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141. Money and War: Corruption as the Hidden Enemy of Mission Success

Author:
Emily Knowles and Karolina MacLachlan
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Fletcher Security Review
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Corruption, instability, and conflict tend to go hand in hand. Twelve of the fifteen lowest-ranking countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index are currently experiencing violent insurgencies, extremist activity, or other signs of deep-seated instability. [1] Systemic, embedded corruption is a thread that runs through such seemingly disparate events as the outbreak of the Arab Spring, the conflict in Ukraine, the failure of the Malian army in 2012, the growth of Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the retreat of the Iraqi security forces in the face of ISIS. However, the effects of corruption are not limited to exacerbating the risk of conflict; corruption also makes it more difficult for states to respond to threats and for international institutions and other actors to offer effective assistance.[2] Assistance to fragile and failing states tends to include two types of engagement: international peacekeeping and/or stabilization operations and defense capacity building (i.e. assistance to the recipient states’ security forces). But without anticipating and mitigating the risks that corruption poses, the international community risks the intent of security assistance being subverted, the assistance wasted, and the success rate of stabilization operations being severely impaired. In particular, misappropriation of funds, vanishing resources, and a reliance on malign power-brokers can irreparably damage the operational success of a mission. This article is based on the research investigating the international community’s approach (or lack thereof) to tackling corruption in Afghanistan carried out by Transparency International UK’s global Defence and Security Programme (TI-DSP) and based on over 75 interviews with civilian and military officials. This work is supported by insights from TI-DSP’s long-term engagement in the Building Integrity training for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.[3] In the resulting report, we argue that corruption has had a significant impact on ISAF mission success and that the international community’s reaction to corrupt practices was too little, too late. We point to three main ways in which corruption and uncontrolled money flows can diminish the effectiveness of the mission and offer a planning and risk assessment framework as the first step toward addressing corruption risks on operations...
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Peacekeeping, Arab Spring, Conflict, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Middle East, Nigeria, and Mali

142. How the United States Can Help Counter Violent Extremism and Support Civil Society in Kenya

Author:
Human Rights First
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights First
Abstract:
“First, for civil society to continue to succeed it must have open, free, democratic space. I have followed closely the ongoing debate in Kenya around civil society and its regulation…. [A]ccountability and transparency are important for civil society organizations, just as they are for all others. But there are ways to achieve accountability and transparency that do not restrict or impede the vital work of civil society.… Regulation should embrace diversity. Regulation must not be used to silence opinions or stifle views that the powerful do not share…. We carry out extensive due diligence on all the organizations we partner with, to ensure that they are not being used for illicit purposes, such as terrorist financing. We have not seen any evidence to suggest Haki Africa’s activities pose a threat to national security or jeopardize Kenya’s efforts at combating terrorism.” –U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, Robert F. Godec, June 5, 2015 The visit of President Obama to Kenya in July 2015—the first by a sitting U.S. president—is much anticipated in the country, which faces serious challenges, including poverty, terrorism, corruption, and abuses by state security forces. Kenya has yet to fully recover from large-scale violence following the 2008 election, when around 1,300 people were killed—including hundreds by the police—and half a million were displaced during a six-week period. Kenya also hosts around half a million refugees fleeing war in Somalia. The U.S. government has sought to help Kenya address its human rights problem with humanitarian, good governance, and security initiatives. Kenya is routinely among the top seven recipients of U.S. aid, getting hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Yet the United States should strengthen and sharpen its efforts to support Kenya. A reinvigorated approach, initiated by the President’s visit, would both improve the lives of Kenyans and serve U.S. interests by combating violent extremism. This report recommends actions the U.S. government should take to promote greater stability in Kenya and the region, and outlines in particular how the U.S. government should support Kenyan civil society. In 2010 Kenyan voters approved a new constitution, which contains strong human rights safeguards, protections for civil society, and judicial reforms. And it is in many ways a model of legal protection for human rights. It provides for the creation of several important bodies, including the National Gender Equality Commission—which is pushing for the implementation of article 81b of the constitution: “not more than two thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender”—and the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights. Unfortunately, these and other official entities set up under the constitution to protect rights are insufficiently resourced and politically weak. The government’s implementation of the constitution has generally not matched the promise of its text. It has attacked civil society groups and attempted to muzzle dissent, often in the name of counterterrorism. The 2013 Public Benefit Organizations (PBO) Act, a law designed to regulate and protect civil society, has yet to be implemented. On the positive side, parts of the Kenyan judiciary remain defiantly independent of government interference, something President Obama should praise during his trip. The Kenya section in the U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 states: “The most serious human rights problems were security force abuses, including alleged unlawful killings, forced disappearances, torture, and use of excessive force; interethnic violence; and widespread corruption and impunity throughout the government…. Widespread impunity at all levels of government was a serious problem, despite public statements by the president and deputy president and police and judicial reforms. The government took only limited steps to address cases of unlawful killings by security force members.” That crackdown runs counter to President Obama’s insistence that stability and security require “freedom for civil society groups.” During his visit, President Obama should discuss the crackdown on civil society along with other pressing and sensitive issues: security cooperation, corruption, refugee protection, and the human rights of LGBT people.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, Violent Extremism, Counter-terrorism, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, United States, Nairobi, and East Africa

