, our book traces the legacy of reforms that en hanced prosecutors’ structural capacity to combat white-collar crime. We a lso show that Lava Jato only became a full-blown anti-corruption crusade w here reforms were coupled with investigators’ tactical decision to operate under the umbrella of taskforces that catalysed legal innovation and aggr essive fact-finding.

For some members of the elite\, the aggressive and unconventional methods deployed to uncover grand corruption were nece ssary and perfectly justified. Others saw dangerous affronts to the rule o f law and democracy. Given these controversies\, we also ask: How did vote rs in contexts with different levels of partisan polarization and aversion to politicians react to a once-in-a-generation attempt to clean politics? Did they instinctively back anti-corruption or did this zealous and unort hodox form of anti-corruption prove too difficult to support despite the l ong-standing yearning for a different kind of politics? Are anti-corruptio n crusades like Lava Jato capable of building strong and durable anti-corr uption coalitions\, or do anti-corruption methods sooner or later become f atally contested?

The book is ultimately a study of the impact of a ccountability through criminalization\, one that dissects the drivers and dilemmas of resolute transparency efforts.

This event is co-sponsore d by the Political Science Department.

Ezeq uiel González-Ocantos \;is professor of comparative and judic ial politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford\, and professorial fellow of Nuffield College. He also serves as the politics and international relations delegate at Oxfor d University Press. In addition to articles in political science\, methodo logy and socio-legal studies journals\, Ezequiel has published four books with Cambridge University Press including \;Shifting Legal Visions : Judicial Change and Human Rights Trials in Latin America \;(201 6) and \;Prosecutors\, Voters\, and the Criminalisation of Corrupt ion in Latin America \;(2023). These books won multiple awards fr om APSA\, IPSA\, LASA and ISA. His new book\, \;Latin American Pol arisations: Factionalism in Changing Party Systems\, \;is forthco ming with Oxford University Press.

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