corruption & preventing corruption in public adm
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Corruption is an ubiquitous and perennial phenomenon. It might be said without
running a high risk of exaggeration, that corruption runs throughout human political
history. It finds the most fruitful grounds in situations in which there are unfettered
discretionary decision-making powers without adequate political, ethical and legal
frameworks and measures to ensure accountability and transparency. It is very much linked to
public office and authority discretion to decide on allocation of resources and/or issuance ofpublic acts and documents enabling the management of both public and private affairs.
"The concept of corruption has become multifaceted. It not only is the sine qua non of
sustained organised crime and money laundering but also taints "civil" relations as in the case
of "facilitation payments" to get things done." While the concept of corruption includes a
number of transactions ranging from "simple bribery" of and by public officials through the
abuse of office, to business corruption, as well as different criteria for defining corruption
(e.g. public interest; public opinion; market perspective) the most diffused is corruption
related to public officials. Although it is quite difficult to discern the magnitude of corruption,
Woltring and Shinkai (1996) list and briefly discuss a number of approaches which can be
used to grasp the current situation of corruption. Due to its involving a "clandestine and
confidential" relationship it is no surprise that only a small portion of corruption isknown and then reacted upon. More often than not corruption is either a process of
transactions and thus of a certain duration for the parties involved, or an individual corrupt
transaction in a wider transactional context in which some transactions are illegal and others
perfectly legal. In addition, some societies may be more tolerant towards corruption of public
officials which is often considered and justified as being part of traditional folklore in the
relationship between public officials and citizens.
Bribery statistics do not differentiate among different degrees of gravity of corruption and
therefore an analyst might end up comparing small-scale street level corruption with cases
involving huge amounts of money and services. In other words, the utility of official criminal
justice statistics on bribery for international comparison is rather meager.
This is not to say that other sources of information on corruption and comparison on an
international level do not face similar and some additional problems, the major one being that
they do not rely on official legal definitions of corruption.
Much of street level corruption is a problem of public administration organisation and
culture. It appears that, particularly in a number of developing countries and countries in
transition, further efforts are needed in order to improve the social status of, and
compensation for, public officials, thus making them less "vulnerable" to the challenges of
bribery. Reforms are also needed in terms of facilitating and making more transparent both
the decision-making process as well as interaction with citizens. Business sector is also
vulnerable to corruption, which obviously includes public administration, business, criminal
organizations and citizens.Corruption is a process and its prevention requires co-operation between the citizens, public
administration and business.
Public ethics are a keystone of good governance. Over the last decade, post-communist
societies have faced multiple challenges due to their profound transformations following the
transition from authoritarian rule to democracy: the rearrangement of economies, the
construction, or reestablishment of public institutions, and the realignment to the international
environment. In addition to these trials, widespread corruption has proven to be another major
concern for these new democracies. Corruption constrains development and reforms:
Development potentials go unutilized, public funds are wasted, and processes of democraticconsolidation are jeopardized.
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It is now generally accepted that the phenomenon of corruption cannot be reduced only by
repressive means. Legal and law enforcement measures need to be complemented by the
involvement of the public as well as by measures to prevent corruption within public
administration. Special efforts are required in the field of prevention of corruption in countries
of Central and Eastern Europe, in particular with regard to reducing risks and opportunities ofcorruption within public administration. At the same time, capacities to design and implement
such prevention measures are limited. Public administration training institutions and more
generally higher education institutions could make in impact in this respect by including
corruption prevention issues in their curricula.
Corruption and bribery thrive on systemic weaknesses. Efforts to prevent corruption aim at
eliminating these weaknesses and enhancing integrity and transparency. This goal is common
to corruption prevention in the key sectorspublic administrations, thepolitical sphere and
the business sector. The means of putting this objective into practice, however, differ among
these sectors, due to the variety of regulatory frameworks and operational environments.Despite large differences in the problems prevalent in the various countries and the existing
remedies, recent efforts to prevent corruption target similar areas across the region.
Most countries that have endorsed the Anti-Corruption Action Plan, for example, attribute an
important role to administrative reform. The various strategies to prevent corruption address
integrity, effective procedures and transparent rules.
Corruption in the political sphere attracts growing attention in more and more countries
covered by this report. The demand for the accountability of political leaders and the
transparency of political parties has begun to trigger reform in those areas.
Private business has also become a focus of anti-corruption reform: besides being object of
state oversight, this sector has started its own initiatives to curb corruption.
Prevention of corruption in the public service ranks high on many countries reform agendas.
So far, varying levels of effort and achievement have taken place. Reforms aim at ensuring
the competence and integrity of public officials as individuals. Administrative rules and
procedures and the overall management and oversight of public administration are also under
review, with a particular focus on the reform of public procurement. Corruption prevention in
the political sphere also seems to draw growing attention these days. Due to the special status
of elected officials and the different regulations to which they are consequently subject,
however, these measures are dealt with in a separate section of this report (see section B
below). I. Integrity and competence of public officials
The integrity and competence of public officials are fundamental prerequisites for a reliableand efficient public administration. Many countries in the region and beyond have thus
adopted measures that aim to ensure integrity in the hiring and promoting of staff, provide
adequate remuneration and set and implement clear rules of conduct for public
officials. 1. Hiring and promotion of public officials
Openness, equal opportunity and transparency in hiring and promoting public officials are
essential to ensure an honest, competent and independent public service. Corrupt practices in
this crucial process take many forms: for example, nepotism and cronyismthe use of public
power to obtain a favor for a family member or other affiliateare common in a number of
countries. Unclear eligibility criteria and insufficient publication of vacant positions make it
difficult to attract talented candidates to the public service.
Defining the criteria, procedures and institutional framework by law is an essentialprecondition for transparent and fair selection and promotion procedures. Most if not all
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countries subject to this survey have enacted such laws. These usually prescribe the
advertisement of vacant positions in the press or other media.
Conflicts of interest regarding the exercise of economic or
political activities Three different schemes are applied to avoid or manage conflict of
interest. One relies on transparency, another on incompatibility, and the third combines boththese principles. Systems of transparency require the involved official to disclose conflicting
interests; if a side activity creates the conflict, authorization may be required. Systems of
incompatibility prohibit activities that typically breed a conflict of interest.
Many conflict-of-interest regulations address public officials engagement in political or
economic activities.
Regulations concerning gifts and hospitality
Gifts or hospitality are sometimes abused to camouflage corruption and are prone to generate
conflicts of interest. Thus, most countries codes of conduct prohibit or restrict the acceptance
of gifts and hospitality.