administrative corruption essay

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Brief background on the human rights system
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Anti-Corruption

Module 4: Public Sector Corruption

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University Module Series: Anti-Corruption

This module is a resource for lecturers

Manifestations and consequences of public sector corruption, forms and manifestations of public sector corruption.

All before-mentioned forms of corruption occur in the public sector, including bribery, embezzlement, illicit enrichment, trading in influence, and abuse of functions (which can involve favouritism and nepotism). As noted in Module 1, the precise legal articulation of corruption offences is complex. For example, article 15 of UNCAC defines bribery in the public sector as "[t]he promise, offering or giving, to a public official, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage, for the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her official duties". While this definition can be difficult to digest, the essence of the crime - money or anything else of value exchanged for benefits from political or economic actors - is not difficult to grasp. Nor is it difficult to understand the effect of the crime - circumventing lawful procedures by auctioning off political or economic power to the highest bidder.

The same goes for embezzlement and misappropriation of property, defined in UNCAC Article 17. Beyond the complex legal formulation of the definition, the bottom line is that someone entrusted with something valuable (such as property, funds or investments) has taken it for him- or herself or routed it to some third party at the expense of others. It is, essentially, a combination of betrayal and theft. UNCAC article 19 defines the offence of abuse of functions. This offence could apply to situations such as patronage (the use of State resources to reward individuals for their electoral support); nepotism (preferential treatment of relatives); cronyism (awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues); and sextortion (the demand for sexual favours as a form of payment) - all of which undermine independent or democratically representative decision-making, and fair and competitive processes in the formation or staffing of governments. Like the crimes of bribery and embezzlement, these forms of corruption are highly destructive of transparency, accountability and the rule of law. That is not only their effect; it is also their object and purpose. For a further discussion of the crimes defined by UNCAC and the corollary obligations of States that are party to the Convention, see Module 12 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption.

Corruption manifests differently in different areas of the public sector. For example, corruption schemes in the areas of security and defence may include patronage and bribes to secure the purchase of military equipment from a particular company, while in the health sector it may refer to kickbacks that patients have to pay to their doctors or abuse of healthcare funds by public officials and doctors. In the area of education, corruption occurs when lecturers demand favours from their students to pass an exam or to receive a diploma (for more information about corruption in education see Module 9 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption). Common corruption schemes in the police and the judiciary include the manipulation of cases and evidence by the police, court judgments given to satisfy a favoured party, and corruption in judicial procurement. All these schemes lead to people's frustration, disengagement, polarization and even conflict. When these corruption offences occur in the areas of the public sector that are responsible for providing justice and enforcing the law, such as the judiciary and the police, they are not only offences in their own right, they also obstruct the course of justice and undermine the rule of law and human rights in the most direct and fundamental way.

Consequences of public sector corruption

The detrimental impacts of corruption are discussed in depth in Module 1 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption. For present purposes, we should recognize that public sector corruption adds substantially to the costs of public goods and services, leads to the misallocation of public resources, weakens policymaking and implementation, and destroys public confidence in the government (IMF, 2016; Graycar, 2015). Corruption in the police or judiciary can be especially detrimental to the rule of law and human rights in a country. Corruption in the defence sector and the health system can have equally devastating impacts. Corruption in the military, for example, can impede the government's ability to protect the population from security threats; whereas, corruption in hospitals can result in health crises and unnecessary deaths.

Corruption in public works and infrastructure has the obvious potential for harm to the public, and ranges from non-existent, inappropriately located and poorly functioning public services, to services that physically injure or kill members of the public. Corruption in infrastructure often determines what is built where, rather than the amount spent on building or connecting the infrastructure (Kenny, 2006, p. 18). Locatelli and others (2017) show how corruption in Italian high-speed railways worsens both cost and time performance. The authors also use this case study to examine the impact of corruption on megaprojects (high value, complex projects with long-lasting impact on the economy, environment and society). Some procurement corruption cases lead to death and injury. The cases of the Padma Bridge scandal in Bangladesh , the 2018 earthquake in Mexico City and the South Korean ferry disaster are all examples where, because of corruption, important infrastructure projects were awarded to companies which used cheap and low-quality materials, neglected safety procedures and enjoyed impunity and lack of government control over their actions. Subsequently, this led to unsafe infrastructure which resulted in high death tolls and instances of injury. There have also been widely publicized incidents of public buildings collapsing in South Africa and India . In addition to tragic consequences for individuals, private sector participation in procurement corruption has led in some cases to the demise of certain firms, or their exclusion from public contracts (known as debarment), and other criminal and civil penalties (Williams-Elegbe 2012).

The impact of corruption in the public sector is determined by its frequency and reach. That is, public sector corruption may be episodic (a single act of corruption) or systemic (a pervasive pattern of corrupt activities and practices over time), and its effects can range from isolated to far-ranging in nature. For example, a public servant stealing office stationery to sell outside of work may have limited adverse effects, particularly if it is an isolated incident. In contrast, a pervasive pattern of corruption such as that seen in cases of state capture (defined in Module 1 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption) has far-reaching and potentially devastating political and economic effects. However, there are also serious moral implications to any act of corruption. Furthermore, even episodic corruption cases can eventually lead to an unethical organizational culture, which can escalate to systemic corruption.

Systemic corruption in the public sector erodes public trust in government institutions, damages policy integrity, and distorts public sector outcomes. It also has a deep-seated negative impact on the public sector in that it leads to a self-perpetuating organizational culture of corruption. The vested interests of the different actors in the system make systemic corruption very difficult to fight. It thus becomes necessary to base anti-corruption efforts, as much as possible, on both intrinsic elements in the public sector and on external controls (including laws and regulations), as well as on broad public participation.

Next: Causes of public sector corruption

Administrative Corruption

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First Online: 12 November 2020
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Maria De Benedetto 3

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Abuse of public power for private gain.

Introduction

The widespread interest at national and international level in combating administrative corruption is strictly connected with the idea that it produces many negative effects, distorts incentives, and weakens institutions. On the other hand, administrative corruption has been also considered as an extralegal institution which – under certain conditions – could even produce positive effects.

Anti-corruption strategies have been developed with reference to a Principal-Agent-Client model or using an incentive-disincentive approach as well as an ethical perspective.

However, preventing corruption needs a toolbox: good quality regulation, also when regulation determines sanctions; controls, which should be sustainable and informed to deterrence and planning; and administrative reforms, in order to reduce monopoly and discretionary powers, to strengthen the civil service, and to ensure transparency and information.

Administrative...

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Maria De Benedetto

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De Benedetto, M. (2021). Administrative Corruption. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_527-2

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Administrative Corruption ( An Explanative Overview)

1971, the year when Bangladesh gained its independence through a nine-month sanguinary war against Pakistan . Bangladesh is trying to develop herself through different development policies since its liberation, but several factors are making obstacle in this process, Corruption is one of these. Which is considered as a permanent or existing problem for human civilization because of it's adverse impact on the progress of humankind and all scale of development . In this paper, we discuss about corruption and administrative corruption in Bangladesh and explain the scenario of corruption in different sectors of administration. Why administrative corruption occurred in Bangladesh and how it can be reduced also described here. We also explain what’s the impact of administrative corruption on country.

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Corruption as a Problem in Public Administration

Introduction, background of the issue, importance of the issue, discussion of possible solutions, disciplinary codes and codes of ethics, conflict of interest regulations and financial disclosure, the use of e-government, recommendation for the solution.

Corruption in public administration is one of the many problems that lead to inequalities and injustice in modern society. There exist numerous definitions that attempt to present the concepts of this term. For example, Cordis and Milyo (2016) admit that “it may be defined as the misuse of public office for private gain or more broadly as an abuse of public trust” (p. 129). Park and Kim (2019) also state that the term refers to actions of public officials to further their own or others’ interests in exchange for benefits. The two definitions indicate that corruption is an example of misconduct, meaning that it is necessary to take specific steps to address the issue.

Numerous scholarly articles analyze the question of how it is possible to combat corruption in public administration. The studies by Ionescu (2016), Kossow et al. (2017), Irfan (2017), Nam (2018), Park and Kim (2019), and Basyal et al. (2018) assess the effectiveness of the Internet and e-governance in combating corruption. Simultaneously, Meyer-Sahling and Mikkelsen (2020) consider how the use of disciplinary codes and codes of ethics is helpful in this case. Furthermore, Mungiu-Pippidi and Dadašov (2017) draw attention to a set of anti-corruption measures, including financial disclosure, conflict of interest regulation, restrictive rules on party finance, and others. This scientific evidence demonstrates that many researchers make efforts to find ways to eliminate corruption in public administration.

The information above shapes the paper’s purpose that manifests itself in analyzing the current ways to address corruption in public administration and finding the most effective option. This objective has resulted in a hypothesis that e-governance and the use of the Internet can decrease the prevalence of corruption in a public sphere. In an attempt to prove this thought, an approach of literature review has been undertaken. This research will have practical implications because its results will show what specific measures are necessary to combat corruption activities. The remaining paper will present background information on the issue, a detailed presentation of its importance, a discussion of possible solutions, and the recommendation for the solution choice.

The issue of corruption has a long history because it was familiar to people of different epochs. For example, Terence, the Latin playwright, admitted that the more laws the republic had, the higher the corruption rate there was (Mungiu-Pippidi & Dadašov, 2017). As for the modern era, different factors can be prerequisites of corruption. According to Park and Kim (2019), they are the presence or absence of punishment for corruptive acts, level of democracy, sector pay, individual education level, and others. In addition to that, the decision of whether to engage in corruption depends on what public officials’ colleagues think of the issue (Gorsira et al., 2018). This information makes it possible to conclude that corruption is in human nature.

The problem is of universal scope because both developed and developing nations suffer from corruption. Thus, Irfan (2017) analyzes the ways to combat this issue in Sri Lanka, while the study by Mungiu-Pippidi and Dadašov (2017) assesses the prevalence of corruptive behaviors in all world countries. Figure 1 by Mungiu-Pippidi and Dadašov (2017) stipulates that “the more restrictions a country has on political financing, the more corrupt it is” (p. 392). This fact supports Terence’s idea that has been described above.

As has been mentioned above, addressing corruption in public administration is a popular topic of scholarly articles. Numerous studies acknowledge this issue and offer possible solutions to it. Most of these scientific works have successfully investigated the problem because they have identified a connection between the implementation of preventive measures and corruption rates. However, there is a significant gap in this research body. It refers to the fact that all the articles analyze the effectiveness of separate measures, and no study has attempted to compare all the existing options and find the most suitable solution. That is why the given work tries to address this gap and offer an effective solution to the problem under consideration.

