Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Corruption and Transparency and Politics

Transparency is one of those ideas upon which we can base comparative studies. A beginning point is Tansparency Intenational's work promoting the value of open government and business. (Nigeria's President Obasanjo was head of Transparency International before being elected president.)

News about Nigeria's anti-corruption campaigns can be part of a case study. (Also see earlier entries here like Nigerian Politics.)

This from the BBC, 13 September 2006: The politics of Nigerian corruption

"Daily, low-level corruption is visible on the street; policeman extorting money from motorists to supplement their meagre wages.

"But it is in the world of politics and government, where corruption has been most damaging.

"For decades the government has accrued huge oil revenues, yet the country suffers from a lack of basic infrastructure, and tens of millions live in poverty.

"At the same time, some politicians and their business associates have amassed personal fortunes.

"Although accusations of graft have long been a feature of Nigerian politics, as elections approach early next year, the politics of corruption have taken on a new powerful role.

"For the past four years, the fight against corruption in Nigeria has been embodied in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) and its Chairman Nuhu Ribadu - a 46-year-old senior police officer.

"The agency has had some successes, and Mr Ribadu (right) has been praised both at home and abroad...

"Talking to people on the street in Lagos, many are supportive, and wryly amused by the idea that the top politicians would disqualify themselves by accusing each other of corruption.

"People are desperate to see Nigerian politics cleaned up and very few politicians are considered to be clean.

"Ultimately that is the real dilemma.

"In a country where corruption is seen as endemic, an anti-corruption campaign used selectively as a political weapon is likely to provoke a bitter fight amongst the political elite."

But, before going on to look at this issue in other countries, students ought to examine the idea itself.

J. M. Balkin, of Yale University, does that in his essay, How Mass Media Simulate Political Transparency. Balkin's theme is the importance of media, but the concept of transparency is on the front burner.

"...the metaphor of transparency encompasses three separate political virtues, which often work together but are analytically distinct. The first kind of transparency is informational transparency... A second type of transparency is participatory transparency... A third kind of transparency is accountability transparency..."

This essay should be quite accessible to students, and it offers some interesting ideas for them to consider. If you look around the Internet and the library, you can probably find other appropriate articles (like Transparency Matters: The ‘Second Generation’ of Institutional Reform).

Other topics that are related include the ongoing debates about campaign financing in the UK

the question of whether transparency in Russia is possible

the possibility of growing transparency in China

frustrations outside the state with the lack of transparency in Iran

and questions about how much transparency is transparent in Mexico