Corruption is biggest issue across the world. it can be treated with awareness in the citizens and transparency in the system. the biggest role of IT to automate and transform all the systems and make work transparent from every stakeholder perspective. 

A multi-pronged approach should be adopted to fight Corruption. 1. Prevention- system and policies studies at National and Institutional level to promote transparency and accountability and also to put in anti-corruption systems. 2. Education: Awareness programs for mass to understand the ill affects of corruption. Education programs for leaders and key public servants on prevention tools. Ethics and Integrity programs at In-service and pre-service level and the private sector. Values/Moral Education programs in Schools. 3. Combating Corruption: through investigation (to show zero tolerance to corruption)......

The most innovative countries today are the least corrupt nations. Most of the innovative nations did not start the "innovation policy" when they were richer. In fact, these innovative nations begun to groom their innovative capabilities when they were much poorer than they are today. Unsurprisingly, countries that are falling in the middle income trap today have long been neglecting innovation issues. By promoting innovation, we encourage citizens to believe in themselves and not surrender to a bunch of elites, as well as pushing the government to lessen their institutional ambiguities.

Corruption is a direct outcome of low levels of democracy and high levels of political involvement in the judiciary system. Lack of democracy makes it is impossible for whistle-blowers to come forward, especially against powerful corporates and politicians. The situation gradually worsens when the judicial system is taken over by the political powers and elites.

While agreeing with Rajiv, Namgay and Amir that awareness and transparency can lower corruption rates, I also believe that it is impossible even for the best educated to come forward against political strongholds, if their lives are threatened and they cannot expect protection from a free judiciary.

When free media opens venues for people to discuss ongoing issues of corruption, this can lead individuals or organised groups to take up matters at a higher level – high courts, especially when it is the government system that engages in corrupt activities. Technology can play an amazing role as we saw during the last few years, in Egypt and other countries.

Hello,

Do you understand spanish maybe? Check please the article from Fernando Escalante Gonzalbo recorded ih the following link http://codex.colmex.mx:8991/exlibris/aleph/a18_1/apache_media/JGTRBE7KUH2MR8JJL3NLDATTYY7IQD.pdf

Best.

Michel

Keegan, you have made some good points. Among them, one is that humans are corrupt rather than institutions. I definitely agree with this point. However, I would argue that if institutions do not have the mechanisms necessary to make humans accountable, even the most perfect human can get into or get seduced into corruption. Humans are still be the ones to establish the mechanisms. But at the end, once the institutional systems are corrupt no human is safe not get involved in it. You can make a choice: either you get out of the institution or you stay as part of it. For instance, a bureaucratic corruption may be set a certain way to the extent that anyone coming into it get to comply accordingly. Thus, by way of synthesis, humans shape institutions and institutions shape humans. In some places, if you don't accept a bribe in the system, you can get killed. It means that you are in Rome, and must act like the Romans. Again, the relationship is duo-directional.

One of the most common thrust to corruption is the system structure. Once in the structure or system there are people or offices which go unchecked the likely that corruption will creep in. It is important that one invoke a system of checks and balances and the holders of the office only work to achieve the purpose for that office. It then brings the idea of purpose, do the people who staff that office know why they are in that office and is their purpose promote/compatible with development?

Bureaucrat staff are the gatekeepers of the system of corruption. Unless a set of mechanisms are implemented to refurbish the system, any new person comes in and  let himself or herself be part of the system. That said, the game-changer will need courage and determination. Otherwise, they will scare him to death.

Corruption is too broad a term and needs to be understood in the context of the corrupt act, what activity was corrupted, what sector did it occur in, and what place. This model of analysis, developed by Adam Graycar and used by both of us, takes individual acts of corruption as the unit of analysis - so rather than simply stating 'Developed countries are corrupt', the analysis would be that nepotism (the type of corruption) in the administration (the activity corrupted) of public housing (the sector corrupted) occurs in the city of Sydney, Australia (the place where the corruption occurs). This then allows a tailored response to resolve corruption. The model can be scaled up or down dependent on the circumstances.

Further, as not all corruption is the same and the level of corruption varies from place to place, this analysis helps to mitigate the misapplication of solutions; e.g. the solutions to clear out a heavily corrupted police service may be too extreme and expensive to apply to a service with minimal corruption.

This applies to your question 'what role for technology?' - it will depend on the type, activity, sector and place. Analyse the corruption first, look for similar problems which have been solved and apply only the appropriate technology.

See Graycar, A. (2015). Corruption: Classification and analysis. Policy and Society, 34(2), 87-96. doi: 10.1016/j.polsoc.2015.04.001 for the latest on this approach.

I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

Corruption never has been compulsory; when the cities lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains. ~ Robinson Jeffers

I should esteem it the extreme of imprudence to prolong the precarious state of our national affairs, and to expose the union to the jeopardy of successive experiments, in the chimerical pursuit of a perfect plan. I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man. The result of the deliberations of all collective bodies must necessarily be a compound as well of the errors and prejudices, as of the good sense and wisdom of the individuals of whom they are composed. ~ Alexander Hamilton

Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. ~ Alexander Pope

How far should one accept the rules of the society in which one lives? To put it another way: at what point does conformity become corruption? Only by answering such questions does the conscience truly define itself. ~ Kenneth Tynan

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer. ~ Will Rogers

Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians. ~ Chester Bowles

Our chiefs said 'Done,' and I did not deem it;

Our seers said 'Peace,' and it was not peace;

Earth will grow worse till men redeem it,

And wars more evil, ere all wars cease.

~ "A Song of Defeat" by Gilbert Keith Chesterton ~

The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. ~ George Eliot

Corruption is difficult to define, depending on country context. According to Shah & Schacter (2004), corruption tends to be country specific: one-size-fits-all approaches in most cases fail to produce effect, thus it is important to take into account the local circumstances that allow certain public and/or private actors to keep corrupt behavior. In the Philippines, for example, politicians openly state the primary importance of protecting “family interests” vis-à-vis public ones, with an emphasis placed upon “kinship obligations” (Montinola, 1994). Practices that are considered questionable in the context of western democracies, such as cronyism and nepotism, may be viewed as acceptable and even functional in other cultural contexts (Hooker, 2008).

Even among western nations, there is divergence. The US is widely known for its legalized practice of corporate "donations" to state and federal governments in exchange of beneficial policy outcomes.

Thus, it is vital to identify a specific country you want to analyze, since it is likely to reveal its unique solutions. In terms of international comparison analysis, you could try to come up with a list of nations that share (somewhat) similar definitions of corruption, for which you may look into their respective anti-corruption agencies' official definitions to see similarities and/or divergence. Then for that group of nations (maybe located in the same region) it should become more feasible to come up with certain solutions.

Regards,

Mergen Dyussenov

PhD student, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore), from Kazakhstan

If you can not get rid of that evil, try to negotiate in order to pay an embarrassing price for the corrupt! Such a low value that, if perchance he is caught, the commission of the crime is recognized to him and insignificant to the businessman bribed! Good luck!

Following the economic literature, in particular Rose-Ackerman's work, corruption should be heavily punished. Therefore, a country should stablish specific and harsh laws, as well as to promote transparency of public issues. Moreover, as one can see happening in Brazil, laws regulating and incenting plea bargain will help to bring corruption schemes to the light.

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