Even though it has been mentioned that corruption is a universal problem, the issue of to what extent various countries suffer from it remains unclear. Thus, the given section is going to present this information. On the one hand, Irfan (2017) presents an increasing volume of corruptive cases in Sri Lanka, while Meyer-Sahling and Mikkelsen (2020) consider the growing burden of this issue in Poland. Thus, these two articles prove that developing countries are subject to corruption. On the other hand, developed nations also fail to feel protected from the problem, and the situation in the United States supports this claim. Figure 2 by Cordis and Milyo (2016) reveals the number of confirmed corruption cases in the US over a 40-year period. Despite a significant improvement in the 1990s, the figure demonstrates an evident upward tendency of corruption in the United States. The figure represents the number of corruptive cases made by various agencies. The inconsistency between the results is an interesting anomaly, but its nature is not within the scope of this research.

Irrespective of a country where corruption cases occur and its economic status, the phenomenon under consideration is destructive and leads to adverse consequences. Firstly, Park and Kim (2019) admit that this phenomenon results in lower private investment, which decreases the economic growth of a nation. Secondly, corruption leads to government inefficiencies concerning procurement processes (Park & Kim, 2019). It means that government activity becomes unfair, which makes it challenging to achieve positive outcomes for the nation. Thirdly, the two examples above result in the fact that people do not trust the government. Finally, Park and Kim (2019) explain that the presence of corruption in public administration makes people want to break the rules, which can lead to social unrest. The information above is an evident sign that specific and compelling measures are necessary to address corruption and relieve nations from its adverse consequences.

Since the details above have demonstrated that corruption in public administration is a universal issue that implies many adverse consequences, there is no doubt that specific measures to address the problem are required. Now, there is an array of available solutions, and it is necessary to review their specifics. That is why the following information will present a synthesis of possible options, which is essential to identify whether it is reasonable to use any of them.

Since corruption is an example of misconduct, this behavior should imply a punishment. In some cases, appropriate sanctions that are predetermined by disciplinary codes can be useful in preventing corruption. According to Meyer-Sahling and Mikkelsen (2020), these documents determine punitive measures that should be applied to public officials who have committed wrongdoing. They are said to work because the implied punishment can be an effective stimulus for individuals to avoid engaging in corruption. However, numerous scientific studies demonstrate that disciplinary codes may not suffice to address the issue under analysis successfully. Thus, Meyer-Sahling and Mikkelsen (2020) considered the impact of these documents on Polish public officials and failed to identify significant statistical evidence that would reveal the benefits of disciplinary codes. It is so because a desire to obtain corruption benefits is higher than the fear of being punished. Thus, the researchers conclude that this solution cannot make a difference when used in isolation.

Codes of ethics are also documents that contribute to the creation of an ethical and productive environment in the workplace, but they address the issue from a different side. As opposed to disciplinary codes, codes of ethics explain corporate values and behavioral standards. These documents are used to increase officials’ morale with the help of motivation and ethical principles (Meyer-Sahling & Mikkelsen, 2020). In other words, codes of ethics are present to remind civil servants about the sinful nature of corruption, which tends to minimize this behavior. However, Meyer-Sahling and Mikkelsen (2020) explain that this measure is unlikely to result in significant benefits. It means that emphasizing values is not sufficient to make individuals refrain from following corruptive behaviors.

It can be necessary to address public officials’ scope of responsibility to fight corruption. It refers to the necessity to minimize the occurrence of conflict of interest situations. According to Mungiu-Pippidi and Dadašov (2017), these cases occur when a public servant is in a position when their decision can lead to personal benefits. It means that appropriate restrictions are necessary to “prohibit public officials from participating in any number of activities that might be seen to compromise their impartiality” (Mungiu-Pippidi & Dadašov, 2017, p. 393). That is why there exist numerous provisions that regulate public officials’ behavior in the spheres of owning a private firm, accepting gifts, holding government contracts, and others. This measure’s effect is insignificant because public servants can overcome these regulations by involving third parties in their corruptive actions.

At the same time, financial disclosure regulations are another possible solution. Mungiu-Pippidi and Dadašov (2017) explain that this measure obliges public servants to “disclose their income, assets and financial interests to prevent or detect any private gains they might eventually make” (p. 394). The rationale behind this claim is that individuals will refrain from engaging in corruptive activities because they will not be able to explain the origins of their richness. However, it is also impossible to mention that this solution has the potential to result in significant benefits. It relates to the fact that individuals can find ways of overcoming the regulations under consideration. For example, it is a typical case when a corrupt official discloses their financial statement, and it does not have any suspicious information. It is so because this public servant’s relatives possess objects of luxury. This information denotes that the measures above are insufficient to reduce the incidence of corruption in public administration.

E-government is another possible solution to the issue under consideration. This term denotes that public officials use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to cope with routine activities. Since modern Internet capabilities are almost limitless, it is not a surprise that e-government is quite accessible now. Park and Kim (2019) indicate that the use of e-government leads to improved effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of government operations. That is why this strategy has the potential to address corruption in public administration.

Numerous examples can demonstrate how e-government can make a difference when it comes to public corruption. Firstly, e-government initiatives result in an online service application system (Park & Kim, 2019). It means that public officials do not have direct contact with applicants, which eliminates the environment that could promote corruptive actions. Secondly, procurement procedures can experience significant changes with the help of e-government. It relates to the introduction of an e-procurement system that can help monitor whether officials’ actions in the procurement sphere are just and fair (Park & Kim, 2019). Thirdly, e-government initiatives lead to the creation of an open government that is an effective measure to fight corruption. It is so because this phenomenon discloses government information regarding decision-making procedures, policy implementation, evaluation processes, and others (Park & Kim, 2019). This information denotes that e-government addresses various manifestations of public corruption to eliminate this behavior.

An array of scientific evidence can prove the effectiveness of e-government. For example, Park and Kim (2019) insist on the fact that this option leads to significantly decreased public corruption rates. Simultaneously, Ionecsu (2016) explains that volumes of corruptive activities reduce substantially in developing countries because of e-government. Irfan (2017) also adds that Sri Lanka experiences a reduced corruption rate because e-government initiatives have been implemented in the country. The two previous examples make it possible to conclude that the effect of e-government is of a limited scope since it is only positive for developing countries. This idea is supported by Basyal et al. (2018), who did not find any evidence that “e-government has a positive impact on corruption reduction” (p. 134). That is why it is necessary to identify whether this opposing point of view is accurate.

Further research reveals that e-government leads to the desired outcomes if additional conditions are present. On the one hand, the analysis of 154 countries has shown that e-governance is the most effective in countries with a stable and organized society (Kossow & Kukutschka, 2017). It means that this way of addressing corruption is useful in those countries that do not suffer from other social issues. On the other hand, Nam (2018) mentions that “national cultures characterized as having unequal power distribution and uncertainty avoidance have a decreased anti-corruption effect of e-government” (p. 273). This fact also demonstrates that e-government can result in essential benefits in those nations that do not have significant social problems.

Corruption is a significant problem in the modern world because it affects various life spheres. This phenomenon results in the fact that people with power misconduct or make wrongful decisions to obtain personal benefits. Corruption consequences imply reduced private investment, government inefficiencies, economic problems, social unrest, and others. That is why it is necessary to choose the most suitable solution to improve the situation.

According to the information above, it is possible to mention that e-government is a suitable option to address corruption in public administration. Firstly, it is so because many scientific articles prove the effectiveness of the given solutions under various conditions. Secondly, it has been shown that this strategy addresses the issue from multiple sides, which can contribute to better outcomes. However, these details do not mean that e-government is an error-free option to eliminate corruption or at least minimize its rates. Some scientific works also suggest that this strategy does not have the potential to reduce corruption. Such arguments are refuted by the fact that e-government results in benefits under particular conditions. It refers to the fact that a developed and organized society is a factor that can maximize the positive outcomes of using e-government to fight corruption. The final thought is that e-government can be sufficient to eliminate corruption from public administration when society is ready for this improvement.

Basyal, D. K., Poudyal, N., & Seo, J.-W. (2018). Does e-government reduce corruption? Evidence from a heterogeneous panel data model. Transforming Government: People, Process, and Policy, 12 (2), 134-154.

Cordis, A. S., & Milyo, J. (2016). Measuring public corruption in the United States: Evidence from administrative records of federal prosecutions. Public Integrity, 18 (2), 127-148.

Gorsira, M., Denkers, A., & Huisman, W. (2018). Both sides of the coin: Motives for corruption among public officials and business employees. Journal of Business Ethics, 151, 179-194.

Ionescu, L. (2016). E-government and social media as effective tools in controlling corruption in public administration. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, (1), 66-72.

Irfan, M. I. M. (2017). The role of e-governance in administrative efficiency and combating corruption: Case of Sri Lanka. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 17 (2-G). Web.

Kossow, N., & Kukutschka, R. M. B. (2017). Civil society and online connectivity: Controlling corruption on the net? Crime, Law, and Social Change, 68 (4), 459-476.

Meyer-Sahling, J.-H., & Mikkelsen, K. S. (2020). Codes of ethics, disciplinary codes, and the effectiveness of anti-corruption frameworks: Evidence from a survey of civil servants in Poland. Review of Public Personnel Administration.

Mungiu-Pippidi, A., & Dadašov, R. (2017). When do anticorruption laws matter? The evidence on public integrity enabling contexts. Crime, Law, and Social Change, 68 (4), 387-402.

Nam, T. (2018). Examining the anti-corruption effect of e-government and the moderating effect of national culture: A cross-country study. Government Information Quarterly, 35 (2), 273-282.

Park, C. H., & Kim, K. (2019). E-government as an anti-corruption tool: Panel data analysis across countries. International Review of Administrative Sciences.

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Corruption in India: Status, Causes & Impacts

From Current Affairs Notes for UPSC » Editorials & In-depths » This topic

The menace of corruption is the most talked-about issue in India which grapples the sphere of public debate very often. The phenomenon touches every human being from the one living in slums to the person occupying the highest echelons of the State system. Just like the fictional Voldemort, corruption grows at every utterance of it. In the words of Kautilya “Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey that finds itself in the tip of the tongue, so it is impossible for a government assistant not to eat up, at least a bit of King’s revenue.”

