What Should Guide the Design of Anti-Corruption Programs?
Anti-corruption is not an ‘add-on,’ satisfied by the strengthening of enforcement machinery, public campaigns and threats of punishment. Sustainable anti-corruption means identifying the underlying causes of corruption and addressing them. Thus one pillar of a successful anti-corruption program may be economic reforms that reduce rents by macroeconomic measures, simplifying tax and tariff regimes, and other liberalization and deregulation steps. A second pillar will be strengthening institutions: re-creating a professional civil service, building strong watchdog bodies, strengthening prosecutorial capacity and the judicial system, creating effective regulatory bodies, strengthening financial management, and making government at all levels more responsive to citizen needs. 3. What is a Realistic Objective in the Fight Against Corruption? Although a few countries (e.g., Singapore) have made rapid progress, it is unrealistic to expect a country facing extensive systemic corruption to move
