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[Global corruption report 2001] South asia
Shah, Aquil
Shah, Aquil
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rr_south_asia.pdf
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Abstract
Corruption afflicts South Asia at all levels of state and society. Scarce government resources that ought to be financing basic health, nutrition and education programmes are often allocated to huge arms deals and infrastructure projects that offer officials and politicians prospects of lucrative kickbacks. At the individual level, high levels of corruption impose disproportionate costs on the majority of South Asians, as they are forced to pay bribes in order to gain access to basic social services. Democratic and authoritarian governments alike wax lyrical about the need to combat corruption, but the region’s political, bureaucratic and military elites are rarely held accountable. The largest country, India, has the strongest democratic institutions in the region, but it is as plagued as Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan by systemic public and private sector corruption. Sri Lanka, which has the highest Human Development Index ranking, also suffers from this menace.2 Foreign donors have played a significant role in influencing the region’s development as a whole over the past decades, pushing in recent years for good governance. But their role in the fight against corruption generates much controversy. Some argue that the direction of foreign aid in the region is still dictated by political and strategic considerations, rather than the economic needs and policy performance of recipients. There is no evidence that less corrupt governments receive more aid.3 Recent opinion polls indicated mounting public awareness that corruption has increased in politics, administration and the judiciary.4 Growing democratisation, coupled with the liberalisation of media ownership, has stimulated the emergence of a vocal civil society. People understand that corruption cripples their institutions, undermines the rule of law, hurts the environment and distorts social and economic development. For government officials, corruption has emerged as a key issue around which political battles are fought. Increasingly, South Asian governments stake their own legitimacy on the lack of accountability of political opponents, as events during 2000–01 clearly showed.
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Book chapter
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2001
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393571100X
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With permission of the license/copyright holder