143. Public Expenditure Governance in Uganda’s Education Sector: Application of an Innovative Assessment Framework

Author:
Jacklyn Makaaru Arinaitwe, Kiran Cunningham, Emmanuel Keith Kisaame, Suzie Nansozi Muwanga, and George Bogere
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
Abstract:
This paper presents a framework for assessing public expenditure governance (PEG) in the education sector. Unlike tools for assessing public financial management, which tend to focus quite specifically on fund management, PEG assessment focuses on inputs, processes and outcomes associated with the governance of public expenditure. Inputs are the laws, policies, rules, regulations, goals and priorities that govern actions and decision-making. The assessment principles associated with the input side of PEG are participation and strategic vision. Processes are the attributes of delivering education, and these processes cover legislation, implementation, auditing, and planning and budgeting. The assessment principles focussing on process are accountability and transparency, both of which are essential if processes are to lead to the desired outcomes. The desired outcomes of PEG are associated with quality education that is equitably, efficiently and effectively delivered. Thus, the assessment principles associated with outcomes are equity, efficiency and effectiveness. In addition to thoroughly defining these principles, this paper also illustrates their use by applying them to the inputs, processes and outcomes of public expenditure governance in Uganda’s education sector.
Topic:
Education, Governance, Transparency, and Public Spending
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

144. Anti-Corruption Reloaded: Assessment of Southeast Europe

Author:
Ognian Shentov, Ruslan Stefanov, and Maria Todorova
Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
Corruption in Southeast Europe has been in the news, in the focus of public debate, and on the policy agenda of national and international institutions so often and for so long that its scrutiny hardly needs to be justified. It is precisely because it has proven to be such an intractable issue that innovative approaches to its understanding – and hence its reduction – are warranted. The EU accession prospects for the countries in the region – though distant – provide an enabling framework for action but it is local stakeholders, and in particular civil society who can bring about sustained progress in anti-corruption. The Southeast Europe Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) has made the in-depth diagnosing and understanding of corruption and governance gaps in the region one of its main priorities, as a requisite condition for its advocacy of knowledge-driven anticorruption policies. This SELDI report fits in the development and implementation framework of the emerging regional anticorruption policy and infrastructure as exemplified by the SEE2020 Strategy’s Governance Pillar run by the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative.
Topic:
Civil Society, Corruption, Governance, Accountability, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina

