International Anti-Corruption Day
Today the world celebrates the International Anti-Corruption Day. This has become a tradition since 2003, when 129 countries signed the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in Merida, Mexico, after working several years towards the creation of an international legal document against corruption. Even though an anti-corruption spirit must be embraced at all places and times, today is a good moment to raise awareness about some of the vast and remaining challenges of corruption not only developing countries, but also in the most developed world.
At the Bank, the International Anti-Corruption Day has been a day of mixed feelings for many of us who are part of the governance and anti-corruption community. A great leader such as Dani Kaufmann gave a farewell lecture (if couldn't attend, you can watch the B-SPAN video). Yes, he is moving on soon to the Brookings Institution, but before that, he shared with us his always clear and accurate perspective on the main governance and corruption challenges that the world is facing.
He will blog soon on his post-lecture impressions, and will also address all of the questions that he received via email during the event, so I will just briefly emphasize one of his reflections that matches perfectly today’s celebration. This is the idea of a “twin crisis”, composed by the already wide-known and debated financial crisis and the “silent crisis” within the governance and anti-corruption movement, who in his own words was caught asleep at the wheel during the current global turmoil.
Thus, this is a great day to remember that a lot has been done in the fight against corruption, which would be self-evident if we look in retrospective and compare how things were two or three decades ago. However, the current crisis is also a wake up call to review what fundamental and critical issues have been left aside in the international anti-corruption agenda.
For sure, corruption problems are complex and difficult to address in short periods of time. However, when commitment, consistence, capacity and constancy are put together, it is possible to make a difference. For instance, over the last decade some countries have shown statistically significant progress in the World Wide Governance Indicators (see graph below). Beyond this evidence, there are many other countries that are on their way. They, and others left behind, might benefit from international assistance, but they also need the awareness and participation from their own citizens and leaders, to affront corruption as a development priority.
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Corruption will take a long time to overcome
Corrupt practices are so entrenched in some societies that it will take generations to overcome the issue. And corruption is only the tip of the iceberg. Fairness is a whole new story. Nepotism is the norm in many countries (e.g. Mexico) whereas in others (United Kingdom) it is actually illegal (in the context of job applicants).
It will take decades to fix the global corruption issue - but fix it we must.
It is widely believed that
It is widely believed that corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. For example, it undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, and distorts markets. Unfortunately, in Ukraine, the country I am from, the corruption nowadays has reached unbelievable dimensions, and is not known when the level of corruption will begin to decrease. All hope to international institutions such as World Bank and "Promoting Active Citizen Engagement in Combating Corruption in Ukraine" project.
Guys it is necessary to name
Guys it is necessary to name this day "hope of end Corruption"
It would not be desirable to speak about it, but corruption always howled and will be
Corruption is a very big
Corruption is a very big problem in our society. Money can take control on everything, that why we've got to fight against it. A day like that is a good star for decrease thoses mistakes !
The Mexican experience
The Mexican experience exposes two erroneous assumptions in the international debate about NPM: that there is a global trend of similar national reforms and that every change in the public sector is part of this new paradigm. Instead, the changes in the Mexican public sector are the result of incremental adjustments to two broader domestic processes: economic liberalization and political democratization which have led to a smaller and relatively more accountable administration.
Money Makes the World
The good money makes the world. Unfortunately, there are often even the best kurrupt. plays in our society, unfortunately, too often the money is too large rolls
Corruption and Payday Loans.....
Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Payday Loans are very popular these days. A Payday Loan sometimes called a cash loan, a paycheck advance, or payday advance is a small, short-term loan that covers the borrower's expenses until his or her next paycheck. Some payday loan stores may be a bit safer in Spokane, Washington. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the payday loan stores that were part of the three Spokane robberies at payday loan outlets just recently. The number of payday loan store robberies has been increasing across the country. The robberies in the Evergreen State were thought to be connected to a string of pharmacy hold-ups in which several bottles of Oxycontin were stolen at gunpoint.