This topic of “Corruption in India: Status, Causes & Impacts” is important from the perspective of the UPSC IAS Examination , which falls under General Studies Portion.

What is Corruption?

Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as “The abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs”

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Public Administration

What is the Status of corruption in India?

In 2021, the country was ranked 85th out of 180 in the Corruption Perceptions Index, with the lowest-ranked countries perceived to have the most honest public sector. Corruption is caused by a variety of factors, including officials stealing money from government social welfare programmes.
CPI, 2019 highlighted that unfair and opaque political financing, undue influence in decision-making and lobbying by powerful corporate interest groups, has resulted in stagnation or decline in the control of corruption.
As per the India Corruption Survey 2019, 51% of the respondents admitted to paying bribes. Rajasthan and Bihar fared the worst in the country with 78% and 75% of respondents admitting to paying bribes.

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What are the causes of corruption?

Inquiry into the causes of corruption presents a detailed picture of a socio-political-economic-administrative scenario that breeds corruption on a daily basis.

Legacy issues –
Rampant poverty and empty coffers of the government at the dawn of independence leading to chronic low salaries of the government officials.
Pre liberalization license permit raj catered by Monopolies and restrictive trade practices facilitated the corruption. The lack of economic freedom led to abuse of the system.
Necessities of development overshadowed vigilance procedures.
Political system
Use of black money in elections to win at any cost (breaching statutory spending limits) creates the need for the recovery of that cost through malpractices.
Election funding is not transparent making it prone to the usage of black money and funding based on quid pro quo.
It leads to crony capitalism, an unholy nexus between politicians and corporates.
Criminalization of politics- when the rule-breakers become rule makers, the casualty is the rule of law.
Economic structure
Low levels of formalization (merely 10%) of the economy breed black money.
Stringent compliance rules for entry and exit for businesses result in bribery.
Unequal distribution of wealth- Transparency International data suggests that corruption is directly proportionate to the economic gap in a nation.
Faulty process of liberalisation- we first opened ourselves to the world and then took to legislation for various sectors like FDI, resource auction making it easy for foreign companies to manipulate the system.
Legal lacunae
Archaic laws like IPC 1860 don’t capture the complexities of administration and lead to the escape of wrongdoers.
narrows down the definition of corruption,
increases the burden of proof
prior approval from the government for inquiry or investigation of officials
Lacunae in the Lokpal act and delays in the appointments both at the state and central levels.
Dilution of the RTI act and political misuse of CBI and other agencies.
Loopholes give discretionary powers to the officials making working prone to corruption.
Lack of resources, funding, infrastructure and manpower in the vigilance institutions.
Lack of incorporation of standard practices by organizations like Banks, sports organizations which results in multi-billion-rupee scams. E.g. Punjab National Bank scam, commonwealth scam.
Delays and dying away from the corruption cases at the judicial level due to lack of evidence or faulty investigation. It also showcases politician-public servant-judicial (lower levels) nexus.
Lack of protection to good Samaritans
Targeting of upright and non-corrupt officials and rewards to corrupt officials
Near non-existent whistleblowers protection
Social problems
The mindset of the citizenry that doesn’t look at the problems seriously and even accepts it as a necessary part of the system.
Illiteracy, poverty, and inability to understand complex procedures.
Increasing consumerism in the new middle class that is ready to bribe to get things done.
Failure of social morality, education system to inculcate the values.

What are the impacts of corruption?

Hindrances to developmental process
loss of wealth due to corruption and siphoning away of taxpayers’ money leave little to spend in the social sector.
many developmental projects cannot be completed or get dragged for decades because of red-tapism, corruption cases raising the expenditure
out of pocket expenditure by the poor to get things done creates a vicious cycle of poverty.
Corruption in the social sectors like PDS, health and education schemes lead to demographic disadvantage.
It misdirects developmental strategy from decentralized, directed projects to big-budget projects on account of crony capitalism.
Economic loss
Undermines ease of doing business
Corruption in the public services sector carries high risks for conducting good businesses. Companies are likely to unwanted red tapes, petty corruption, bribes for finalizing any procedures or deals.
Wrong allocation policies result in undervaluation of resources like Coal blocks, Hydrocarbon projects, Spectrum allocation. Eg. 2G scam, Coalgate. This mismanagement of resources leads to environmental degradation and exploitation.
Low tax collection due to tax authority- corporate corruption. It results in low spending in the capital building.
Corruption of financial sector officials like Banks, the stock market erodes the strength of the economy. E.g. PNB scam, PMC scam, Harshad Mehta scandal
Rising black money artificially enhances the market capability which is always at the risk of collapse.
Harmful to national security
We have a history of corruption in defense procurement and consequent litigation. It undermines the preparedness of the armed.
Corruption in the border security establishment creates problems of terrorist infiltration. Illegal migration has caused the issue of NRC implementation
Social sector losses
Corruption in government projects targeting poor and vulnerable section of the society increases the economic gap between the rich and the poor
Corruption is always paid by the poor. The loss of exchequer by the big scams are always recovered by higher taxes. It hampers intergenerational parity in taxation.
The corrupt system denies the poor a chance to improve their status rendering them eternally poor
On the political front, corruption is a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law.
It then leads to the loss of legitimacy of the political systems and gives free hand to non-state actors. E.g. Left-wing extremism
Judicial corruption too undermines its legitimacy.

Way forward

There is a need for windfall reforms in each and every section of the system to fight the menace. Every aspect of governance must be improved for efficiency, economy, and effectiveness .

Barring the criminals from even participating in the elections as suggested by the election commission.
Imposing limits on the overall expenditure of the political parties.
Making state funding of elections a reality.
Empowering ECI by giving legal force to MCC and making paid news a criminal offence.
Strengthening of autonomous institutions
Protecting the autonomy of CIC-giving him a constitutional status
Provision of required manpower, infrastructure, training of vigilance agencies
Eliminate overlapping of jurisdiction- e.g. Lokpal and CBI
Administrative reforms
Establishing the Civil Service Board to curb the excessive political control over the administration
Reducing the hierarchy levels in the governments
Conducting periodic sensitivity training for the civil servants
Simplifying the disciplinary proceedings and strengthening preventive vigilance within the departments to ensure corrupt civil servant do not occupy the sensitive position
Police and judicial reforms- implementation of Prakash Singh recommendations
Governance reforms
e-gov apart from advancing the good governance objectives of accountability and transparency also seeks to reduce the manual interface between state and citizen thus preventing the incidences of bribery
Drives like Digital India projects like Government e-Marketplace must be implemented.
Enactment of the right to service act. E.g. Rajasthan social accountability bill
Economic reforms
Negating legal lacunae in banking, stock market legislations.
Improving corporate governance by implementing corporate governance committee reports
Formalisation of the economy
Refining and speedy implementation of GST
Social sector improvements

As Transparency International chairman Delia Ferreira Rubio says, “People’s indifference is the best breeding ground to the corruption”. citizen empowerment is a basic need in the fight against corruption

Awareness of citizenry by training them in RTI act, Citizens charter, social audits.
Increasing democratization of the masses.
Curriculum reforms to inculcate values even in higher education by which youngsters acquire high standards of ethical mindset.

Integrity, transparency, and fight against corruption have to be part of the culture. They must be thought of as fundamental values of the society we live in. corruption should not be seen as cancer to be eliminated root and branch for now. A practical approach would be to see it at obsession to be cured. An incremental approach to the problem will lead to an achievable target-setting and faster completion. People should be aware that they can change the system. India against corruption movement of 2011 was not the last fight as we have seen and it cannot be either. There has to be continuous checks and balances in the system. Corruption can be tackled effectively. But it needs homegrown solutions that eliminate indigenous problems.

India has dropped to 82nd position in 2021, five places down from 77th rank last year, in a global list that ranks countries based on business bribery risks. The list by TRACE, an anti-bribery standard-setting organization, measures business bribery risk in 194 countries, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.
A strict anti-corruption law is “necessary” because corruption is hollowing out the country, the Centre told a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, which was considering whether public servants can be prosecuted for bribery if bribe givers fail to record their statements or turn hostile.

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CORRUPTION IN INDIA The development of India and its people and the future is irreparably destroyed due to the massive corruption, bribery and influence peddling. The rule of law is ignored. India is faced with absolute lawlessness, no one is safe and no one’s property is safe. The Higher Judiciary to take stern action against the corrupt politicians, executives and the who’s who of India. In pandemic the leaders have failed its people and caused massive death. Ramesh Mishra Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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Latin America: Administrative Reforms and Corruption Research Paper

Introduction, the reforms and their impacts, theoretical framework, methodology, conclusion and recommendations, works cited.

Public administration is the aggregate of organizations, people, formal and informal roles, capacities, roles and practices with the statutory mission to convert policies into laws and budget into useful services to citizens (Lora 5). The rules and routine that are found in the entire public administration such as those concerned with the budget as well as financial management, civil service, procurement, organizational development and control normally generate certain incentives that guide, constrict, and motivate the action of the organizations as well as those of the public officials involved (Lora 6). So it is possible to summarize that public administration reforms entail a set of coherent interventions that attempt to redirect these institutional incentives to enables stakeholders to increase efficiency and effectiveness of organizations and the officials together with their responsibilities for the generation of useful services to the citizens.

Basically, there are some critical aspects of administrative reforms. The first is the degree to which the reform process has been attempted to affect or have achieved certain impacts on the various cross-sectional components of the public administration e.g. budget, control, civil service, procurement, organizational development, and many more (Davis & North 17). The other aspect basically involves the depth attempted or achieved in modifying these cross-sectional components (Davis & North 18). In both aspects, there is the degree of achievement measurements in relation to streamlining the processes in terms of transparency building in order to increase the efficiency of the processes.

In Latin America, there have been some major reform processes in relation to comprehensiveness and depth that were proposed and to some extent achieved. The first high profile reform agenda was that of public apparatus in Brazil which took place between 1995 and 1998 in the first Cradoso administration (Tulchin & Espach 37). This particular reform gave rise to a constitutional amendment supported by a majority of congress. In Contrast to Brazil is Chile, which has been implementing an ongoing reform that gained impetus and scope overtime from 1990 all the way to 2003 (Lora 44). The other is the reform initiative in Peru that took place between 1995 and 1997 (Lora 48). This reform took a different course as compared to that of Brazil and Chile in that it started from the concerns about the fiscal weight of the public sector payroll during the first Fujimori administration (1990-1995) (Lora 48). The government agenda incorporated research agenda in 1995 with the shared but conflicting leadership between the presidency of the council of ministers with whom the emphasis was placed on the organizational and management aspects of the reform against the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which emphasized the reduction of the fiscal weight of the payroll (Lora 49).

