27 Aug 2012

We Ate All Together: a Politician’s Approach to Corruption in Greece

Prominent Greek politician and former Deputy Prime Minister Theodore Pangalos sparked controversy in 2010, a few months after Greece’s first bailout package, after he claimed on television that everyone, not just politicians, were responsible for the squandering of public money. “We all ate together”, Pangalos said at the time. He then elaborated his statement in an […]

15 Aug 2012

Basel Institute on Governance Applies New Framework to Assess Governance and Corruption Risks

Researchers at the Basel Institute on Governance have been working on developing and applying a new analytical framework to assess governance and corruption risks within the public administration. With a focus on the health sector, the research project ‘Governance of Health Systems’, conducted jointly with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, aims to contribute […]

10 Aug 2012

U4 Paper Series Examines Corruption Indices

The U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, operated by the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Bergen, Norway, has recently published the first of a series of short reports analysing the strengths and weaknesses of selected corruption indices and surveys. The objective of the series is to provide practitioners in the anti-corruption field with guidance on why, when, and […]

07 Aug 2012

Corruption in Public Construction Target of Creative Initiatives in Eastern Europe

Public construction contracts are typically among the government activities most vulnerable to corruption in most countries plagued by this phenomenon. Scandals involving procurement fraud and embezzlement of funds from public works have become more and more common, and in some cases indications of corruption are so flagrant that the resulting buildings, bridges and other landmarks […]

03 Aug 2012

TI Releases New Study on Corruption Risks in Eastern European Countries

A new report released by Transparency International (TI) examines the main corruption risks in four Eastern European countries, namely Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. According to the study, reforms to strengthen democratic institutions and the anti-corruption legal framework in these countries, undertaken largely as part of their accession process to the European Union, have […]

03 Aug 2012

Georgian NGOs Join Forces in Election Monitoring Initiative

Three Georgian non-governmental organisations – International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and Transparency International Georgia (TI-Georgia) – have launched together the ‘Elections Portal’, which will collect information on violations regarding the next parliamentary elections, to be held in October. The project consists mainly of a website where citizens […]

27 Jul 2012

Shudhify Initiative Assesses Bangalore Public Services

A new citizen-led initiative from Bangalore, India, called ‘Shudhify’, offers local citizens a valuable map of selected government services and their respective ratings in different districts of the city. The data collected by the project tracks the quality of service provision, as well as the level of efficiency and corruption in the offices covered. The […]

27 Jul 2012

University of Nottingham Conducts Research Project on Integrity Management Reform

The University of Nottingham, one of ERCAS’s partners in the EU-financed project ANTICORRP, is currently involved in another research project in partnership with the City University of Hong Kong, with the objective of examining and comparing recent reforms in the integrity management framework in place in public services in the United Kingdom (UK), China and […]

20 Jul 2012

ERCAS Director and Senior Fellow Present Research at IPSA Conference

Research work conducted at ERCAS was recently presented at the XXIInd World Congress of Political Science, held in Madrid on July 8-12 and organised by the International Political Science Association (IPSA). ERCAS Director Prof. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi and senior fellow Aare Kasemets participated in the panel “Corruption and Democratic Governance: New Approaches, New Evidence”, as part […]

13 Jul 2012

New Indonesian Website Exposes Politicians Convicted of Corruption

A group of Indonesian activists and journalists have recently launched the website Korupedia.org, created as an ‘encyclopedia’ of corruption cases in Indonesia. The online platform aims at exposing individuals who have been accused and convicted of corruption, and it has managed to reach millions of internet users already in the first weeks after its launch. […]

10 Jul 2012

New Report Launched on Corruption in the Health Sector in Vietnam

The organization Towards Transparency, Transparency International’s national contact in Vietnam, has released a report about informal payments in the health sector in the country. The study investigates the causes, perceptions and impact of such payments on health services, and raises potential solutions to the problem. According to the report, these payments are very common in […]

06 Jul 2012

Handbook on Freedom of Information in South Caucasus Launched

Transparency International’s chapters in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia have published together the report entitled “Handbook on the Freedom of Information in the South Caucasus Countries”. The study was produced as part of the regional research project “Freedom of Information in the South Caucasus”, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The […]

29 Jun 2012

New Report Published on Anti-Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) in Bulgaria has published the report “Countering Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2001 – 2011”, which was presented to policy makers and stakeholders in Sarajevo at an anti-corruption policy forum on June 12, 2012. The forum is part of an effort by the European Union to empower the […]

