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The Corruption Cure: How Citizens and Leaders Can Combat Graft
Why leadership is key to ending political and corporate corruption globally
Corruption corrodes all facets of the world's political and corporate life, yet until now there was no one book that explained how best to battle it. The Corruption Cure provides many of the required solutions and ranges widely across continents and diverse cultures―putting some thirty-five countries under an anticorruption microscope―to show exactly how to beat back the forces of sleaze and graft.
Robert Rotberg defines corruption theoretically and practically in its many forms, describes the available legal remedies, and examines how we know and measure corruption's presence. He looks at successful and unsuccessful attempts to employ anticorruption investigative commissions to combat political theft and venal behavior. He explores how the globe's least corrupt nations reached that exceptional goal. Another chapter discusses the role of civil society in limiting corruption. Expressed political will through determined leadership is a key factor in winning all of these battles. Rotberg analyzes the best-performing noncorrupt states to show how consummate leadership made a telling difference. He demonstrates precisely how determined leaders changed their wildly corrupt countries into paragons of virtue, and how leadership is making a significant difference in stimulating political anticorruption movements in places like India, Croatia, Honduras, and Lebanon. Rotberg looks at corporate corruption and how it can be checked, and also offers an innovative fourteen-step plan for nations that are ready to end corruption.
Curing rampant corruption globally requires strengthened political leadership and the willingness to remake national political cultures. Tougher laws and better prosecutions are not enough. This book enables us to rethink the problem completely―and solve it once and for all.
Corruption corrodes all facets of the world's political and corporate life, yet until now there was no one book that explained how best to battle it. The Corruption Cure provides many of the required solutions and ranges widely across continents and diverse cultures―putting some thirty-five countries under an anticorruption microscope―to show exactly how to beat back the forces of sleaze and graft.
Robert Rotberg defines corruption theoretically and practically in its many forms, describes the available legal remedies, and examines how we know and measure corruption's presence. He looks at successful and unsuccessful attempts to employ anticorruption investigative commissions to combat political theft and venal behavior. He explores how the globe's least corrupt nations reached that exceptional goal. Another chapter discusses the role of civil society in limiting corruption. Expressed political will through determined leadership is a key factor in winning all of these battles. Rotberg analyzes the best-performing noncorrupt states to show how consummate leadership made a telling difference. He demonstrates precisely how determined leaders changed their wildly corrupt countries into paragons of virtue, and how leadership is making a significant difference in stimulating political anticorruption movements in places like India, Croatia, Honduras, and Lebanon. Rotberg looks at corporate corruption and how it can be checked, and also offers an innovative fourteen-step plan for nations that are ready to end corruption.
Curing rampant corruption globally requires strengthened political leadership and the willingness to remake national political cultures. Tougher laws and better prosecutions are not enough. This book enables us to rethink the problem completely―and solve it once and for all.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published May 9, 2017
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56 people want to read
About the author
Robert I. Rotberg
110 books11 followersRobert Irwin Rotberg is an American academic who served as President of the World Peace Foundation (1993–2010). A professor in governance and foreign affairs, he was director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (1999–2010), and has served in administrative positions at Tufts University and Lafayette College.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 20, 2020
This book explains what corruption is, why it is so prevalent across the world (especially in developing countries), and as the title states, how it can be combated.
The introduction is a useful overview of what corruption is, with many anecdotes and examples provided to illustrate (e.g. bribing inspectors tasked with ensuring that buildings are properly built; embezzling public funds or funds provided by donors; multinational firms bribing government officials in developing countries to obtain lucrative contracts; 'ghost employees' in the public sector etc.). It then explains what are the costs of corruption, provides some quantitative figures to illustrate the enormous losses accrued due to corruption, and highlights the very negative impacts corruption has on socioeconomic development.