Generally, we are quite aware that these reforms took place with some level of measured success in some aspects of reform agendas such as constitutional reforms, organizational restructuring (that led to establishment of new institutions), public sector management system, and many more. However, what is not clear is whether these reforms had any impact on the lowering of the level of corruption, a subset of all reform agendas in the modern public administration. So did the landmark reforms that took place in Brazil, Chile and Peru lower the level of corruption in their respective public sectors? I may hypothesize that other than bringing other remarkable changes, the reforms also managed to lower the corruption cases (level) in these three Latin American countries. This paper highlights some of the relevant information in line with public sector reforms in the three Latin American nations, to help in the subsequent critical analysis of these reforms in order to establish their effectiveness in relation to war against corruption. This is achieved through the help of institutional theoretical framework with cross-national study of three Latin American nations, Brazil, Chile and Peru. CPI score data from Transparency International has been used as the main source of information, supported by some other surrogate data sources from other scholarly materials.

The reform in Brazil took place between 1995 and 1998 in the first Cardoso administration (Tulchin & Espach 37). One of the most significant end products of this reform is that it led to a constitutional amendment that got the support of majority in congress (Tulchin & Espach 36-37). The reforms were the authorization of new forms of organization like agencies and quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, new forms of public forms of public employment and the increased flexibility in the job security of the public officials (Tulchin & Espach 37). According to Tulchin & Espach, the reforms significantly strengthened the merit-based character of the central administration, promoting its professionalism as well as reducing the weight of the public payroll in the federal budget (37). The Ministry of Administration and State Reform was later abolished immediately after the passage of the reforms, making the reform process lose some of its impetus even though this did not reverse the process (38).

Chilean government has been in the process of implementing reforms since 1990 and it has subsequently gained impetus and scope over time (Lora 44). Even though at initial stages of 1990-1994, the government did not take its administrative reform agenda seriously, some specific initiatives were developed for unifying conditions in the administration and modernizing of some agencies (Lora 44). It was between 1994 and 19996 when the issue moved up the government agenda, generating a set of initiatives that were aimed at changing the focus of reform agenda in the public administration towards such parameters as efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of service (Lora 44). To facilitate the process, an inter-ministerial committee was set up oversee these reforms, with the ministry of finance taking the lead role in the process (Lora 44).

At the beginning of 1997, a structured reform program was implemented in various elements of the administration, with a more comprehensive strategic definition and initiative in areas of information technology, government purchasing, management redesign and management by results (Lora 45). Among other things, the program established a system of management agreement and system evaluation by results, which were both linked to the budgetary appropriations of every agency (Lora 44).

The last reform came in 2003 when some significant reform to public employment was implemented with establishment of the Public Senior Management System for a merit-based selection of senior civil service employees, and a new policy on access to jobs and professional careers (Lora 45).

The Peru reform initiative took place between 1995 and 1997 in a different course (Lora 45). Invoked by the concerns related to the fiscal weight of the public sector payroll in the first Fujimori administration between 1990 and 1995, the reforms came into the government agenda in 1995 Lora (Lora 46). In fact, the shared leadership was in conflict, brought about by the difference between the Presidency of the Council of Ministers who emphasized on the organizational and management aspects of the reform, against the Ministry of Economy and Finance which specifically emphasized the reduction of fiscal weight of the payroll (Lora 46). A specific attempt was made to exploit the opportunities that emerged in the 1995 Budget Law that delegated legislative powers to the executive for approval for a vast set of reforms (Lora 46). These reforms ranged from organizational restructuring of the ministries to the modernization of personnel management, government purchases, and control systems (Lora 47). Concerned with time taken for the reforms, a team of consultants prepared a vast package of legal reform proposals in 1996, which eventually collided with the insurmountable obstacle of presidential disapproval (Weyland 108; Lora 47). This particular veto was a result of fear of the inherent high political cost that would come with an initiative that would significantly reduce the workforce (Weyland 108). The perceived political impact subsequently led to its resistance from important sectoral interests in the cabinet itself because quite a number of ministers would have lost their political clout and power in the organizational restructuring (Weyland 108). In lieu of this, what followed was the disbandment of the reform proposals, which were later sent to the congress after the powers delegated to the president had expired, only to face rejection by the congress and was subsequently not passed (Weyland 108).

The Institutional Theory: Diffusion of Innovation

The study focuses on how the changes occurred through public institutions. Basically, institutions are the guiding rules of the society or organizations that spearhead and enhance coordination among the citizens by supporting them in the formation of the expectations which each individual can sensibly hold in dealing with others (Tulchin & Espach 4). According to Tulchin & Espach, they reflect the conventions that have occurred with time in relation to their own behavior and other people’s behaviors (5). Institutions are a good measure of economic success because they have critical role in establishing the expectations about rights to use resources in the economic activities and about partitioning of income streams that results from economic activity (Tulchin & Espach 5). Stapenhurst (78) states, “Institutions provide assurance respecting the actions of others, and give order and stability to expectations in the complex and uncertain world of economic relations.”

For the performance of the essential role of forming some justified expectations in operating among the people, institutions must be stable for some longer period (Stapenhurst 79). However, institutions, just like technology, must also change for the development to take place (Davis & North 119). According to Davis & North, anticipation of the latent gains to be realized by overcoming the imbalance that results from changes in factor endowments, product demand, and technical change are the representatives of the powerful inducements to institutional innovation (120). In practice, institutions that have efficiently generated growth in the past may, overtime come to direct their efforts basically to make sure they protect their vested interests of some of its members by maintaining the status quo and subsequently end up becoming the barrier to any further changes (Davis & North 120). This will lead to growth of disequilibria in resource allocation as a result of institutional constraints that was generated by the economic growth, and consequently create the opportunities for political entrepreneurs or leaders to organize collective action to bring about institutional change (Davis & North 120).

My perspective of where the demand for institutional change comes from share some similarity with the Marxian view, cited in Davis & North (98). In deed, Marx took change in technology as the basic driving force for institutional change (Davis & North 98). However, my view will deviate a little bit in terms of complexity in that changes in barriers to equal and just distribution of resources or concealment of loopholes that encourage public resource embezzlement are equally significant enough to invoke institutional change. This view is more inclined towards Lance Davis and Douglass North, the view that basic institutions such as property rights and markets are more typically altered through cumulative incremental institutional changes such as modification of contractual relations, change in market structure (Davis & North 6).

The institutional change has both the supply dimension and the demand dimension (Solimano 88). It therefore means that the collective actions to change in the supply of institutional innovations entail the struggles between the various interest groups (Solimano 88). In this view, I believe that the supply of institutional innovation has a strong influence from the cost of gaining the social consensus. It is therefore possible to clarify that how much institutional change will cost the structure of power will determine its acceptance among those with vested interest. Solimano (89) states, it will critically depend on the ideological set up and cultural beliefs such as nationalism, that make particular institutional arrangements more easily accepted as compared to others.

This paper relies on the theoretical assumptions of Davis and North, modified to portray administration as a form of activity, an arrangement as well as grouped of factors to represent some important political phenomenon for change driven aim. Again after realizing that just a mere imposition of a paradigm may not be very significant in the long run or may not help solve the complex problem of corruption, I decided to integrate the other supportive alternatives such as Marx theory. This is in line with Frederickson and Smith (4) who observed; public administration is both interdisciplinary and applied, thus “no theory standing a lone is capable of accounting for the complexity of the field” (Frederickson and Smith 4).

Corruption Perception Index (CPI Score)

The choice of CPI score is driven by the fact that Transparency International had devised this method of corruption after realizing the important connection between fight against corruption and the citizens’ perception of the individual country. Furthermore, there has not been any well structured and objective-oriented means of measuring corruption (Banerjee & Duflo 3) It is important to note the definition of corruption that TI uses to measure the level corruption. According to TI’s definition; “Corruption is the misuse of public power for private benefits e.g. the bribing of public officials, taking kickbacks in public procurement or embezzlement of public funds” (TI 2). I therefore feel that these CPI scores from TI depict somewhat accurate information on the level and depth of corruption in the respective countries. TI creates these scores through their annual survey of business people as well as risk analysis experts (TI 1). According to Banerjee & Duflo (4), CPI is an elite survey whose results are popular with the economists who are interested in the assessment of the effect of corruption on the micro-variables and thus it is best indicator that can capture the overall corruption world over, taking into consideration the nation as units of measurements (Banerjee & Duflo 4).

The study therefore used Transparency International’s CPI scores to capture the cross national variance in corruption in relation to landmark reforms in the three countries.

This study focused on the three countries of Latin America because they had the most elaborate reform agendas with distinct features to represent other nations in the region. Their readily available literature also informed their choice. However, it must be acknowledged that each country has its unique ways of political corruption and approach to reform agenda that it would be unscholarly to assume wholesomely that the findings here are uniform across Latin America. These findings should just be a base for launching other studies. It is therefore prudent that an elaborate study be carried out to establish into details the specific trends in these nations and how reforms have impacted on the war against corruption.

The progress in Brazil as a country in fight against corruption has not been reflective of the nature of reform. Though my study could not get access to the data that relates to corruption perception before in 2000, scanty information indicate that in 1997 corruption perception was moderately high in Brazil (Banerjee & Duflo 4).

However, the data from 2006 through to 2009 indicate rather insignificant changes in CPI scores despite the link between public administration reforms to fight against corruption (See table 1 (a) below). Even earlier, 2003, 2004, and 2005 data, the figure did not go past the bracket of 3, with the highest coming from the 2003 data that had the highest score of 3.9.

Table 1 (a): Brazil CPI score (Source: TI database)

According to Transparency International, any score below 5 is a sign of serious corruption cases (TI 1). It is therefore important t note that Brazil as a country has not scored fairly well in its fight against corruption through its massive public sector reforms from the 1990s through to 2000s.