25 Jun 2012

Civil Society against Corruption Launches Russian Website

The Civil Society against Corruption online platform has now been made available also in Russian language. In cooperation with the European Research Center on Anti-corruption and State-building (ERCAS) at the Hertie School of Governance and the Russian Association of  NGOs in Defense of Voters’ Rights “Golos”, the Romanian Academic Society (SAR) has implemented this new […]

13 Jun 2012

Coalition for Clean Parliament CHESNO in Ukraine Looks beyond Football Championship

Most news from Ukraine these days are about football, shadowing everything else. But football will soon be gone, with the pleasant memory of Ukrainian’s national team victory, and problems will remain. Corruption has been Ukraine’s paramount problem ever since the fall of Communism – probably before as well. A new coalition of civil society organizations […]

31 May 2012

ERCAS Launched at Hertie School of Governance

The Hertie School of Governance has recently founded the European Research Center for Anti-corruption and State-building (ERCAS). The center, whose director is Hertie School’s Professor of Democracy Studies Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, aims at conducting and promoting research on state-building and anti-corruption policies with an interdisciplinary approach focused on the relationship between state and society, formal and […]

31 May 2012

ANTICORRP Kick-off Meeting in Gothenburg

The first consortium meeting of ANTICORRP took place on May 20th-22nd in Gothenburg, Sweden, hosted by the project’s coordinating organization, the Quality of Government Institute at University of Gothenburg. The event gathered representatives of all 21 consortium partners and marked the official beginning of the research activities foreseen in the five-year project, which is financed […]

31 May 2012

Joining Forces with Russian NGOs in Fighting Corruption

The Civil Society against Corruption network, supported by the Romanian Academic Society (SAR) and the European Research Center for Anti-corruption and State-building (ERCAS) at the Hertie School of Governance, has joined forces with Russian NGOs in the fight against corruption. The main partner in the region is the NGO Golos, which advocates for fair, transparent […]

27 May 2012

Gallup Survey Shows High Perception of Business Corruption Worldwide

A survey conducted by Gallup worldwide has revealed that the majority of the population in all regions perceive corruption to be widespread in businesses in their countries. Even in the regions where this perception is the lowest, namely in the United States, Canada and in developed countries in Asia, levels of perceived business corruption reach […]

27 May 2012

Corruption Unchanged After Egypt’s Revolution

An article by Anna Nadgrodkiewicz discusses how many questions remain about what can be expected of Egypt’s democratic transition over a year after Hosni Mubarak was ousted. Among some of the issues that arise is the concern that the rupture with old corrupt practices in the public administration may not have been so radical as […]

07 May 2012

Interesting Monitoring Projects in the United States

In the past years several civil society activities to monitor the public administration have emerged in the United States. From projects to track legislation bills and political donations to election candidates, among other things, these initiatives could serve as inspiration for civil society in other countries as well. The website POPVOX, for instance, offers a […]

07 May 2012

Panfilova Talks about Russia’s ‘Awakening’ in the Fight against Corruption

In an interview posted on the website of the 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference, the director of Transparency International’s Russian chapter Elena Panfilova discussed the changes that anti-corruption work in the country has faced in the last decade and the perspectives for further change in the future. Ms. Panfilova highlighted that the context for anti-corruption work […]

02 May 2012

Movie Series Raises Awareness against Corruption in Indonesia

A new initiative to raise awaraness against corruption is being implemented in Indonesia. Anti-corruption organizations, film directors and famous actors have produced a series of four movies, entitled “Us against Corruption” (Kita Versus Korupsi), which portrays how corruption takes place in Indonesians’ everyday life and how it can be curbed. The movies focus on situations […]

17 Apr 2012

Independence of Enforcement Institutions Still Lacking in Ukraine

After the contested prosecution and conviction of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko last year, the handling of recent criminal cases by the police, such as the one involving the 19-year-old Oksana Makar, has given additional evidence of how enforcement institutions and the justice system in Ukraine are continuously subject to political influence. The Makar case created […]

17 Apr 2012

Social Media Provides for Increased Criticism of Corruption in Saudi Arabia

Social media has been increasingly used as a vehicle for raising awareness about corruption and other abuses in Saudi Arabia. Platforms such as Youtube and Twitter have become a means of spreading comments and satirical videos on episodes of corruption or undue political influence, topics that have always been considered taboo in the country. This […]