The subsequent chapter goes in-depth into the definition of corruption, and draws clear demarcations between different kinds of corruption (venal/grand corruption vs. petty corruption). The second chapter explains what are some of the indexes used to measure corruption, focusing mostly on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International and the World Bank's Control of Corruption (WBCC) Indicator. Both indexes are imperfect, as they are reliant on perceptions, but this is understandable as measuring corruption is extremely difficult due to the secrecy surrounding it. The third chapter explains what are the laws/legal frameworks needed to ensure proper anti-corruption efforts can take place, but emphasizes the fact that no matter how good laws are written, their non-application means that they are useless. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on anti-corruption commissions, highlighting successful and unsuccessful examples, and explaining the reasons behind the successes and failures. Chapters 6 and 7 highlight some "most improved countries", showcasing how several countries' rankings on the CPI and WBCC improved, as well as how some of the most staunchly non-corrupt nation-states of today became what they are. Chapter 8 focuses on the role played by determined political leadership when it comes to stamping out corruption, while chapters 9 and 10 explain what civil society can do to reduce corruption and what are the best practices. The last chapter 'What Works: The Anticorruption Program' is a very useful short summary of the whole book presented in bullet points.
Countless fascinating examples are provided in the book. When it comes to effective anti-corruption commissions, the author focuses on the Hong Kong and Singapore commissions, commending their efforts. When it comes to toothless anti-corruption commissions, the author highlights several such cosmetic bodies in numerous African countries, explaining why these bodies (despite sometimes being led by public servants acting in integrity and genuinely seeking to fight corruption) have often faltered in their efforts. When it comes to committed leadership, the author also gives several examples (e.g. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore; Seretse Khama of Botswana), explaining how they managed to stamp out corruption in their countries.
All in all, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how corruption functions across the world, and what are the steps that can be taken by citizens, public servants and political leaders, to effectively combat the phenomenon and bring about positive societal changes.
The introduction is a useful overview of what corruption is, with many anecdotes and examples provided to illustrate (e.g. bribing inspectors tasked with ensuring that buildings are properly built; embezzling public funds or funds provided by donors; multinational firms bribing government officials in developing countries to obtain lucrative contracts; 'ghost employees' in the public sector etc.). It then explains what are the costs of corruption, provides some quantitative figures to illustrate the enormous losses accrued due to corruption, and highlights the very negative impacts corruption has on socioeconomic development.
The subsequent chapter goes in-depth into the definition of corruption, and draws clear demarcations between different kinds of corruption (venal/grand corruption vs. petty corruption). The second chapter explains what are some of the indexes used to measure corruption, focusing mostly on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International and the World Bank's Control of Corruption (WBCC) Indicator. Both indexes are imperfect, as they are reliant on perceptions, but this is understandable as measuring corruption is extremely difficult due to the secrecy surrounding it. The third chapter explains what are the laws/legal frameworks needed to ensure proper anti-corruption efforts can take place, but emphasizes the fact that no matter how good laws are written, their non-application means that they are useless. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on anti-corruption commissions, highlighting successful and unsuccessful examples, and explaining the reasons behind the successes and failures. Chapters 6 and 7 highlight some "most improved countries", showcasing how several countries' rankings on the CPI and WBCC improved, as well as how some of the most staunchly non-corrupt nation-states of today became what they are. Chapter 8 focuses on the role played by determined political leadership when it comes to stamping out corruption, while chapters 9 and 10 explain what civil society can do to reduce corruption and what are the best practices. The last chapter 'What Works: The Anticorruption Program' is a very useful short summary of the whole book presented in bullet points.
Countless fascinating examples are provided in the book. When it comes to effective anti-corruption commissions, the author focuses on the Hong Kong and Singapore commissions, commending their efforts. When it comes to toothless anti-corruption commissions, the author highlights several such cosmetic bodies in numerous African countries, explaining why these bodies (despite sometimes being led by public servants acting in integrity and genuinely seeking to fight corruption) have often faltered in their efforts. When it comes to committed leadership, the author also gives several examples (e.g. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore; Seretse Khama of Botswana), explaining how they managed to stamp out corruption in their countries.
All in all, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how corruption functions across the world, and what are the steps that can be taken by citizens, public servants and political leaders, to effectively combat the phenomenon and bring about positive societal changes.
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February 2, 2018364.1323 R842 2017
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews