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International Undergraduate Program in International Relations

FISIPOL Universitas Gadjah Mada

Syllabus

Political Corruption in Global Context

Nur Rachmat Yuliantoro

nur.rachmat@ugm.ac.id

(Consultation: Room BB 313, with appointment)

Wednesdays, Room BA 204, 13.00-15.00, 3 September – 17 December 2014

Description

Corruption is one of the most serious problems that undermine the basic foundations of

political and economic systems in almost all countries. It also threatens the sustainability and

mprovement of development outcomes. In many places, corruption has taken a variety of forms,

ranging from the so-called petty corruption that is frequently found in everyday life, bureaucratic

corruption, to the corruption in the business world. In this course, corruption is discussed in relation

to the political system. This is political corruption, which generally occurs during the decision-

making process at the highest level of a country’s political system.

Political corruption, which was originally thought as a “disease” of the third world, is

apparently growing so widely that it is also found in developed countries. It is probably not too

much to say that today almost all countries, with different political systems, are vulnerable to

attacks by political corruption. Some authoritarian regimes, gaining and maintaining political

legitimacy through corruption, have collapsed, but a few more still survive. Many national and

international organizations, together with other elements of civil society, have been fighting

against political corruption as it has very dangerous adverse effects. In some cases, the scope of

the dealing of political corruption even has to walk across national borders. Political corruption,

in short, has become an issue within the global community. This course is designed to promote

awareness of the dangers of political corruption, as well as to provide an opportunity for analysis

of various cases in an effort to find the best ways to fight against it.

Aims

By enrolling in this course, students are expected to:

1. Knowing and understanding what political corruption is;

2. Knowing and understanding the relations of several issues, especially the relations of political

corruption to political, socio-cultural, economic, and legal systems, civil society and

democratization;

3. Studying and comparing the experience of some countries to political corruption, as well as

4. Knowing and comparing the dealing of political corruption in cross-country and global levels.

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Assesment

Students will be assessed through four components:

1. Attendance – 10% of the final result. Students shall attend the class in at least 11 of 14

meetings to meet Faculty’s requirement for final result. Students attending less than 11

meeting will have reduced or no mark for their essay (see point no. 5. below).

2. Class activity – 10 %. Students are encouraged to make a good deal of contribution to the

class by asking questions or giving comments.

3. Mid-Semester exam – 25%. There will be a written test for this.

4. Presentation – 25%. Each student will have about 30-minute presentation, including

questions and answers session, about a particular theme he or she has been researching

on. Themes should be consulted with the lecturer to be approved. The presentation can be

the result of a small field research or just a library one.

5. Essay – 30%. In lieu of the final exam, students are required to write an essay with the

following rules:

a. The essay is a revised discussion of the student’s themes in the presentation.

Affirmation of student’s position/view of the theme would be encouraged.

b. Number of words: 2500-3000 (not including footnotes).

c. References should be in the form of footnotes as well as a bibliography.

d. Printed in a good quality of A4 size papers, with a 2,5-centimeter on all page margins.

Do not forget to put page numbers.

e. The essay is due on the exam date as announced later by the Faculty. Students shall

submit the essay in person to the lecturer before the exam date or to the exam official

on the specific room and time on the exam day. Either way, students need also to send

the file of the essay as an email attachment to nur.rachmat@ugm.ac.id within the same

deadline.

Essays which meet all rules will be marked. However, if student’s recorded attendance is

between 10 and 8 meetings, the mark of their essay will be reduced accordingly. Students

only attending 7 meeting or less will not have their essays read and marked.

ATTENTION! If students are caught of committing plagiarism on their essays, they

will get an E as the final result of the course.

Weekly Meeting and Readings * Required readings are followed by “[R]”.

1st Meeting

(03.09.2014)

Introduction: Why studying political corruption in global context Kaufmann, D. ‘Corruption: The Facts,’ Foreign Policy, vol. 107, Summer 1997, pp. 114-

131. [R] Tanzi, V., ‘Corruption around the world: causes, consequences, scope and cures,’ IMF

Staff Papers, vol. 45, no. 4, December 1998, <http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/

ft/staffp/1998/12-98/pdf/tanzi.pdf>. [R]

Senior, I., Corruption – the World’s Big C: Cases, Causes, Consequences, Cures, The

Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 2006, pp. 17-53.

Mauro, P., ‘Corruption: Causes, Consequences, and Agenda for Further Research,’

Finance & Development, vol. 35, no. 1, March 1998, pp. 11-14.

Film screening: “Inside Story: Global corruption” by Al Jazeera,

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maMwwIQPCF8>.

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2nd Meeting

(10.09.2014)

What is political corruption and how to study it? Heywood, P., ‘Political Corruption: Problems and Perspectives,’ Political Studies, vol.

45, no. 3, 1997, pp. 417-435. [R]

Amundsen, I., Political Corruption, U4 Issue No. 6, Chr. Michelsen Insitute, Bergen,

2006, <http://www.cmi.no/publications/file/2565-political-corruption.pdf>. [R]

Amundsen, I., Political corruption: an introduction to the issues, Chr. Michelsen

Institute, 1999, <http://www.cmi.no/pdf/?file=/publications/1999/wp/ wp1999-

7.pdf>.

Friedrich, C.J., ‘Corruption Concepts in Historical Perspective,’ in Heidenheimer, A.J.,

Johnston, M. & LeVine, V.T. (eds.), Political Corruption: A Handbook,

Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1989, pp. 15-24.

Girling, J., Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy, Routledge, New York, 1997,

pp. 1-41. Goudie, A.W. & Stasavage, D., ‘A framework for the analysis of corruption,’ Crime,

Law and Social Change, vol. 29, no. 2, January 1998, pp. 113-159.

Hodess, R., ‘Introduction,’ in Transparency International, Global Corruption Report

2004 – Special Focus: Political Corruption, Pluto Press, London, 2004, pp. 1-12.

Lancaster, T.D. & Montinola, G.R., ‘Toward a methodology for the comparative study

of political corruption,’ Crime, Law & Social Change, vol. 27, no. 3, January 1997,

pp. 185-206.

Svensson, J., ‘Eight Questions about Corruption,’ Journal of Economic Perspectives,

vol. 19, no. 3, Summer 2005, pp. 19-42.

3rd Meeting

(17.09.2014)

Corruption and political system

Jain, A.K., ‘Power, politics, and corruption,’ in Jain, A.K. (ed.), The Political Economy

of Corruption, Routledge, New York, pp. 3-10. [R]

Rose-Ackerman, S., ‘Political corruption and democratic structures,’ in Jain (ed.), pp.

35-62. [R]

Bracking, S., ‘Political Development and Corruption: Why ‘Right Here, Right Now!’?,’

in Bracking, S. (ed.), Corruption and Development: The AntiCorruption

Campaigns, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, 2007, pp. 3-27. Girling, pp. 86-118.

Nye, J., ‘Corruption and Political Development: A Cost Benefit Analysis,’ in

Heidenheimer, A.J. (ed.), Political Corruption: Readings in Comparative Analysis,

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1970, pp. 564-578.

Khan, M.K., ‘The Role of Civil Society and Patron-Client Networks in the Analysis of

Corruption,’ in Corruption and Integrity Improvement Initiatives in Developing

Countries, UNDP, New York, 1998, pp. 111-114, <http://www.u4.no/document/

literature/Khan-1998-the-role-of-civil-society.pdf>.

4th Meeting

(24.09.2014)

The issue of economic development in political corruption Bardhan, P., ‘Corruption and development: a review of issues,’ Journal of Economic

Literature, vol. 35, no. 3, September 1997, pp. 1320-1346. [R]

Gray, C.W. & Kaufmann, D., ‘Corruption and Development,’ Finance & Development,

vol. 35, no. 1, March 1998, pp. 7-10. [R]

Johnston, M., Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, power and democracy, Cambridge

University Press, 2005, pp. 16-35.

Girling, pp. 42-85.

5th Meeting

(01.10.2014)

Political corruption and socio-cultural system Huntington, S.P., ‘Modernization and Corruption,’ in Heidenheimer, Johnston & LeVine

(eds.), pp. 377-388. [R]

Hooker, J., ‘Corruption from a cross-cultural perspective,’ Cross Cultural Management,

vol. 16, no. 3, 2009, pp. 251-267. [R]

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Husted, B.W., ‘Wealth, Culture, and Corruption,’ Journal of International Business

Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 1999, pp. 339-359.

Senior, pp. 177-181.

Myrdal, G., ‘Corruption as a Hindrance to Modernization in South Asia,’ in

Heidenheimer, Johnston & LeVine (eds.), pp. 405-421.

Wertheim, W.F., ‘Sociological Aspects of Corruption in Southeast Asia,’ in Heidenheimer (ed.), pp. 195-211.

6th Meeting

(08.10.2014)

Fighting against political corruption: Global cooperation Eigen, P., ‘A Coalition to Combat Corruption: TI, EITI, and Civil Society,’ in Rotberg,

R. (ed.), Corruption, Global Security and World Order, Brookings Institution,

2009, pp. 416-429. [R]

Ivanov, K.S., ‘The Limits of a Global Campaign against Corruption,’ in Bracking (ed.), pp. 28-45. [R]

Lambsdorff, J.G., ‘The Organization of Anti-Corruption: Getting Incentives Right,’ in

Rotberg (ed.), pp. 389-415.

