Eldis Governance Reporter24 October 2014
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This is our regular bulletin that highlights recent publications on governance issues. The documents highlighted here are available to download online without charge. If you are unable to access any of these materials online and would like to receive a copy of a document as an email attachment, please contact our editor at the email address given below.
In this issue: - Drivers of corruption: a brief review
- The political economy of corruption and REDD+: lessons from the Philippines' pilot sites
- Guinea: anti-corruption institutions
- Fighting corruption in South Asia: building accountability
- Brazilian anti-corruption legislation and its enforcement: potential lessons for institutional design
- Corruption risks and mitigating approaches in climate finance
Drivers of corruption: a brief review
Authors: Søreide,T.
Produced by: World Bank (2014)
For many years, corruption was seen as primarily, if not exclusively, a political problem with little or no relevance to economic development. Recently, however, the nexus between corruption and governance issues, on theone hand, and development, including economic development, on the other, has become clear. Along with the evolution in their understanding of corruption as a development issue, the international financial institutions (IFIs), have developed legal and policy frameworks to deal with corruption in their operations. This paper provides an overview of scholarly literature explaining the risk of corruption, and looks at policy implications amd areas for further research. The report concludes that: - anticorruption is now on the political agenda in most countries, formal and informal controls haveimproved, and the space for conducting corrupt acts has shrunk
- however, corruption persists because actors with authority profit and the risks cannot be completely eradicated. Constant awareness of how strategies against corruption can be made more efficient is required, and governments, organisations, and state institutions should draw on the knowledge at hand
- cross-disciplinary collaboration is needed to advance this agenda, because solutions require understanding of such topics as an individual's psychology, framework conditions, formal and informal structures andnorms, organizations in the private and public sector, and legal aspects
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69498
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The political economy of corruption and REDD+: lessons from the Philippines' pilot sites
Authors: Mayo-Anda,G.; Torres,J.
Produced by: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre (2014)
Corruption is a continuing feature of the Philippines' natural resource sectors. Given keen interest in the country's REDD+ potential, it is useful to consider corruption risks related to REDD+ from a political economy perspective. This U4 Issue draws on fieldwork from two REDD+ pilot sites to assess current governance and anti-corruption safeguards related to benefit-sharing, land tenure rights for indigenous peoples, and private sector involvement. Many anti corruption actions are in place in the pilot sites, but they are weakly embedded in social relations at the local level. More work is required to raise awareness of the benefits of governance safeguards to livelihoods and security of land tenure. The lack of a national REDD+ coordinating body means that the collection and dissemination of relevant anti-corruption lessons for REDD+ nationally remains challenging. Existing anti-corruption initiatives require solid implementation strategies as well as adequate financial support.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69499
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Guinea: anti-corruption institutions
Produced by: Open Society Initiative for West Africa (2013)
After languishing for ten years or more, efforts to tackle corruption in Guinea received a serious crack of the whip immediately after the presidential elections of November 2010. The government relaunched systematic audits of public procurement, which were also carried out more professionally than they had been before. The new administration also brought more transparency to the governance of the mining sector and more rigour to the management of public finances. Three years after the president took office, however, these efforts against corruption have stalled. This report explores the reasons they have become bogged down, through an examination of the operations and legal framework for the organs charged with the fight against corruption, as well as an evaluation of their work in practice. Rather than being a study of the extent of corruption in Guinea, the report is concerned with the bodies and mechanisms put in place to try to reduce it. It consists of a critical evaluation of the strategy and institutional framework for anti-corruption measures. It proposes simple, practical and coherent measures to breathe new life into the efforts to fight against corruption in Guinea.
[Summary taken from publisher]
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69538
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Fighting corruption in South Asia: building accountability
Produced by: Transparency International (2014)
Hardly a speech is delivered in South Asia without mention of the need to fight corruption in the region. Yet despite the lofty promises, corruption is on the rise. This report shows how a serious lack of political will on the part of governments to make laws work, means that government action to fight corruption is largely ineffective. The report draws on the findings of in-depth research on anti-corruption efforts in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which analysed almost 70 institutions across the six countries. While none of the institutions assessed were found to be free from corruption risks, this report focuses in particular on the judiciary and anti-corruption agencies as critical actors in the fight against corruption. It highlights common challenges in the region and presents the governments of South Asia with a clear set of urgent priorities which need to be addressed in order to translate their anti-corruption rhetoric into concrete action. The key findings of the report are: - Citizens find themselves unable to access key information on how their governments are performing in order to hold them to account.
- The lack of meaningful protection for whistleblowers means that the chances of detecting wrongdoing by those in positions of power are slim.
- Widespread political interference in the critical work of anti-corruption agencies and the judiciary makes them ineffective in keeping a check on government.
This situation presents serious challenges for the rule of law in the region. Some laws are inconsistent with international standards, while others are not equally enforced and independently adjudicated. As a result, corruption and other crimes are not effectively and impartially investigated or punished. This creates an atmosphere where the corrupt continue to get away with abusing their positions for their own personal gain at the public's expense. Nevertheless, there have been some positive developments in the fight against corruption over the last 10 years. Most significantly, all six countries in this study have ratified the UN Convention against Corruption. However, there is still a long way to go to turn these commitments into meaningful action. The analysis presented here suggests a worrying reluctance on the part of the governments concerned to enable citizens to help shape the decisions that affect their daily lives. [Summary taken from author]
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69539
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Brazilian anti-corruption legislation and its enforcement: potential lessons for institutional design
Authors: Carson,L.; Mota Prado,M.
Produced by: International Research Initiative on Brazil and Africa (2014)
Over the past few decades corruption has emerged as a major issue in the global development discourse as policymakers and academics have increasingly focused on the political economy factors that promote or hinder inclusive, sustainable growth. This paper investigates Brazil's struggle against corruption and the institutional lessons revealed therein. Since returning to a democratic system in 1985, enacting a new constitution in 1988, and holding direct elections in 1989, Brazil has been plagued by corruption scandals. While the country outperforms many of its regional and developmental peers on various corruption-related indicators, corruption remains a problem in many areas of public life, most notably in regional and state governments, political parties, and parliament, as well as public procurement at all levels of government.
This paper examines those reforms and institutions that have, anecdotally and empirically, proven potent in combating corruption in Brazil. Specifically, there has been significant progress associated with the systems of oversight and investigation but very little progress associated with punishment. Highlighting the interrelationships among state accountability institutions in these arenas, the authors argue that the duplication of oversight and investigative functions among various governmental entities has strengthened their collective impact.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69288
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Corruption risks and mitigating approaches in climate finance
Authors: Chêne,M.
Produced by: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre (2014)
There are major governance and corruption challenges associated with climate finance, with huge amounts of money from a wide variety of sources flowing through new, complex and relatively untested funding mechanisms at international, national and local levels. Yet, as climate governance is still in a formative stage, research on the corruption risks associated with climate finance is nascent and represents a rapidly evolving field of investigation. An important stream of research focuses on understanding the complex web of actors and institutions involved in climate finance decisions, the scale and nature of money flows, as well as where the money is coming from and where it is going. While there is an emerging body of research on national and global mechanisms, it is also important to explore the risks and opportunities presented by local-level climate financing, and to gain a better understanding on how the global, national and local levels relate to each other, so that various interests can be better balanced, articulated and integrated to promote greater responsibility and accountability in climate finance. Research into the governance and accountability frameworks of the various actors involved and how these are implemented at the international, national and local levels, is also important in gaining a clearer picture of how best to mitigate corruption risks and identify emerging good practice. Lessons learnt on best practice from development assistance as well as other sectors can help inform the debate.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=69381
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