The role of the public administration in fighting corruption

• Published date: 01 September 1997
• Pages: 311-330
• Date: 01 September 1997
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513559710172131
• Author: Frederick Stapenhurst,Petter Langseth
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management

Fighting

corruption

311

The role of the public

administration in fighting

corruption

Frederick Stapenhurst and Petter Langseth

Economic Development Institute, The World Bank, Washington,

DC, USA

Introduction

Structural adjustment focused attention on the need for more effective and

efficient public service institutions and use of public resources. To date, public

sector reform activities have largely focused on:

• capacity development where public institutions lack the requisite

capacity and expertise to adjust to a market economy;

• introducing results-oriented management, emphasizing the importance

of monitoring performance and measu ring results; and

• public participation in the reform process, underscoring the need to tap

into the valuable resources and creativity of civil society.

A significant issue, however, has been ignored until recently: the promotion of

national integrity (see Figure 1). All of these issues – capacity development,

results orientation, public participation, and the promotion of national integrity

– need to be addressed holistically if the public sector, and hence the delivery of

public services, is to be both efficient and effective. It is the thesis of this article

that the promotion of national integrity is an integral part of this process since

corruption inhibits the performance of public institutions and the optimal use

of resources. As this paper explains, levels of national integrity need to be

enhanced, and corruption reduced, if efforts to promote sustainable and

equitable development are not to be undermined.

Corruption engenders wrong choices. It encourages competition in bribery,

rather than in quality, and price of goods and services. Moreover, it distorts

economic and social development, and nowhere with greater damage than in

developing countries. Too often, corruption means that the world’s poorest

must pay for the corruption of their own officials and of companies from

developed countries, although they are least able to afford its costs. Moreover,

available evidence shows that, if corruption is not contained, it will grow. Once

a pattern of successful bribes is institutionalized, corrupt officials have an

International Journal of Public

Sector Management, Vol. 10 No. 5,

1997, pp. 311-330. © MCB

University Press, 0951-3558

This paper develops some of the concepts in EDI’s working paper “The Role of a National

Integrity System in Fighting Corruption”, The World Bank, 1997.

IJPSM

10,5

312

incentive to demand larger bribes, engendering a culture of illegality that in

turn breeds market inefficiency[1].

The argument is not simply a moral or cultural one. Forms of grand

corruption need to be contained fo r practical reasons. Faced with the challenge

of maintaining or improving standards of public service delivery, no country

can afford the inefficiency that accompanies corruption. While apologists for

corruption may argue that corruption can help grease the wheels of a slow-

moving and over-regulated economy, evidence indicates that it increases the

costs of goods and services, promotes unproductive investments and leads to a

decline in the quality of public services[2,3].

Corruption depends on three factors: the overall level of resources at stake,

the risk inherent in corrupt deals, and the relative bargaining power of the

briber and the person being bribed[2]. As a single event, corruption takes place

where there is a meeting of opportunity and inclination. The strategies to

contain it, therefore, should address both elements. Opportunities can be

minimized through systematic reform, and inclination reduced through

effective enforcement and deterrent mechanisms.

Figure 1.

Promotion of national

integrity

Results

orientation

Integrity

(anti-corruption law,

transparency and

accountability)

Government

– Central government

– Regional government

– Local government

Civil society

– Citizen organizations

– NGOs

– Private sector

Capacity

Sustainable development

Public service delivery

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