Peter Eigen

Peter Eigen ( born June 11, 1938 in Augsburg ) is a German jurist. He is the founder and was chairman of the NGO Transparency International, whose stated goal is to engage against corruption. Since 2004, he is married with Gesine Schwan. In 2007 he founded together with Burkhard Gnärig the Berlin Civil Society Center, a forum for international non-governmental organizations, to facilitate the exchange of experience and knowledge within the civil society and other areas.

Life

Self studied law in Erlangen and Frankfurt am Main, where he also received his doctorate.

From 1967 to 1972 he was an attorney in the Legal Department of the World Bank in Washington, DC. From 1973 to 1974 he was legal adviser to the government of Botswana. From 1975 to 1988 he worked as a World Bank manager in West Africa, Latin America and in 1988 as Director of the Regional Mission for East Africa. In these 25 years he experienced in his daily work, the worldwide spread of corruption. Increasingly, he recognized the mechanisms and worried about the consequences for politics, business and society. Due to the official secrecy and trivializing this issue, he left in 1993, the World Bank and Transparency International founded to publicly profess to fight against corruption and to take action.

He is one of the initiators of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ( EITI), an international initiative of states, non-governmental organizations (NGOs ) and companies whose goal is to create transparency in orders and cash flows between companies and countries and thereby prevent corruption. Since 2006 he has been Chairman of the Board ( Chair of the Board) of the EITI.

Besides lecturing own at numerous universities on international business law and political science. He also serves on the advisory board of the Humboldt - Viadrina School of Governance in Berlin, his wife Gesine Schwan -founded. Since January 2004 he is honorary professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin. In 2007 he founded together with Burkhard Gnärig the Berlin Civil Society Center. He is a member of the Presidium of the aid organization Doctors for the Third World - German Doctors.

In his book The Power of corruption, he tells the story of Transparency International, explains how the system of corruption works and gives advice on how each individual can contribute to their containment and transparency.

Memberships

  • Advisory Board of the Center for International Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government
  • Advisory Commission of the UN Global Compact
  • Commission on Globalization of the State of the World Forum
  • Creative Club of Budapest
  • Honorary Professor, Free University of Berlin
  • Chairman, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ( EITI)
  • Chairman, Berlin Civil Society Center
  • Co-Founder and Advisory Board of the Humboldt - Viadrina School of Governance, Berlin

Awards

  • 2000: Honorary doctorate from the Open University in England
  • 2004: European of the Year 2004 Reader 's Digest
  • 2004: Transparency International, with its president Peter Eigen was to Change the World - nominated Best Practice Prize of the Club of Budapest.
  • 2006: Gutedelpreis the Markgraefler Gutedelgesellschaft
  • 2007: Gustav- Heinemann- Bürgerpreis
  • 2013: Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Publications

  • The network of corruption. Campus, Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 3- 593-37188 -X (translated to English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Latvian ).
Center for International Development at Harvard University United Nations Global Compact Die Weltwoche Integrated Authority File
643575
de