Even though reform in Brazil that took off in 1995 led to one of the most important aspect of public administration, constitutional amendments due to the support of majority in congress, its impact has not trickled down in relation to corruption agenda. This is despite the fact that reform agenda in this country were triggered by the political corruption (Davies 67). As earlier illustrated, these reforms consisted of the authorization of new forms of organization like agencies and quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, new forms of public forms of public employment and the increased flexibility in the job security of the public officials. Significant to note is that the reforms strengthened the merit-based character of the central administration, promoting its professionalism as well as reducing the weight of the public payroll in the federal budget (Tulchin & Espach 37). However, the dwindling of its impact on the corruption could be linked to the disbandment of the Ministry of Administration and State Reform that spearheaded its passage, thus making the process loose its strength and impetus (Tulchin & Espach 37-38).

In contrary to the trend in Brazil, Chile has been consistently better off in terms of corruption perception index ranking (see table 1 (a) below). According to the 1997 data, Chile’s CPI index was moderately low with a score of 3.9. In this perspective, it is possible to note that the public reform agenda has worked relatively well in Chile as compared to Brazil.

Table 1 (b): Chile CPI score (Source: TI database)

Chile’s case is a different case all together. It has demonstrated the value of consistency in terms of government’s commitment to the process of reform implementation since 1990, subsequently gaining impetus and scope over time. Even though at initial stages of 1990-1994, the government did not take its administrative reform agenda, some specific initiatives were developed for unifying conditions in the administration and modernizing of some agencies (Lora 44). The earlier illustrations indicate that the reform agenda began to take serious effect from 1994 and 19996, where a set of initiatives were generated with the aim of changing the focus of reform agendas in the public administration towards such parameters as efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of service (Lora 44). The working together of the inter-ministerial committee and the ministry of finance is a sign of how unity with little political squabbles can bring an end to corruption impunity. The building of a structured reform program that was implemented in various elements of the administration also illustrates how a good initiative can work in a multifaceted problem like corruption. This worked with assistance from more comprehensive strategic definition and initiative in areas of information technology, government purchasing, management redesign and management by results (Lora 44).

Peru’s public sector reform, just like Brazil has not had any significant change in perception in their commitment to war against corruption. According to the information from the previous years before the reform agenda, the perception was no much different as the public decried rampant corruption as the source of poverty and inequality in the country (Weyland 109). It is therefore significant to presume that the reforms have been superficial in nature and that no amount of changes in the public sector has changed the corruption level.

As earlier stated, the reforms ranged from organizational restructuring of the ministries to the modernization of personnel management, government purchases, and control systems (Lora 45). In practical perspective, the reforms were slowed down by the conflicting political interest, with resistance from the political class who had seen the danger of interfering with the status quo. This eventually brought about the collision leading insurmountable obstacle of presidential disapproval. The political class was basically against the reforms that would reduce the workforce, hence threatening their political stability or leading to them being voted out by the furious citizens. This could explain the events that followed what where the congress disbanded the reform proposals (Lora 45). (See table 1 (c) below )

Table 1 (c): Peru CPI score (Source: TI database)

Currently, most countries in Latin America have constitutions that would be considered democratic, together with functioning bureaucracies and the judiciaries (Stapenhurst 2). However, Stapenhurst observes that the operations of these institutions are simply patchy and do not have any impact on the general purpose of most of the nations (2). He states that some of the institutions in this region are as good as or even better than some in the developed nations, but are significantly plagued corruption and waste (Stapenhurst 2).

Over the last two decades the political happenings in Latin America has indeed invoked an important aspect of public administration. Scholars have gained a lot of interest in the political corruption that have plagued these nations that initially promised good future in the 1980s. It is important to note that corruption is a multifaceted and interdisciplinary aspect that has no limit to a particular sector. It is also important to acknowledge that corruption can only be minimized by the willingness of the powers that be and the trust between the public and the government (Stapenhurst 3). Interestingly, corruption scandals have brought down some of the most conspicuous governments in the advanced economy such as Germany during the times of Helmut Kohl and Great Britain (Peter Mandelson) (Stapenhurst 3). The political developments in the last two decades in some of Latin America’s states have exposed the significance of corruption at both national and regional level. From the beginning of 1990 all the way to 2000, nine presidents from Latin American states have either got the wrath of the public impeachment or have been exposed to the judiciary to answer corruption charges (Stapenhurst 3). They include Peru’s Alan Garcia (1985-1990), Brazil’s Fernando Collor de Meloo (1990-1992), Mexico’s Carlos Salinas de Gotari (1988-1994), Ecuador’s Bucaram (1996-1997), Alarcon (1997-1998), and Jamil Mahuad (1998-2000), Colombia’s Ernesto Samper (1994-1998), Argentina’s Carlos Menem (1989-1999), and Peru’s Albert Fujimori (1990-2000) (Stapenhurst 3). This information clearly shows how the level of corruption has a big political significance in these Latin American nations. Significantly, it is important to note that the CPI scores in the three Latin America studied in this paper significantly show the variance of the individual countries, particular Peru and Brazil. Furthermore, the available literature indicates that this kind of variation is almost uniform in most of the Latin America’s nations (Lora 48; Weyland 109; Tulchin & Espach 32). According to Tulchin & Espach, the Latin America states had CPI mean score of 3 between 1997 and 2000, and that only Chile showed some odd figures with more than 5 CPI score (33).

Reforms vs. Corruption

In practice, the purpose of reform has been historically aligned by three important aspects: how the state operates with its citizens and business, the professionalism as well as the level of honesty as practiced by the civil servants, and lastly the oversight of a government operations (Solimano 12). Notably, there are just a few reforms in Latin America that have been tested to meet the desired results (Marshall & Jaggers 11), however, how the these reforms have impacted on the corruption is apparently the issue at stake considering the rate of skepticism according to the CPI scores.

Many scholars have acknowledged that an institution which functions poorly is a prerequisite of harmful socio-economic outcomes even though cost-effect matrix can be quite difficult to interpret (Marshall & Jaggers 11; Kane & Anastasia 7). For instance, corruption has been billed to be a barrier to growth and at the same time it is perpetuated by disjointed economic performance (Kane& Anastasia 6). It is therefore logical to note that corruption is a sign of some weaknesses in the state operations thus if weakened, the operations will be efficient enough to limit the advancement and subsequently impact of corruption. However, the underlying challenges in the reform agenda may be overwhelming considering the multidimensional nature of corruption as a problem of institutional reforms.

Latin American states basically occupy the middle class of per capita income wellbeing, effectiveness of government, and the ability and quality of the institutions (Easterly 317). According to the United Nations Human Development Index cited in Easterly (318), the general rule that links good governance to the high rate of development in both political and socio-economic wellbeing is sometimes unique as seen with Chile in this study. It is evident that Chile scores highly according to CPI scores, i.e. it has gained some marginal gains from its relatively low corruption compared to its counterparts Brazil and Peru (Easterly 319). However, it is critical to note an exception with Brazil since according to its current economic performance; it is placed under the tag of emerging economy despite its high corruption level. It is therefore important to acknowledge some economists’ arguments that gains in overall wealth of a nation do not necessarily means equal distribution of resources or reduction in corruption cases (Davies 114). Hence a reform agenda to tackle corruption may be misinterpreted to mean economic wellbeing.

Public Administration and the Reform Agenda

It is said that a properly arranged bureaucracy not only facilitates economic growth but also influences the perception on specific reform agenda, hence boosting consensus for the benefits of reform implementation (Solimano 14). According to Solimano (14) if state functions are far from efficient, “even the most benign policy may have little effect” (Solimano 14). Basically, there are numerous channels in which public administration indicators can be considered to have performed poorly. It is quite logical to separate the functions of the office and the individual person’s roles from the person’s role as a private citizen (Solimano 15). Davies (39) observes that corruption in a bureaucratic system can be very difficult to eradicate if the systems involve family issues coupled with low salaries, however, this is not basically limited to low levels of corruption in the lower administrative rank if it has been deeply rooted in the political and administrative system.

The inherent complexity of corruption and its multi-dimensionality is also visible in how it interlocks with the legal system. Davies (40) observes that the perpetual problems hampering the Latin American states in their quest to minimize corruption are largely elated to the complex legal system. He states that this is why most of the citizens would accept bribes just to ease the burdens of going round the long red tape in the form legal systems (Davies 40). Still budgets are not properly tracked and controlled as would be required to the international level, hence leaving the public official to attempt misappropriation or embezzlement of the state resource or funds Davies (40) therefore recommend that any form of reform agenda must rely on the proper allocation of resources in a manner that would encourage moderate decentralization to help ease the tracking of public funds by both the state and the international community. As he puts it, “Too much decentralization risks capture by local elites; excessive centralization can lead to a rigid and unresponsive hierarchy” (Davies 40).

It is also important to note that high ranking corruption involving senior administration officials may bring the government down and subsequently lead to state of jeopardy. Its consequences may include bringing the government down as highlighted earlier and at the same time undermine the economy of the state, thus perpetuating poverty and ill activities. For instance a politician in the government system may collude with particular businesses to get some critical government contracts at a more costly amount, even more than twice the cost of the whole project. If this was a public utility project of a project for poverty reduction, the citizens will lose as the services will not be sufficient to match the needs. In practice, all these aspects of administrative weaknesses have been the characteristics of many Latin American states and inherently related to structural reforms that can be addressed by fundamental political and economic reforms (Davies 41).

The Reforms in Judiciary and Law Enforcement Procedures

Conventional wisdom informs us that independently competent Judiciary allows the rule of law to take its course as well as supporting both democratic systems and the operations of a free market (Solimano 17). Unfortunately, a study conducted by Banerjee A. & Duflo revealed a stunning case in Latin America. It was found out that 20-40% of Latin Americans expressed lack of confidence in their judiciary (20). In another survey in Peru that involved households’ interviews, it was established that most citizens of this country noted Judiciary to be the most corrupt institutions, followed by the police (Banerjee A. & Duflo 21). In his analysis of the workings of the legal systems in several countries in Latin America, Davies (43) concluded that the higher the level of legal process, the higher the delay expectation, the less consistency, honesty and fairness in the court procedures, and the greater the corruption. But it is interesting to note that almost all of the Latin American legal systems are more or less similar to the European ones, thus bringing us to a tentative conclusion that there must be something seriously wrong with the implementation that creates the disparities in their overall functionality. Davies (43) observes that even though delays in the process of judiciary may be a function of limited litigation process, corruption in the court system supported by extra-legal enforcements may as well hamper the business processes, hence corruption (Davies 43) He however warns that a simple reduction of the delays may not work efficiently if the political influence and judgments are not enforced (Davies 44).

