Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau: Guardian of Public Integrity

Singapore’s famous anti-corruption agency, the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau (CPIB) has been instrumental in rooting out endemic corruption in Singapore within a few decades. It has become a source of inspiration for governments in Asia and beyond. The institutionalization of the CPIB is closely intertwined with Singapore’s success as a nation. It is hard to imagine Singapore’s phenomenal economic growth would have been possible without the work of the CPIB. But how is it possible that this agency has won such extensive powers to fight corruption? This chapter shows that the agency is more than just an organization. It has become an institution. The agency has trumpeted and enforced values like fairness, meritocracy, and the rule of law, guarding them amidst turbulence for more than half a century.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Guardian of Climate Science

This chapter analyzes the evolution of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from a specialist organization of climate scientists into an institution at the nexus of science and politics. We explain how the IPCC became the primary scientific authority for policymakers, the public, and climate activists on the existence, severity, consequences of, and, increasingly, possible solutions to anthropogenic climate change. We assess its influence on policymakers and governments, while examining the various tensions, critiques, and contradictions that the organization and its leaders have had to grapple with across its 32-year history, during which it successfully developed a distinct identity as a trusted provider of comprehensive scientific assessments. Our analysis also focuses on the institutional reforms that helped restore legitimacy to IPCC after ‘climategate’ and other controversies.

Sweden’s Riksbank: Guardian of Monetary Integrity

The Riksbank, founded in 1668, is the world’s oldest central bank. It has played a central role in Swedish economic policymaking for centuries and enjoys a great deal of confidence among the public. This chapter explains how the Riksbank became what it is today: an independent and widely respected institution. The bank’s high status has emerged because Sweden’s political elites regard the delegation of policymaking authority to the central bank as a way of managing and containing potentially harmful political conflicts. The bank’s status also benefitted from its crisis management performance, navigating Sweden through two large-scale financial crises.

The Election Commission of India: Guardian of Democracy

This chapter tells the story of how the Election Commission of India (ECI) became one of the most awe-inspiring electoral regulatory bodies in the world. One of the most widely celebrated and trusted public institutions in India, it has ensured the integrity—free and fair—of 17 national and more than 370 state elections since 1947, in what is not only the most populous but also one of the most potentially fractious democracies in the world. Ever under pressure from the executive branch and governing parties to bow to demands fed by their desire for electoral windfalls, the ECI managed to strengthen its autonomy through assertive leadership by a series of Chief Electoral Commissioners following the decline of the Congress Party’s political dominance. The rise of the Hindu Nationalist BJP as the new dominant force in Indian politics provides a crucial test for the endurance of the ECI’s role as India’s guardian of electoral integrity.

The BBC: Guardian of Public Understanding

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a long-standing institution with a worldwide reputation as the maker and supplier of trustworthy news embedded in programmes aimed at serving the public not commoditising it. This chapter describes the BBC’s institutional DNA and explains how its birth characteristics informed its institutional trajectory over the decades. The chapter discusses the internal principles and the particular ‘craft’ that has made this a true British institution that has become equally revered outside Britain’s borders. It analyses how the BBC survived institutional crises to reach a moment in history where the very idea underlying this venerable but agile institution has come under fire.

The World Anti-Doping Agency: Guardian of Elite Sport’s Credibility

WADA is a hybrid public–private agency that leads the global fight against doping. This chapter explores why and how this agency developed into an institution that receives support from sports organizations and governments worldwide. Despite initial scepticism about its ability to overcome the ineffectiveness of anti-doping policies prior to its foundation in 1999, WADA quickly grew into a broadly trusted and well-respected organization. It successfully developed a globally harmonized anti-doping system that reinforced the credibility of international sports competitions and the legitimacy of elite sport policies. From its inception, it had a distinct identity as a neutral, impartial and objective standard setter and referee agent in a morally challenging organizational field. Nonetheless, being relatively young, WADA remains a vulnerable institution. It must continuously take an independent position with regard to partial interests of sporting and public authorities that are responsible for WADA’s funding and governance. This requires institutional leadership that the organization cannot always offer, as recent doping affairs show.

Rijkswaterstaat: Guardian of the Dutch Delta

Founded in 1798, Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch government’s agency for infrastructural works, brought flood security, navigable waterways and highways to the Netherlands. It is an iconic institution within Dutch society, best known for its ‘battle against the water’. The Zuiderzee Works (1920–1968) and the Delta Works (1954–1997) brought worldwide acclaim. This chapter tells the story of a humble semi-military organization that developed into a formidable institution of civil engineers with a strong technocratic mission mystique. It also recounts the institutional crisis the agency experienced in the 1970s–1990s when it was too slow to adapt to major sociocultural and political changes. To ride the waves of change, it eventually developed several proactive adaptation strategies and reinvented its mission mystique in managerial terms. Adaptation to climate change now presents another key challenge, for which Rijkswaterstaat will have to develop a new ‘social license to operate’.

Médecins Sans Frontières: Guardian of Humanitarian Values

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, was started by a few doctors and journalists in the 1970s. Today, MSF is a humanitarian actor to be reckoned with, with its emergency medicine expertise and its unique interpretation of the neutrality and independence principles. The organization has acted unconventionally in numerous humanitarian crises and criticized peer organizations in the sector. This nonconformity has never harmed MSF; the organization is highly respected by the general public. This chapter analyzes how MSF as a principled provocateur could evolve into a public guardian of humanitarian values. We posit that MSF’s controversial acts have become an integral part of its reputation; it is expected to go against the grain. However, in order to be credible, the organization works hard to uphold its ‘volunteer and humanitarian spirit’ and strives to be an effective and professional organization.

Guardians of Public Value: How Public Organizations Become and Remain Institutions

It’s an institution—a phrase we have all come across or may have used. We intuitively understand what it means. There is something special, perhaps mythical, about them. We value these institutions. We may even find it hard to imagine a life without some of these institutions. In this chapter, we offer a definition of institutions and introduce our theoretical framework (based on the work of Philip Selznick). We introduce the case studies in this book and identify patterns of institution building.

CERN: Guardian of the Human Aspiration to Understand the Universe

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is the world’s most formidable centre for particle physics. Its mission is radically ambitious: uncovering what the universe is made of and how it works. It advances that mission by providing particle accelerator facilities that enable world-class research in fundamental physics, bringing together scientists from all over the world to push the frontiers of science and technology. It has become widely recognized as one of the most successful cross-national collaborative research organizations of all times. Smart institutional design, good governance, resourceful leadership and resilient collaboration have underpinned the strong sense of interdependence, entrenched norms of mutual respect, trust, empathy and consensual decision-making that have allowed it to thrive.