In 1996, World Bank president James Wolfensohn broke a longstanding taboo on discussing corruption, bringing the issue to the top of the international development agenda. Under his successor Paul Wolfowitz, the Bank has become even more outspoken against corruption, and even less hesitant to cut off borrowers seen as corrupt, raising concerns that it may paralyse lending, or target countries arbitrarily. Debates within the Bank’s governing body and increased vigilance by shareholder governments are an encouraging sign that policies can no longer win automatic approval under the label of anti-corruption. Debates within the Bank may help to replace initial zeal with more fine-tuned approaches, based on clear and consistent criteria. As a component of these ongoing debates, the full range of perverse effects, hazards and opportunities presented in this book could usefully be considered. Setting debates about anti-corruption policy within the wider democratisation agenda remains a priority, not withstanding the problems of the latter. Genuine anti-corruption practice requires systemic global change, which would deconstruct, in theory and in practice, Western/Northern double standards embedded in old-style realpolitik, and aspire to a consistent governance morality. While some donors do endorse ‘democratisation’, the current thin definition is not a panacea against corruption – especially if it simply means awareness campaigns by Western-funded NGOs. There are also high levels of corruption in 302 Corruption and Development 9780230_525504_17_cha16.qxp 8/23/2007 11:32 AM Page 302 Sarah Bracking and Kalin Ivanov 303
countries commonly considered to be democratic. But currently, the anti-corruption campaign is chimerical in hiding these global inconsistencies and Northern problems of democratic accountability, and has thrived in the dissembled social fabric of post-communist and impoverished African societies. In other words, for anti-corruption policy to work, and for the global public to enjoy the fruits of their own energies without seeing them disappear into the pockets of political and economic criminal elites, there needs to be a return to the ideals of social justice and elite accountability. There are no quick fixes in the current anti-corruption package, but a set of inscribed meanings that further the cultural, economic and political domination of the North. Corruption can be better addressed within a morally consistent agenda of political and economic solidarity
In 1996, World Bank president James Wolfensohn broke a longstanding taboo on discussing corruption, bringing the issue to the top of the international development agenda. Under his successor Paul Wolfowitz, the Bank has become even more outspoken against corruption, and even less hesitant to cut off borrowers seen as corrupt, raising concerns that it may paralyse lending, or target countries arbitrarily. Debates within the Bank’s governing body and increased vigilance by shareholder governments are an encouraging sign that policies can no longer win automatic approval under the label of anti-corruption. Debates within the Bank may help to replace initial zeal with more fine-tuned approaches, based on clear and consistent criteria. As a component of these ongoing debates, the full range of perverse effects, hazards and opportunities presented in this book could usefully be considered. Setting debates about anti-corruption policy within the wider democratisation agenda remains a priority, not withstanding the problems of the latter. Genuine anti-corruption practice requires systemic global change, which would deconstruct, in theory and in practice, Western/Northern double standards embedded in old-style realpolitik, and aspire to a consistent governance morality. While some donors do endorse ‘democratisation’, the current thin definition is not a panacea against corruption – especially if it simply means awareness campaigns by Western-funded NGOs. There are also high levels of corruption in 302 Corruption and Development 9780230_525504_17_cha16.qxp 8/23/2007 11:32 AM Page 302 Sarah Bracking and Kalin Ivanov 303countries commonly considered to be democratic. But currently, the anti-corruption campaign is chimerical in hiding these global inconsistencies and Northern problems of democratic accountability, and has thrived in the dissembled social fabric of post-communist and impoverished African societies. In other words, for anti-corruption policy to work, and for the global public to enjoy the fruits of their own energies without seeing them disappear into the pockets of political and economic criminal elites, there needs to be a return to the ideals of social justice and elite accountability. There are no quick fixes in the current anti-corruption package, but a set of inscribed meanings that further the cultural, economic and political domination of the North. Corruption can be better addressed within a morally consistent agenda of political and economic solidarity
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