‘Legal hurdles: immunity, extradition and the repatriation of stolen wealth,’ Global

Corruption Report 2004, pp. 89-109.

Quah, J.S.T., ‘Singapore’s Anti-Corruption Strategy: Is this Form of Governance

Transferable to Other Asian Countries?,’ in Kidd, J.B. & Richter, F-J. (eds.),

Corruption and Governance in Asia, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire, 2003, pp.

180-197.

Senior, pp. 184-197.

Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative: Challenges, Opportunities and Action Plans, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2007, <http://ww.unodc.org/documents/

corruption/StAR-Sept07-full.pdf>.

Kpundeh, S.J., ‘Political Will in Fighting Corruption,’ in Corruption and Integrity

Improvement Initiatives in Developing Countries, UNDP, New York, 1998,

<http://mirror.undp.org/magnet/Docs/efa/corruption/Chapter06.pdf>.

7th Meeting

(15.10.2014)

Political corruption and international security Greenhill, K.M., ‘Kleptocratic Interdependence: Trafficking, Corruption, and the

Marriage of Politics and Illicit Profits,’ in Rotberg (ed.), pp. 96-123. [R]

Teets, J.C. & Chenoweth, E., ‘To Bribe or to Bomb: Do Corruption and Terrorism Go

Together?,’ in Rotberg (ed.), pp. 167-193. [R]

Rose-Ackerman, S., ‘Corruption in the Wake of Domestic National Conflict,’ in Rotberg

(ed.), pp. 66-95.

Winterbottom, A., ‘More scary than terrorism?,’ New Internationalist, no. 396,

December 2006, p. 20.

Mid-term exam (22 or 29.10.2014)

8th Meeting

(05.11.2014)

Political corruption in Indonesia Hadiz, V.R., ‘The State of Corruption: Indonesia,’ in Bhargava, V. & Bolongaita, E.

(eds.), Challenging Corruption in Asia: Case Studies and a Framework for Action,

The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2004, pp. 209-235. [R]

King, D.Y., ‘Corruption in Indonesia: A Curable Cancer?,’ Journal of International

Affairs, vol. 53, no. 2, Spring 2000, pp. 603-624. [R]

Davidson, J.S., ‘Politics-as-usual on trial: regional anti-corruption campaigns in

Indonesia,’ The Pacific Review, vol. 20, no. 1, March 2007, pp. 75-99.

Hamilton-Hart, N., ‘Anti-corruption strategies in Indonesia,’ Bulletin of Indonesian

Economic Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, 2001, pp. 65-82.

McLeod, R., ‘Soeharto’s Indonesia: a better class of corruption,’ Agenda, vol. 7, no. 2,

2000, pp. 99-112.

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Robertson-Snape, F., ‘Corruption, collusion and nepotism in Indonesia,’ Third World

Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 3, 1999, pp. 589-602.

Smith, T.M., ‘Corruption, Tradition, and Change in Indonesia,’ in Heidenheimer,

Johnston & LeVine (eds.), pp. 423-440.

Davidsen, S., Juwono, V. & Timberman, D.G., Curbing Corruption in Indonesia 2004-

2006: A Survey of National Policies and Approaches, USINDO in cooperation with Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta, 2006.

Quah, J.S.T., ‘Causes and Consequences of Corruption in Southeast Asia: A

Comparative Analysis of Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand,’ Asian Journal

of Public Administration, vol. 25, no. 2, December 2003, pp. 235-66.

Rinaldi, T., Purnomo, M. & Damayanti, D., Memerangi Korupsi di Indonesia yang

Terdesentralisasi - Studi Kasus Penanganan Korupsi Pemerintahan Daerah,

Justice for the Poor Project- Bank Dunia, Jakarta, 2007.

9th Meeting

(12.11.2014)

Presentation and Discussion #1

10th Meeting

(19.11.2014)

Presentation and Discussion #2

11th Meeting

(26.11.2014)

Presentation and Discussion #3

12th Meeting

(03.12.2014)

Presentation and Discussion #4

13th Meeting

(10.12.2014)

Presentation and Discussion #5

14th Meeting

(17.12.2014)

What have we learned about political corruption? Baird, V., ‘Can the root be stopped?,’ New Internationalist, no. 396, December 2006, pp.

2-5. [R]

Jain, A.K., ‘Controlling power and politics,’ in Jain (ed.), pp. 214-219. [R]

Bull, M.J. & Newell, J.L., ‘Conclusion: Corruption in Contemporary Democracies,’ in

Bull, M.J. & Newell, J.L. (eds.), Corruption in Contemporary Politics, Palgrave

Macmillan, Hampshire, 2003, pp. 234-247.

Girling, pp. 150-176.

Essay submission (31.12.2014 or 07.12.2014)

This syllabus is available online on 20 August 2014.