Critical time points in multi-stage anti-corruption policy formulation: Understanding why a design-reality gap problem occurs

This article examines why a design-reality gap emerges in national anti-corruption strategies despite policymakers’ adherence to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) best practices intended to mitigate it. Using a theory-building process-tracing approach with a single case study, i.e., South Africa’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2030 (NACS), this article uncovers critical time points (CTPs) as a novel causal mechanism that explains the emergence of this gap. CTPs are conceptualised as moments in the multi-stage formulation process when either or both of problem tractability and actors’ certification shifts. The article’s findings suggest that such shifts can reconfigure the learning environment and, consequently, influence which actor’s knowledge is privileged during the formulation process. South Africa’s NACS case indicates that, even when procedural safeguards are adhered to, specific decisions made at CTPs can shift the learning environment from an expert-driven to a hierarchical one. This shift increases the likelihood that knowledge from below about local contextual realities, emerging from the lived experiences of local actors, will be deprioritised in the formulation process, leading to the design-reality gap. CTPs are often overlooked in the policy process literature and policymaking in practice. As an analytical tool, CPTs emphasise the temporal dimension of knowledge utilisation in policy formulation and suggest explanations for why design-reality gaps persist even when procedural safeguards are followed.