By Rick Messick
The World Bank’s Integrity Vice-Presidency is celebrating its 15th anniversary. It recently asked a number of individuals for their thoughts on the anticorruption movement over the past 15 years. INT’s questions and my replies below.
1) How has the anti-corruption movement changed in the past 15 years?
Fifteen years ago consensus about corruption was lacking. Didn’t it foster development by providing a way around bureaucratic roadblocks to economic growth? Wasn’t bribery a reflection of the gift-giving culture of many countries? How could rich Western countries, many of which permitted their companies to take tax deductions for bribe payments, complain about corruption in poor countries?
The greatest change in the past 15 years is that those and other tired questions about corruption are no longer heard. Instead an extraordinary consensus on the need to combat corruption now exists, the most visible sign being the overwhelming support the United Nations Convention Against Corruption enjoys. Read More...