Review of anti-corruption strategies Rob McCusker - Australian ...

Finally, organisational integrity which involves the integration of an organisation’s operational systems,
corruption control strategies and ethical standards so that a norm of ethical behaviour is created. This
school of thought presupposes that deviance stems from the organisation rather than the individuals of
which it is comprised, as if the breach of ethics involved in corrupt practices occurs almost by osmosis
from the malfeasant organisation to the innocent individual within it. Arguably, targeting individuals in
anti-corruption efforts is likely to be less successful than targeting the organisational context in which
individuals operate. Equivalent examples of individual malfeasance within an organisational dynamic can
be seen in corporate crime cases such as Enron, Xerox, WorldCom and Union Carbide.
It has been suggested that the organisation must provide a structural framework that removes the
possibility of corrupt practices. In short, the ability of the individual to interpret the rules or to decide
whether to apply a particular protocol should be circumvented by a system which cannot be manipulated
(Larmour & Wolanin 2001).
Economic development
Arguably, economic solutions to poor governance will not succeed in promoting growth or improving
government performance. As Rose-Ackerman (2004: 14) notes ‘[m]acro-economic policy prescriptions
presuppose a well-functioning government which is just what is lacking in corrupt countries’. Equally,
‘proposals to improve governance by concentrating on economic growth, trade openness, and reductions
in inequality beg the question of how weak states could accomplish such fundamental change’.
Driven by evidence that corruption reduces growth and investment in developing countries, the World
Bank developed a four dimensional strategy:
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preventing fraud and corruption in Bank projects
helping countries which request Bank assistance for fighting corruption
mainstreaming the concern with corruption in all of the Bank’s work
lending active support to international efforts in fighting corruption.
Criticisms have been levelled at the World Bank for framing its activities in economic terms. First, it is
suggested that the Bank’s anti-corruption strategy is based on a perception of economic development
where success is driven by efficient markets supported by non-interventionist states. Second, the
empirical data showing a strong relationship between corruption and poor development is, it is
suggested, flawed. While corruption has a number of negative effects, it is suggested that in countries
such as China and South Korea, for example, corruption was in fact rife at the crucial stages of capitalist
development (Khan 2002).
Other commentators have argued that corruption may actually be advantageous, noting that corruption
may facilitate the participation and representation of marginalised groups including businessmen and
entrepreneurs, who would otherwise have no formal avenue through which to encourage government
action in the facilitation of their economic activity.
Corruption may produce efficient outcomes where excessive government regulation is detrimental
to growth-enhancing activity. Thus bribing officials to cut through red tape may act like a form of
deregulation enabling people to operate more efficiently. This so-called speed money helps to encourage
underpaid and unmotivated government officials to perform their job properly (Hobbs 2005). As another
commentator wryly observes, ‘…in terms of economic growth, the only thing worse that a society
with a rigid, over-centralised, dishonest bureaucracy is one with a rigid, over centralised and honest
bureaucracy’ (Huntington 1968: 10).