145. Anti-Corruption Reloaded: Turkey Executive Summary

Author:
SELDI and Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
Being the result of collaboration within SELDI, this report is innovative in both its method and its process. It is the result of the application of a system developed by SELDI in the early 2000s for the assessment of both corruption and anticorruption, tailored to the social and institutional environment of Southeast Europe. This executive summary reviews Turkey’s findings and provides a number of recommendations to achieve further progress in limiting corruption. Güneydoğu Avrupa’daki yolsuzluk sorunu, üzerine sıkça haber yapılan, toplumsal tartışmaların odağında yer etmiş olan, hem ulusal hem de uluslararası kurumların sürekli ve uzun süredir siyasa gündeminde bulunan, sorunsallığı kanıksanmış bir meseledir. Yolsuzluğun bu kadar yaygın ve kolay kontrol edilemeyen bir sorun olmasından dolayı, meseleyi anlamaya ve dolayısı ile de azaltmaya yönelik yenilikçi yaklaşımlara gerek duyulmaktadır. Avrupa Birliği’ne katılım beklentisi, bölge ülkelerinin harekete geçmesi için gereken hukuki çerçeveyi sağlıyor olsa da, yolsuzlukla mücadelede sürdürülebilir bir gelişimin sağlanmasında yerel siyasetteki menfaat sahiplerinin ve özellikle de sivil toplumun oynayacağı rol öne çıkmaktadır. Kalkınma ve Entegrasyon için Güneydoğu Avrupa Liderliği (SELDI) ağı, bilgi temelli yolsuzlukla mücadele amacı kapsamında, yolsuzluk ile bölgedeki yönetimsel eksiklikleri tanımlama ve anlamaya yönelik araştırmalara öncelik vermiştir. Elinizdeki bu SELDI raporu, Bölgesel Yolsuzluk ile Mücadele Girişimi tarafından yürütülen SEE (Güneydoğu Avrupa) 2020 Stratejisi Yönetim Prensibi ile örneklenen bölgesel yolsuzluk ile mücadele siyasetinin kalkınma ve uygulama konusu çerçevesinde hazırlanmıştır.
Topic:
Corruption, Accountability, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Eastern Europe

146. TESEV’s Suggestion: Anti-Corruption Legislation and International Acquis

Author:
R. Bülent Tarhan
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
This comprehensive work has been prepared by Prime Minister’s Chief Inspector Bülent Tarhan and contains all related UN and OECD documents, government of Republic of Turkey’s fight against corruption action plans, decision and circulars of the prime ministry, national programme of Turkey related with undertaking of the EU Legal Acquis related provisions of the Turkish law, EU Progress reports, GRECO Turkey Reports, all anti-corruption laws and GNAT Corruption Investigation Commission Report as well as Mr.Tarhan’s article ‘Institutional Foundation of Anti-corruption’. Published by TEPAV (The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey) this work is an extensive source of information to anyone who has been interested in this subject matter. In order to navigate easily in this 1040 page long document, you can click on the titles and sub-titles in the summary of contents. This work has only been published in Turkish.
Topic:
Corruption, Law, European Union, Courts, Accountability, Transparency, and Justice
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Middle East

147. Global Development: Democracy, Market and Transparency 2013: Editor's note

Author:
Gabriel C. Salvia and Hernán Alberro
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL)
Abstract:
Of the 21 Latin American countries, eleven placed below the global average and only three received an ideal score in terms of civil liberties and political rights: Chile (14), Uruguay (21) and Costa Rica (41). They are also the only countries in the region to place among the top 50. However, these three countries make up part of a total of twelve in Latin America that dropped in ranking with respect to 2012. The biggest descents were the Dominican Republic (79), twelve positions; Panama (61), nine positions; and Argentina (85), six.
Topic:
Development, Markets, Democracy, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Latin America

