On Collusion and Coercion: A Study of Agent Interconnectedness and In-Group Behaviour

The interconnectedness of actors is an antecedent for collective corruption, which in turn can lead to endemic corruption in a society. As a testbed for studying the effects of social interconnectedness on corrupt behaviours, we examine the domain of maritime customs. Taking an extant agent-based simulation, we add to the simulation a nuanced model of actor relatedness, consisting of clan, in-group (sect), and town of origin, and encode associated behavioural norms. We examine the effects of social interconnectedness on domain performance metrics such as revenue, container outcomes, time, coercive demands, and collusion. Initial results confirm that as actor interconnectedness increases, established policies to combat corruption, such as process re-engineering, become less effective. Our work connects with and provides a complementary methodology to works in the political economy literature.