The basic aspects of administrative reforms that took place in Brazil, Chile and Peru did not have a concrete impact on the war against corruption. The components of the reforms were identified as the degree to which the reform process has attempted to affect or have achieved certain impacts on, the various cross-sectional components of the public administration e.g. budget, control, civil service, procurement, organizational development, and many more. The next was an attempt to modifying these cross-sectional components. In all the highlighted aspects, there was some degree of achievements measurements in relation to streamlining the public administration

The reform agendas occurred in Brazil between 1995 and 1998 in the first Cradoso administration. This particular reform gave rise to a constitutional amendment supported by majority of congress. Contrary to Brazil is the Chile, which has been implementing an ongoing reform that gained impetus and scope overtime from 1990 all the way to 2003. The other is the reform initiative in Peru that took place between 1995 and 1997 (Lora 4). This reform took a different course as compared to that of Brazil and Chile in that it started from the concerns about the fiscal weight of the public sector payroll during the first Fujimori administration (1990-1995). However conflicts brought about by the political interests undermined the whole process and the reform process was sluggish and at times stalled.

Even though Brazil and Peru among other Latin American states currently perform relatively well in terms of economic growth, it is evident that the two nations are doing badly in their fight against corruption. This is because their performance is practically below the score line of 5 according to CPI scores by the Transparency International. Again fundamental economic observations also rule out the notion that performing well economically reflects a positive war against corruption, as both Brazil and Peru are not reflecting that traditional perception. As has been noted, weak institutions in Latin America are to blame for rampant corruption. For instance, TI outlines weak institutions, poor governance, and the excessive influence of private interest as the undermining factors in the fight against corruption and promotion of equitable distribution of resources (TI 1).

Surprisingly, against the backdrop of many nations and the international community pressing for press freedom, TI observes that many Latin American nations and governments are reversing the trend undoubtedly by proposing and passing legislative laws with the intention of gagging the media to avoid critical coverage of corruption cases (TI 1). It is also important to note the critical role that the civil society plays in the war against corruption and these may considerably hamper the war against corruption and increase the poverty index of these countries. Weakening theses two important public watchdog institutions may be tricky especially at a time when the public institutions that were said to be democratic are currently under critical scrutiny, and may subsequently render the reform implementation useless in the long run.

Generally, the fight against corruption will have a wholesome impact on the social status of all countries, with no restrictions to Latin American countries. It is therefore important to acknowledge that establishing stronger institutions, a proper legal system and thorough scrutiny of all regulatory frameworks will be the best way to stop or minimize corruption. Importantly, this can only be done where there is good political will to cultivate trust between the public and the public service sector.

Banerjee A. & Duflo E. “What is Middle Class about the Middle Class around the World?”. The Journal of Economic Perspectives , 2008, Vol. 22, n. 2, pp. 3-28. Print.

Davies, James. Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective . Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. Print.

Davis, Lance & North Douglass. Institutional Change and American economic growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1971. Print.

Easterly, W. “The Middle Class Consensus and Economic Development”. Journal of Economic Growth , vol. 6, n. 4, pp. 317-35. 2001. Print.

Frederickson, George. & Smith, Kevin. The public administration theory primer . Boulder: Westview Press. 2003. Print.

Kane, Tim & Anastasia, Mary. “Index of Economic Freedom 2007”. The Heritage Foundation . 2007. Print.

Lora, Edwardo . The State of Reforms in Latin America . Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2006. Print.

Marshall, Monty & Jaggers, Keith. “POLITY IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2004″. Polity IV Project, Center for Global Policy, School of Public Policy, George Mason University . Data User’s Manual and Database. 2006. Web.

Solimano, A. “The Middle Class and the Development Process.” Series Macroeconomics of Development, Series Macroeconomic Development, Forthcoming. UN-ECLAC . 2008. Print.

Stapenhurst, Rick. The Media Role in Curbing Corruption . London: The World Bank Institute. 2002. Print.

Transparency International (TI). Corruption Perception Index (CPI: 1997-2009), various issues. 2009. Web.

Tulchin, Joseph & Espach, Ralph. Combating Corruption in Latin America. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press. 2000. Print.

Weyland, Kurt. “The Politics of Corruption in Latin America.” Journal of Democracy 9: 108-21. 1998. Print.

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Administrative corruption essay

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Guest Essay

The Deep, Tangled Roots of American Illiberalism

An illustration of a scene of mayhem with men in Colonial-era clothing fighting in a small room.

By Steven Hahn

Dr. Hahn is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at New York University and the author, most recently, of “Illiberal America: a History.”

In a recent interview with Time, Donald Trump promised a second term of authoritarian power grabs, administrative cronyism, mass deportations of the undocumented, harassment of women over abortion, trade wars and vengeance brought upon his rivals and enemies, including President Biden. “If they said that a president doesn’t get immunity,” Mr. Trump told Time, “then Biden, I am sure, will be prosecuted for all of his crimes.”

Further evidence, it seems, of Mr. Trump’s efforts to construct a political world like no other in American history. But how unprecedented is it, really? That Mr. Trump continues to lead in polls should make plain that he and his MAGA movement are more than noxious weeds in otherwise liberal democratic soil.

Many of us have not wanted to see it that way. “This is not who we are as a nation,” one journalist exclaimed in what was a common response to the violence on Jan. 6, “and we must not let ourselves or others believe otherwise.” Mr. Biden has said much the same thing.

While it’s true that Mr. Trump was the first president to lose an election and attempt to stay in power, observers have come to recognize the need for a lengthier view of Trumpism. Even so, they are prone to imagining that there was a time not all that long ago when political “normalcy” prevailed. What they have failed to grasp is that American illiberalism is deeply rooted in our past and fed by practices, relationships and sensibilities that have been close to the surface, even when they haven’t exploded into view.

Illiberalism is generally seen as a backlash against modern liberal and progressive ideas and policies, especially those meant to protect the rights and advance the aspirations of groups long pushed to the margins of American political life. But in the United States, illiberalism is better understood as coherent sets of ideas that are related but also change over time.

This illiberalism celebrates hierarchies of gender, race and nationality; cultural homogeneity; Christian religious faith; the marking of internal as well as external enemies; patriarchal families; heterosexuality; the will of the community over the rule of law; and the use of political violence to achieve or maintain power. This illiberalism sank roots from the time of European settlement and spread out from villages and towns to the highest levels of government. In one form or another, it has shaped much of our history. Illiberalism has frequently been a stalking horse, if not in the winner’s circle. Hardly ever has it been roundly defeated.

A few examples may be illustrative. Although European colonization of North America has often been imagined as a sharp break from the ways of home countries, neo-feudal dreams inspired the making of Euro-American societies from the Carolinas up through the Hudson Valley, based as they were on landed estates and coerced labor, while the Puritan towns of New England, with their own hierarchies, demanded submission to the faith and harshly policed their members and potential intruders alike. The backcountry began to fill up with land-hungry settlers who generally formed ethnicity-based enclaves, eyed outsiders with suspicion and, with rare exceptions, hoped to rid their territory of Native peoples. Most of those who arrived in North America between the early 17th century and the time of the American Revolution were either enslaved or in servitude, and master-servant jurisprudence shaped labor relations well after slavery was abolished, a phenomenon that has been described as “belated feudalism.”

The anti-colonialism of the American Revolution was accompanied not only by warfare against Native peoples and rewards for enslavers, but also by a deeply ingrained anti-Catholicism, and hostility to Catholics remained a potent political force well into the 20th century. Monarchist solutions were bruited about during the writing of the Constitution and the first decade of the American Republic: John Adams thought that the country would move in such a direction and other leaders at the time, including Washington, Madison and Hamilton, wondered privately if a king would be necessary in the event a “republican remedy” failed.

The 1830s, commonly seen as the height of Jacksonian democracy, were racked by violent expulsions of Catholics , Mormons and abolitionists of both races, along with thousands of Native peoples dispossessed of their homelands and sent to “Indian Territory” west of the Mississippi.

The new democratic politics of the time was often marked by Election Day violence after campaigns suffused with military cadences, while elected officials usually required the support of elite patrons to guarantee the bonds they had to post. Even in state legislatures and Congress, weapons could be brandished and duels arranged; “bullies” enforced the wills of their allies.

When enslavers in the Southern states resorted to secession rather than risk their system under a Lincoln administration, they made clear that their Confederacy was built on the cornerstone of slavery and white supremacy. And although their crushing defeat brought abolition, the establishment of birthright citizenship (except for Native peoples), the political exclusion of Confederates, and the extension of voting rights to Black men — the results of one of the world’s great revolutions — it was not long before the revolution went into reverse.

The federal government soon allowed former Confederates and their white supporters to return to power, destroy Black political activism and, accompanied by lynchings (expressing the “will” of white communities), build the edifice of Jim Crow: segregation, political disfranchisement and a harsh labor regime. Already previewed in the pre-Civil War North, Jim Crow received the imprimatur of the Supreme Court and the administration of Woodrow Wilson .

Few Progressives of the early 20th century had much trouble with this. Segregation seemed a modern way to choreograph “race relations,” and disfranchisement resonated with their disenchantment with popular politics, whether it was powered by Black voters in the South or European immigrants in the North. Many Progressives were devotees of eugenics and other forms of social engineering, and they generally favored overseas imperialism; some began to envision the scaffolding of a corporate state — all anticipating the dark turns in Europe over the next decades.

The 1920s, in fact, saw fascist pulses coming from a number of directions in the United States and, as in Europe, targeting political radicals. Benito Mussolini won accolades in many American quarters. The lab where Josef Mengele worked received support from the Rockefeller Foundation. White Protestant fundamentalism reigned in towns and the countryside. And the Immigration Act of 1924 set limits on the number of newcomers, especially those from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were thought to be politically and culturally unassimilable.

Most worrisome, the Ku Klux Klan, energized by anti-Catholicism and antisemitism as well as anti-Black racism, marched brazenly in cities great and small. The Klan became a mass movement and wielded significant political power; it was crucial, for example , to the enforcement of Prohibition. Once the organization unraveled in the late 1920s, many Klansmen and women found their way to new fascist groups and the radical right more generally.

Sidelined by the Great Depression and New Deal, the illiberal right regained traction in the late 1930s, and during the 1950s won grass-roots support through vehement anti-Communism and opposition to the civil rights movement. As early as 1964, in a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama began to hone a rhetoric of white grievance and racial hostility that had appeal in the Midwest and Middle Atlantic, and Barry Goldwater’s campaign that year, despite its failure, put winds in the sails of the John Birch Society and Young Americans for Freedom.

