In his article on corruption the Mexican political system Morris begins by saying that corruption has always been a part of the Mexican government tot he point where the two have become synonymous. Morris also hypothesizes that the longstanding negative public reaction to the government, as well as cyclical presence of anti corruption campaigns show that corruption coincides with political stability and that the causes of corruption have not changed much over time. What has changed is the kind of corruption that ensues. As external pressures have increased the stabilizing effect of corruption has changed.
Do Reforms Affect the Quality of Service? (India)
During the 90’s India underwent a series of reforms in response to a failure of the government to translate economic growth into improving the social and economic quality of life for it’s citizens. A big priority became transparency, particularly using technology to enable citizen access to government actions in order to promote the ability for citizens to benefit more directly from government action, while also promoting transparency. As a result of the computerization of India’s Government there was a dramatic reduction in communication costs, as well as a significant decrease in many instances of corruption in their government. Although there are some adverse effects (such as the ability to deliver social benefits to each individual effectively, especially those without access to the internet) the study found that increased internet presence of a government is helpful is decreasing instances of corruption, as well as improving government service delivery.
Diplomatic Parking Tickets – L’Hommedieu Summary
In their study on corruption Fisman and Miguel found a very creative way to research the effects of cultural norms and legal enforcement on corruption, specifically involving United Nations Members. The study tracked UN members’ interactions with parking enforcement in Manhattan, and they were able to yield very interesting results. The first being that UN members that come from countries with traditionally high ratings of corruption were more likely to accrue more parking tickets that their colleagues that came from traditionally less corrupt countries. There were a few other findings, that were in someways more interesting. The first being a pattern finding that the longer a UN member was found to be a member the more likely they were to acquire parking tickets. The finding I found the most interesting was their realization that there were some countries that received many parking tickets, but also paid them off, almost all the time. I thought that this might be indicative of another form of corruption in which they know what they are doing in wrong, but they simply have the funds to compensate for their intentional errors.
Rasul/Rodger Summary- L’Hommedieu
Rasul and Rodger use their data collection from Nigeria to analyze the practices that govern bureaucratic activity, and its impact on the quantity of public services delivered. In their findings the conclude that increasing autonomy in bureaucracy there is a positive correlation with the completion, and delivery of public services. Further, their study found that implementing incentives and monitoring programs for bureaucrats actually decreased completion rates of public service delivery.
The Types of Legitimate Domination- L’Hommedieu Summary
In the “The Types of Legitimate Domination” Roth and Witch begin by setting up a definition of Domination based on the idea that “every genuine form of domination implies a minimum of voluntary compliance” (212). They add, while things like motivation, or reasons for compliance do not matter, the beliefs in legitimacy remains the single most important thing from which groups draw their power. They then show their theory as it applies to the government saying that legitimacy and authority lead naturally to governmental bureaucracy, and how that same bureaucracy based on false legitimacy, can lead to corruption.
They later go through the different types of legitimacy; Rational, Traditional, and Charismatic. Legal authority being “the pure type” as it relies on (in theory) two equal parties entering into an agreement. Traditional authority being inherently unequal as one person is seen as below the other. And finally Charismatic grounds being the least tangible, or based purely on want to follow, rather than obligation.
Sarah L’Hommedieu
I have a kitten named grey.