148. 2013-14 IGCC White Paper on Defense Transparency in Northeast Asia

Author:
Tai Ming Cheung and Jordan Wilson
Publication Date:
11-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)
Abstract:
The 2013‒2014 Northeast Asia Defense Transparency Index (DTI) measures transparency in de-fense activities in one of the most strategically important but politically volatile regions of the world. In the fifth year of this Index, its central goal remains to provide a rigorous, quantitative-based measurement of this essential but contested concept. Improving trust, confidence, and credibility in Northeast Asia’s security environment is becoming ever more pressing as arms competition intensifies among major regional powers and security interests become increasingly entangled. In this climate of growing security anxiety, the demand for timely and relevant defense information has grown, not only from governments and their mil-itaries but also from many other quarters, including the general public, media, and business com-munity. But while the case has been made by policy and academic experts that increased transpar-ency could potentially meet some of these demands and strengthen mutual trust between states, defense transparency lacks agreed-upon definitions and standardized means of measurement. The Institute on Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) has sought to address this analytical gap to provide a general framework for defining and measuring defense transparency, specifically for the six states covered in the DTI: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Russian Federation (Russia), and the United States.The brief begins by presenting the methodology used by IGCC to initially develop the DTI, then highlights changes made to improve the process in this latest edition. This is followed by the final scores achieved by states in the 2013–2014 DTI, which are compared with previous years. The Analysis section examines what brought about scoring changes for these states from the previous editions of the index. Finally, the Country Assessments and Recommendations section summarizes trends for each of the six countries. By taking a comprehensive approach to defense transparency and continuing to refine our meth-odology, we want to ensure that the DTI will remain an informative, relevant and adaptive tool for measuring defense transparency going forward, enabling comparison both across states and over time.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Budget, Cybersecurity, Media, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Russia, Japan, China, Korea, and United States of America

149. Mapping the Quality of the Statistical Data on Police Involvement in Corruption Amongst Police Agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)

Author:
Alma Kovačević
Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
The Centre for Security Studies
Abstract:
This project was aimed to research and analyze the quality of the statistical data on police involvement in corruption kept by police agencies in BiH, and to measure their effect on the overall integrity of the police system. The project also aimed to increase transparency of police agencies as well as generate dialogue on the methods of generating statistics and quality of the statistics themselves. The project is emphasizing the importance and need of harmonizing manners for data collection and keeping statistics and possibilities of achieving harmonization across BiH. "Mapping the Quality of the Statistical Data on Police Involvement in Corruption Amongst Police Agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)" is the first evidence-based research on police corruption in BiH. Most of research of local and international NGOs and other bodies stating that there is a high level of police involvement in corruption in BiH have been based on the citizens' perspective or were victim-based. None of them had dealt with real and relevant data from official registers and there is no evidence-based research on police corruption that takes into account the relevant statistical data. Hence, the real picture on police corruption in BiH is still not clear. However, the methodology used in mentioned research is somehow "justified" understandable. This is due to the lack of real and objective statistical data on police corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The lack of legislation regulating this obligation usually leads to misinterpretation and wrong assessment of police behavior. In addition to that, the lack of clear international standards regulating this area makes the issue more dubious.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, Statistics, Police, and Transparency
Political Geography:
Europe, Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina

150. Reforming National Oil Companies: Nine Recommendations

Author:
Patrick Heller, Paasha Mahdavi, and Johannes Schreuder
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
Some national oil companies (NOCs) have contributed heavily to successful efforts to harness benefits from the oil sector and drive broader national development. In other cases, however, NOCs have become inefficient managers of national resources, obstacles to private investment, drains on public coffers, or sources of patronage and corruption. As such, NOC reform—incremental in some cases, fundamental in others—lies at or near the top of the policy agendas of many oil-rich countries. Building on existing literature, we surveyed 12 NOCs from diverse geographical and operational contexts to distill practical steps that policy-makers can take to make their countries' NOCs more effective and more accountable—to governments and to citizens. Our recommendations can be seen in both the executive summary and the full report.
Topic:
Oil, Transparency, Data, and State-Owned Enterprises
Political Geography:
Europe, Malaysia, Middle East, Kazakhstan, Norway, Asia, Kuwait, Brazil, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Latin America, Mexico, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Cameroon, and Sub-Saharan Africa