Four years later, Wallace mobilized enough support as a third-party candidate to win five states. And in 1972, once again as a Democrat, Wallace racked up primary wins in both the North and the South before an assassination attempt forced him out of the race. Growing backlashes against school desegregation and feminism added further fuel to the fire on the right, paving the way for the conservative ascendancy of the 1980s.

By the early 1990s, the neo-Nazi and Klansman David Duke had won a seat in the Louisiana Legislature and nearly three-fifths of the white vote in campaigns for governor and senator. Pat Buchanan, seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1992, called for “America First,” the fortification of the border (a “Buchanan fence”), and a culture war for the “soul” of America, while the National Rifle Association became a powerful force on the right and in the Republican Party.

When Mr. Trump questioned Barack Obama’s legitimacy to serve as president, a project that quickly became known as “birtherism,” he made use of a Reconstruction-era racist trope that rejected the legitimacy of Black political rights and power. In so doing, Mr. Trump began to cement a coalition of aggrieved white voters. They were ready to push back against the nation’s growing cultural diversity — embodied by Mr. Obama — and the challenges they saw to traditional hierarchies of family, gender and race. They had much on which to build.

Back in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville, in “Democracy in America,” glimpsed the illiberal currents that already entangled the country’s politics. While he marveled at the “equality of conditions,” the fluidity of social life and the strength of republican institutions, he also worried about the “omnipotence of the majority.”

“What I find most repulsive in America is not the extreme freedom reigning there,” Tocqueville wrote, “but the shortage of guarantees against tyranny.” He pointed to communities “taking justice into their own hands,” and warned that “associations of plain citizens can compose very rich, influential, and powerful bodies, in other words, aristocratic bodies.” Lamenting their intellectual conformity, Tocqueville believed that if Americans ever gave up republican government, “they will pass rapidly on to despotism,” restricting “the sphere of political rights, taking some of them away in order to entrust them to a single man.”

The slide toward despotism that Tocqueville feared may be well underway, whatever the election’s outcome. Even if they try to fool themselves into thinking that Mr. Trump won’t follow through, millions of voters seem ready to entrust their rights to “a single man” who has announced his intent to use autocratic powers for retribution, repression, expulsion and misogyny.

Only by recognizing what we’re up against can we mount an effective campaign to protect our democracy, leaning on the important political struggles — abolitionism, antimonopoly, social democracy, human rights, civil rights, feminism — that have challenged illiberalism in the past and offer the vision and political pathways to guide us in the future.

Our biggest mistake would be to believe that we’re watching an exceptional departure in the country’s history. Because from the first, Mr. Trump has tapped into deep and ever-expanding illiberal roots. Illiberalism’s history is America’s history.

Steven Hahn is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at New York University and the author, most recently, of “ Illiberal America: a History .”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Corrupt appointees during my administration will be held accountable – Mahama

By Benjamin A. Commey, GNA

Accra, May 20, GNA – Former President John Dramani Mahama, Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has pledged to lead a new charge in the fight against corruption if re-elected as President.

The new approach, he said, involved holding not only “corrupt officials” under the previous administration accountable but also appointees of his next administration who indulged in corrupt activities.

“The norm has been that it is only the past governments that you hold accountable for any act of corruption, but we will ensure that those in our government who also indulged in corruption will be held accountable, and so we won’t go witch-hunting the past government,” he said.

“If people have been involved in malfeasance they must be held to account and if people in our administration also follow the same path they must also be held to account. It is only that way we will be able to get a hand-on on the canker of corruption.”

Mr Mahama said this when he met with members of the Christian Ecumenical Councils in Accra on Monday, as part of his “Building the Ghana We Want” engagements.

The Christian Ecumenical Councils include the Christian Council of Ghana, Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, and the National Council of Charismatic and Christian Churches.

He said corruption had eaten deep into Ghana’s fabrics and affected its development, which had been normalised because people who engaged in the act got shielded and protected by those in authority.

As a result the impact of many cases of financial malfeasance like stealing, causing financial loss, awarding sole source contracts, as well as uncompleted funded projects had become the norm than the exemption.

To tackle the canker, Mr Mahama said the next NDC government would set a new standard in the fight against corruption, including holding corrupt appointees under his administration accountable.

“I make a firm promise to you my Christian fathers that the administration that I will lead will set a new standard in the fight against corruption,” he said.

“We will fight the canker of corruption and defeat it. We will retrieve stolen monies and hold people accountable, but we are not going to pursue regime accountability.”

Mr Mahama pledged strong collaboration with the church in all aspects of the economy notably in education, health and economy, to deliver better services to Ghanaians.

On education, for instance, the former President promised to get the churches more involved in the management of schools to ensure effective running of their operations.

History had indicated that schools established and managed by the churches performed better, hence the church and the state must work together to achieve quality education for all, he said.

“In the interim, we are proposing that in future, we increase the influence of churches in the management of the schools and so one of the areas we are looking at is to ensure that the chairman of the governing board of the school is a member of the church that established the school,” he indicated.

On health, Mr Mahama said the next NDC administration would give more support to mission-run hospitals, including expanding their infrastructure to enable them to operate effectively and efficiently.

To ensure the churches were involved in the economy, the former President said his next administration would support them to invest in the economy in areas such as garments and textile, agriculture and agribusiness to create jobs to address the growing youth unemployment rate.

He called on the clergy to speak up against any action that had the tendency to create unrest in the 2024 election.

Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, the General Overseer, United Denominations of Action Chapel International, in an interview with the media on the sidelines of the meeting, advised the youth to vote by “conscience and convictions and not by emotions,” to maintain the peace.

Scottie Scheffler's arrest by Louisville police was out of line toward PGA golfer

The misunderstanding could’ve been handled without booking this golfer. i think the officer was inappropriately fired up..

This police officer was entirely out of line. The misunderstanding could’ve been handled without booking this golfer. I think the officer was inappropriately fired up. A similar circumstance happened to me on Bardstown Road one evening as I did not have my headlights turned on. The officer got out banged on my car, dinged it with his bully club and interrogated me like I was a criminal, just because I did stop right in the middle of Bardstown Road. I coasted into the parking lot just to the right of me.

Scheffler’s arrest isn’t surprising. Look at Louisville Metro Police Department’s history.

This is a terrible black eye to Louisville and if I was the PGA of America, I would never have a tournament back in this community. The mayor should investigate this and see if it can be smoothed out.

—Michael Needleman MD, 40241

What do you think of PGA arrest? Submit your letter to the editor here.

I am embarrassed to call Louisville my city

I think the officers were acting like a bunch of thugs. Which now and forever will be a part of history in Louisville. Arresting an American Icon. You could have escorted him to the entry way thru the maze of police cars instead of being Mr. Touch guy. Looked like an unorganized bunch of police cars. Man handling and handcuffing acting like a bunch of mad dogs. I am embarrassed to call Louisville my city, arresting the leader of the golf world, breaking all the records in the world. You should be ashamed.

—Thomas Meredith, 42754

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Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/pro-palestinian-campus-protests-are-evolving-heres-what-to-watch

Pro-Palestinian campus protests are evolving. Here’s what to watch

Classes may be over and dorms emptied out for the summer, but the dramatic student support for Palestinian solidarity on a number of campuses hasn’t wrapped up like final exams.

The first protest tent encampment went up in mid-April at Columbia University, sparking similar demonstrations at dozens of American colleges. The mostly peaceful protests have also seen some antisemitic incidents and flares of violence when encampments clashed with pro-Israel supporters. More than 2,800 people have been arrested since last month, as some schools called in law enforcement to clear the encampments. Other administrations reached agreements with students to end their encampments voluntarily after engaging in negotiations.

WATCH: Why many universities are rejecting protester calls for divestment from Israel

Protesters have voiced various demands, such as calling for their universities to disclose ties to Israel (including investments through endowment funds) and divest from businesses involved with the country– a tactic that echoes disinvestment campaigns against apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

The PBS NewsHour asked experts what to watch for as these student protests head into the summer.

Will schools that agreed to discuss divestment ultimately act on those calls?

Some schools, such as Harvard, Brown and Northwestern, were able to negotiate an end to protest encampments on their campuses by agreeing to consider student proposals on divestment.

The calls for divestment were much broader at some schools than others, said Angus Johnston, a professor at Hostos Community College of The City University of New York who researches American student activism.

He added that many encampment organizers made other demands that would be “very, very surprising to see the colleges agree to, particularly in the short term.”

“There are campuses where students are calling for a disentanglement of relationships with the Israeli government, Israeli institutions or with the Israeli military,” he said. “And then in addition to that, there are calls for amnesty for the student protests. And there are also campuses which are making promises for stuff like material support for Muslim or Arab or Palestinian students on campus. And there are a couple of places [that] announced that they’re going to offer these scholarships to Palestinians.”

Historically, it’s common for one side of a negotiation to lose a lot of the power that it had after reaching an agreement with the other side, said journalist Vincent Bevins, whose recent book “If We Burn” covers protest movements of the 2010s. “We know that it is possible for one side to walk away, not really suffer any consequence.”

Whether or not universities follow through on their promises of divestment depends in large part on how powerful these protest movements remain outside of the encampments, said Bevins.

“I think that there’s no reason to believe that just because you’re no longer in a camp, you have lost all of your power,” he said. “If indeed they remain strong, if indeed it becomes clear to administrators that there is serious pressure from below. And of course, they’re not only listening for pressure from below.”

WATCH: How some colleges and students have reached agreements over pro-Palestinian protests

Other pressures include from House Republicans, who have held at least three committee hearings in the past month on campus protests and alleged antisemitism. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams both condemned the protests. State legislators have threatened action against universities for not cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests enough, and influential university donors and trustees have also condemned the protests and threatened to withhold donations.

Johnston predicts that some students and administrators are going to find a way to meet in the middle, and some will not. “But it’s not like this is an all-or-nothing plan,” he said, adding that some demands – like not pushing charges against student demonstrators – are winnable “on the vast majority of these campuses.”

What happens to the pro-Palestinian protest movement on campuses if there’s a cease-fire, or the war ends?

Calls for a cease-fire have been a feature of many pro-Palestinian protests on signs and chants, but the idea has not been central to the demands of most of the protest encampments, Johnston said. From his perspective, the protests are about more than the current war in Gaza. “ “This war has brought into relief a division in American politics that has been brewing … for a very long time.”

