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1. Excerpts from 'International Cooperation against Corruption', by Robert Klitgaard ;published in SPAN; Sept/Oct 1998 issue; page 38. |
Combating
corruption is such a difficult and sensitive issue that many national political
leaders who support such efforts in principle are hesitant to undertake
them in practice. How can international cooperation help build support
for fighting corruption, both nationally and globally?
Virtually all forms of corruption are proscribed by virtually all countries. Why then don't countries take more steps to reduce corruption? If countries have trouble fighting corruption, it may be because they lack sufficient will or sufficient local capacities, such as proper strategies and structures (including incentives), to prevent corruption. In some instances, local capacities are constrained by costs, in others by a a lack of know-how and in still others by insufficient efforts ti devise strategies to combat corruption. International cooperation can help individual countries to develop new initiatives in which international cooperation could play crucial roles in combating corruption. One is the sponsorship of regional diagnostic studies. Countries would cooperate in organizing and funding, and then share the results of, private sector studies of systematic corruption in several areas (such as procurement, health care and courts). These studies would help identify systematic improvements that might be made and suggest how to ensure permanence of improvement through monitoring. Corruption's Universality
The fact that much corruption in developing countries has important industrial country participation is now commonplace. The non governmental organization Transparency International focusses on corruption in "international business transaction" and points out that there are First World givers of many Third World bribes.. In coming years, the World Trade Organization is likely to find that this issue is a central one. The reminder that corruption is everywhere - in the private as well as the public sector, in rich countries and poor - is salutary, because it helps us avoid unhelpful stereotypes ... and convey unhelpful subliminal messages. It may suggest that all forms and instances of corruption are equally harmful. Even more perniciously, it may lead less discerning listeners or readers to conclude that because corruption exists in every country, nothing can be done ... Corruption is a term with many meanings ... Viewed most broadly, corruption is the misuse of office for unofficial ends. The catalog of corrupt acts includes - but is not limited to :
Effects of Corruption
Corruption as a System
Second, corruption is a crime of calculation, not passion. True there are both saints who resist all temptation and honest officials who resist most. But when bribes are large, the chances of being caught small, and the penalties if caught meager, many officials will succumb. Combating corruption, therefore, begins with designing better systems. Monopolies must be reduced or carefully regulated. Official discretion must be clarified. Transparency must be enhanced.. The probability of being caught, as well as the penalties for corruption (for both givers and takers) must increase. Each of these introduces
a vast topic. But notice that none immediately refers to what most of us
think of first when corruption is mentioned - that is, new laws,
more controls, a change in mentality, or an ethical revolution. Laws and
control prove insufficient when systems do not exist in which to implement
them. Moral awakenings do occur, but seldom by the design of our public
leaders. If we cannot engineer incorruptible officials and citizens, we
can nonetheless foster competition, change incentives and enhance accountability
- in short fix the systems that breed corruption.
Anti Corruption Strategy
Punish some major offenders
: Successful strategies begin by "frying a few big fish". When there is
a culture of engaging in corrupt acts with impunity, the only way to begin
breaking it up is for a number of major corrupt figures to be convicted
and punished.
Focus on prevention by repairing corrupt systems : Successful anti corruption efforts fix corrupt systems. They use a formula such as C = M + D - A to carry out "vulnerability assessments" of public and private institutions. Like the best public health campaigns, they emphasize prevention. Of course, reducing corruption is not all that one needs to care about. If for example, so much money were spent attacking corruption and so much red tape and bureaucracy were created that the costs and losses in efficiency outweighed the benefits of reduced corruption, such efforts would be counterproductive. Ways in which countries can design effective anti corruption strategies are the following:
Reform incentives : In many countries, public sector wages are so low that a family cannot survive on a typical official's salary. Moreover, measures of success are often lacking in the public sector, so that what officials earn is not linked with what they produce. It should be no surprise that corruption flourishes under such conditions. Fortunately, around the world,
experiments in both public and private sectors are emphasizing performance
measurement and the overhauling of pay schemes. Fighting corruption is
only one part of a broader effort that may be called institutional adjustment,
or the systematic recasting of information and incentives in public and
private institutions (Klitgaard, 1995). Institutional adjustment is the
next big item on the development agenda.
Political Will
The worry is that corrupt officials on top are monopolists unwilling to sacrifice their rents, and international and local business people are locked in a prisoners' dilemma in which the dominant strategy is to bribe. A corrupt equilibrium is reached, as a result of which rulers and top civil servants and some private companies gain, but society loses. What can be done in such a situation? The reflexive answer is "nothing". But consider the analogous question, "Why would national leaders , who are mindful of their self-interest, ever undertake free-market reforms, privatization and related policies, all of which sacrifice their personal control over the economy?" Yet such reforms have swept the world, as has the remarkable "third wave" of democratic reforms. Some governments do, of course, resist establishing good governance. But in the decade ahead, the crucial problem will not be inducing governments to do something about corruption but rather helping them to decide what should be done and how. Because of democratic reform, new leaders dedicated to fighting corruption and improving public administration are attaining power as never before. Election campaigns from Nicaragua to Pakistan feature corruption as a major issue. And not just in developing countries, as public outcries about electoral campaigns in Italy and Spain, and negative publicity about campaign contributions in the United States, suggest. Many new leaders would like to improve customs and tax agencies, clean up campaign financing and elections, reduce bribery and intimidation in legal systems and the police, and in general, create systems of information and incentives in the public sector that foster efficiency and reduce corruption. Their problem is not political but know-how. But it is also true that
in many countries, leaders are of two minds. They may appreciate and decry
the costs of systematic corruption, but they may also recognize the personal
and party benefits of the existing, corrupt system. To assist them in moving
toward a long-term strategy, it is necessary for several steps to be taken.
... Conclusion When corruption becomes systematic, fighting it must go beyond implementing liberal economic policies, enacting better laws, reducing the number and complexity of regulations and providing more training, helpful though these steps may be. Fighting systematic corruption requires administering a shock to disturb a corrupt equilibrium. It might include such steps as :
About the author: Robert Klitgaard is Dean and Ford Distinguished Professor of International Development and Security at the RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, California. |
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