Governance Innovations in the Asia-Pacific Region: Trends, Cases, and Issues by Gambhir Bhatta & Joaquin L Gonzalez Iii

Author:Gambhir Bhatta & Joaquin L Gonzalez Iii [Bhatta, Gambhir & Gonzalez, Joaquin L Iii]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780429844300
Goodreads: 43329437
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1998-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Access Creation

An important consideration for donors in the selection of constituencies and coalitions to support is the degree to which a constituency promotes access to information and/or to justice. Without access to information, neither citizenry nor bureaucracy is in a position to identify instances of corruption. Without access to justice, expeditious prosecution is impossible.

In promoting the free flow of information and policy debate, a successful counter-corruption strategy will provide a balance of resources to both the civic sector and to the bureaucracy. All too often, donor assistance is focused on building the capacity of bureaucratic agencies, such as a counter-corruption agency or an attorney general’s office, to gather and analyse relevant information. While such support is clearly essential to the prosecution side of the equation, it is usually inadequate to foster the public opinion required to forge political will or to vigorously identify specific instances of corruption.

Equal, if not more significant, support should be provided to academic think tanks and public interest organisations to strengthen their capacity to conduct independent and apolitical analysis of corruption. There are two important reasons for this. First, support to such civic sector-oriented organisations helps to nurture a culture in which civic concern for accountable, transparent government is both accepted and valued. This is an important component for building and maintaining the political will required to sustain counter-corruption efforts. It is an essential element in overcoming public complacency toward corruption, and building a society which respects and values high ethical standards.

It should be stressed, however, that independent analysis is most beneficial only when it can be disseminated and thereby contribute to informed public debate. For such dissemination to occur most effectively, there must be a vibrant, independent, and professional media. The irresponsible publication of allegations or simple stories which merely report officially released “facts” are not particularly helpful in this process. Rather, a key role for the media is to help explain the real costs of corruption and thereby provide the incentives required to forge difficult political decisions.

Independent analytical capabilities and a professional media are also important because it is the nature of bureaucracy to curb the free flow of information, especially where potential litigation or political sensitivities are involved. Unless civic organisations have the capacity to conduct their own analyses, and an independent media is able to disseminate such research, the likelihood that information will be made available to the public is greatly diminished. As a result, the pace of general public policy debate will be impeded, thus retarding the process of building the political will required for identification and prosecution of corrupt behaviour.

While non-governmental constituencies can be more effective in raising the level of public debate and forging political will, they are also more open to official criticism, if not suppression. Donors must, therefore, be willing to assume a degree of risks and sometimes the donor must stand behind such partners. For example, in 1993 when the Political Economy Centre of Chulalongkorn University released its seminal study on corruption in Thailand, a prominent member of the then opposition party threatened to sue the researchers for libel.

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