Support for Israel has enjoyed bipartisan consensus in the United States, though sometimes that support came with criticisms. Johnston said that support has also existed with an assumption that the dispute between Israel and Palestinians could be resolved with a two-state solution, Johnston said. “This generation of college students have never known a moment when that felt possible. They have never seen a moment where they could imagine a viable two-state solution. So the war in Gaza has precipitated, this wave of protests and the crackdowns on the campuses have made it explode,” Johnston said.

Bevins said the protest groups he’s spoken with “are not directing their energies at Benjamin Netanyahu or even the U.S. government.”

Instead, Bevins said, students are directing their demands at their university administrations and calling for disclosure of and divestment from companies that are profiting from or facilitating Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Those are demands that have been around since I went to university 20 years ago and probably would not go away,” he said, even if a cease-fire — and its potential to save lives and reduce suffering in the region — would be welcomed by some protesters.

Johnston said that because the issues between Israelis and Palestinians, such as the military occupation of the West Bank was ongoing long before the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7 and was likely to continue, pro-Palestinian activism would also likely continue.

“The underlying crisis is one that did not start on Oct. 7. And until that’s resolved, I don’t see that the students are going to have reason to go back to their dorms,” Johnston said.

Will the protest movement have an effect on the election?

Cook Political Report Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter said it is not known what effect the protests will have on the election five months from now.

“We know that there are plenty of voters upset with the policies of the Biden Administration, but not all of them are in encampments. We also know that, according to polling, the war in Gaza isn’t a top issue for most Americans, including younger Americans,” Walter said.

“What the protests do highlight is the frustration and upset that many people feel about a world that feels unjust and out of balance.”

READ MORE: Half of U.S. adults say Israel has gone too far in war in Gaza, AP-NORC poll says

Among U.S. lawmakers, Johnston sees a Republican party that is essentially unified not only in its support for Israel generally, but support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, and a deeply divided Democratic party.

“Any time you have an issue that unites one party and divides the other, you can expect the party that’s united to do everything they can to gain a political advantage,” he said. “So we’re seeing that the Republican party is pressing its advantage because it sees this as an electoral winner.”

Johnston noted that the divide among Democrats — both in terms of public opinion polling and the views of elected officials — is largely generational, with older party leaders who came of age in an era where support for Israel was taken for granted. As a result, politicians like Biden and Nancy Pelosi have a hard time engaging with young people coming from a different perspective. “The worldview that they are encountering is alien to anything that they’ve ever had to deal [with] before in their careers,” he said.

Republican candidates, on the other hand, are going to say that Democratic politicians are responsible for the “chaos, radicalism and the corruption of our youth,” Bevins predicted. “I expect Republican lawmakers will, in the upcoming election, try to use the wave of campus protests to buttress their narrative about the recklessness or radicalism or dangerous nature of Democratic politicians.”

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Understanding the micro‐foundations of administrative corruption in the
INTRODUCTION. At the core of public sector organizations lies the purpose of serving the public interest. Yet, in many countries, corruption is a constant threat to the realization of this fundamental objective of public administration (Bellé & Cantarelli, 2017).Commonly defined as the "abuse of public office for private gain" (Meyer-Sahling et al., 2018, 277), administrative corruption ...
(PDF) The Phenomenon of Corruption in Public Administration
common definition, corruption is the "misuse of public authority to create. private benefits" (WB, 2014). A more detailed definit ion is not limited by. "public authority" and entails ...
(PDF) Administrative corruption
The term administrative corruption is often u nderstood as a form of co rruption, which mainly involves bribing lower e mployees to avoid fulfilling obligations or to "jump th e que ue" when ...
Public Administration and Corruption
Corruption is most often defined as "the use of public office for the pursue of private gain" (Galtung et al. 2013).This reflects a contractual relationship between the state and its bureaucrats and more broadly between the state and its citizens (Ledeneva 2009; Hira 2016).However, corruption increasingly refers to any breach of trust, malfeasance of intended duty, or failure to deliver in ...
Corruption in Public Administration as a Brake on Transition to
Corruption in public administration has a much more destructive and long-term effect on capital accumulation than on the size of the workforce. A corrupt environment that becomes more systemic and immanent and that approaches the so-called state capture significantly increases the capital-labor ratio in the shadow economy and slows down the ...
Manifestations and consequences of public sector corruption
In addition to tragic consequences for individuals, private sector participation in procurement corruption has led in some cases to the demise of certain firms, or their exclusion from public contracts (known as debarment), and other criminal and civil penalties (Williams-Elegbe 2012). The impact of corruption in the public sector is determined ...
Administrative Corruption
Defining administrative corruption is not a simple task. There is large agreement about the idea that corruption crosses legal systems, history, and cultures and that it is "as old as government itself" (Klitgaard 1988, p.7) and a "persistent and practically ubiquitous aspect of political society" (Gardiner 1970, p. 93).At the same time, there is an agreement about the separate idea ...
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The ﬁrst essay, co-authored with Adam Glynn and Nahomi Ichino, asks what the ef-fect of electoral systems is on corruption. Persson, Tabellini and Trebbi (2003) proposed that plurality electoral systems should lead to lower corruption compared to proportional representation (PR) systems because the former creates a direct link between voters and
Social and Political Consequences of Administrative Corruption: A Study
Manuel Villoria: is head of the Department of Government and Public Administration at the Ortega y Gasset Research Institute and professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Fulbright Fellow in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.
Administrative corruption: Ways of tackling the problem
define administrative corruption as follows: "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain or for fam-ily relations and interests" (Jalilkhani, 2010; Nos-rati, 2011). Administrative corruption in countries with different political systems Corruption has existed ever since the emer-gence of human civilizations and governments have
PDF Corruption in public administration: an ethnographic approach
BOOK REVIEWS. Corruption in public administration: an ethnographic approach, edited by Davide Torsello, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016, 272 pp., £80.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-78536-258-3. Corruption manifests itself at all levels of society, from multinational corporations to small companies; in both developing countries and ...
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Administrative corruption as function indicates the functions through which the corruption occurs. Most of the time, administrative corruption is practiced by bribery. The officials take money or other things from the client on the contrary of doing anything. The level of corruption varies depending on how influential a position the particular ...
PDF Corruption: Causes, Consequences and Cures
the corruption issue and to try and bring it under control. There is a growing worldwide concern over corruption at the present time. Several factors are responsible for this. First, a consensus has now been reached that corruption is universal. It exists in all countries, both developed and developing, in the public and private sectors,
Essay On Administrative Corruption
Essay On Administrative Corruption. 1176 Words5 Pages. Literature Review (Task Two) Theme 1: Defined the Corruption causes, effects, Preventing and combating administrative corruption. Purpose: Knowledge of the phenomenon of corruption. The goal of this research is mainly to identify the concept of administrative corruption and the mechanics of ...
Corruption in India
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2nd ARC), an advisory body in India, made several comprehensive recommendations to address the issue of corruption and improve the integrity and efficiency of the public administration. These recommendations aim to prevent corruption and enhance transparency and accountability in government operations.
Problems of Corruption and Responsibility in Public Administration
Administrative corruption is influenced by the existing possibilities for public servant and personal inclinations to benefit from them. Public servant duties require following a number of ethical principles and values (disinterestedness, openness, transparency, impartiality, serving the public interest, responsibility and accountability, etc ...
Integrity: What it is and Why it is Important
Although it is certainly worthwhile to know more about the amount of bribery and favoritism in government and administration (corruption), it is also important to discover more about such violations as waste and abuse of (public) resources; discrimination; improper use of authority; and private time misconduct. ... An essay on law and values ...
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Introduction. Corruption in public administration is one of the many problems that lead to inequalities and injustice in modern society. There exist numerous definitions that attempt to present the concepts of this term. For example, Cordis and Milyo (2016) admit that "it may be defined as the misuse of public office for private gain or more ...
Public sector reforms and their impact on the level of corruption: A
Administrative corruption can involve public institutions in the strict sense as well as quasi-private organizations with a strong link to the public sector, either because their mandate is given by the State or because the State is the main shareholder. These public-private arrangements prompt types of corruption which are closer to those of ...
Corruption in India: Status, Causes & Impacts
This topic of "Corruption in India: Status, Causes & Impacts" is important from the perspective of the UPSC IAS Examination, which falls under General Studies Portion.. What is Corruption? Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as "The abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the ...
Latin America: Administrative Reforms and Corruption
Journal of Democracy 9: 108-21. 1998. Print. This research paper, "Latin America: Administrative Reforms and Corruption" is published exclusively on IvyPanda's free essay examples database. You can use it for research and reference purposes to write your own paper. However, you must cite it accordingly .
Administrative corruption essay
Administrative corruption essay . Anti corruption is a slow poison which is the physical world, of new type of corruption, essays, essays, climate change, training and administration. My career interest is one of scams in the high level corruption: recognizing the term corruption s. Natural justice measures: recognizing the control relating to ...
City Hall Aide Is Cooperating With Corruption Investigation Into Adams
An aide to Mayor Eric Adams who served as his longtime liaison to the Turkish community has turned against him and is cooperating with the corruption investigation into Mr. Adams and his 2021 ...
Opinion
Guest Essay. The Deep, Tangled Roots of American Illiberalism. May 4, 2024. ... administrative cronyism, mass deportations of the undocumented, harassment of women over abortion, trade wars and ...
Strategic Gamble: Biden's Risky Deal to End Dan Gertler's Reign in
In conclusion, the Biden administration's consideration of easing sanctions on Dan Gertler reflects a nuanced approach to addressing corruption and promoting economic stability in critical ...
Corrupt appointees during my administration will be held ...
Accra, May 20, GNA - Former President John Dramani Mahama, Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has pledged to lead a new charge in the fight against corruption if re-elected as ...
Scottie Scheffler's Louisville arrest by LMPD was out of line
Scottie Scheffler's arrest by Louisville police was out of line toward PGA golfer The misunderstanding could've been handled without booking this golfer.
Pro-Palestinian campus protests are evolving. Here's what to watch
Protesters have voiced various demands, such as calling for their universities to disclose ties to Israel (including investments through endowment funds) and divest from businesses involved with ...
Should Students Use AI for MBA Admissions Essays?
Business students and employers seem to agree that artificial intelligence (AI) is a critical component of a master of business administration (MBA) — but exactly how it should be used in an academic setting remains up for debate.. A majority of prospective MBA students, 56%, say they should be allowed to use AI to help them write admissions essays, but they also say there should be ...