Good governance in context: Learning from anti-corruption policies of Finland and Singapore

Anttiroiko, Ari-Veikko (2014): Good governance in context: Learning from anti-corruption policies of Finland and Singapore.

Abstract

Good governance has become a prominent topic on the development agendas of national governments, regional institutions and international organisations. There is common understanding that it is an imperative for development. This article discusses two success stories, those of Finland and Singapore, and their road to good governance. The analysis shows that historical, cultural and structural contexts have a major effect on the success of anti-corruption policy. Finland is clearly an evolutionary case with a low-profile good governance policy, whereas Singapore is a revolutionary case with an array of institutionalised anticorruption measures. This implies that there is no universal recipe for success in curbing corruption, but rather processes which may vary considerably and yet be equally successful. The cases of Finland and Singapore may be an important source of inspiration and policy-relevant information, but anti-corruption policy and measures as such must be created taking due account of local history and culture.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: good governance, clean government, transparency, accountability, corruption, anti-corruption policy, anti-corruption agency, ethics management, cultural context, Finland, Singapore
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D02 - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D73 - Bureaucracy ; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations ; Corruption; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search ; Learning ; Information and Knowledge ; Communication ; Belief ; Unawareness; H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government > H11 - Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

References

Abdulai, A.-G. (2009) ‘Political will in combating corruption in developing and transition economies: A comparative study of Singapore, Hong Kong and Ghana’, Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp.387-417.

Adam, S. (2012) Singapore May Cut Lee’s Pay to $1.7 Million as Minister Salaries Reduced. Bloomberg, News, January 4, 2012 [online] from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-04/singapore-to-cut-ministers-pay-on-panel-recommendations-after-2011-polls.html (Accessed 22 August 2012)

ADB (1995) Governance: Sound Development Management. Policy Papers, WP1-95, August 1995. Asian Development Bank (ADB). http://www.adb.org/Documents/Policies/Governance/default.asp?p=policies (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Andvig, J.C. and Fjeldstad, O.-H. (2001) Corruption. A Review of Contemporary Research. CMI Reports, Report R 2001:7. Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute, Development Studies and Human Rights. http://www.cmi.no/publications/2001/rep/r2001-7.pdf (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Anttiroiko, A.-V. and Valkama, P. (2005) ’Good Governance’, in Hietanen, O. (Ed.), University Partnerships for International Development. Finnish Development Knowledge. FFRC-Publications 6/2005. Finland Futures Research Centre, Turku, pp. 268-281.

Brewer, J. (2003) ‘Ideal type’, in Miller R.L. and Brewer J.D. (Eds.), The A-Z of Social Research, Sage, London, p.148.

Caddy, J. (2001) Why citizens are central to good governance. OECD Observer. Public Management Service (PUMA), November 2001. http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/printpage.php/aid/553/Why_citizens_are_ central_to_good_governance.html (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Caiden, G. (2013a) ‘A checkered history of combating official corruption’, Asian Education and Development Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 92-111.

Caiden, G. (2013b) ‘Accounting for success in combating corruption´, in Jon S.T. Quah (Ed.) Different Paths to Curbing Corruption, Emeralg Group Publishing, Bringley, UK, pp.189-214.

Cameron, L., Chaudhuri, A., Erkal, N. and Gangadharan, L. (2005) Do attitudes towards corruption differ across cultures? Experimental evidence from Australia, India, Indonesia and Singapore. Department of Economics working papers series no. 943. The University of Melbourne, Australia. http://www.econ.canterbury.ac.nz/downloads/attitudes_towards_corruption.pdf (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Desta, Y. (2006) ‘Designing Anti-Corruption Strategies for Developing Countries: A Country Study of Eritrea’, Journal of Developing Societies, Vol. 22, pp.421-449.

Di Tella, R. and Fisman, R. (2004) ‘Are Politicians Really Paid Like Bureaucrats?’, Journal of Law and Economics, XLVII, pp.477-513.

Doig, A. and Norris, D. (2012) ‘Improving anti-corruption agencies as organizations’, Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp.255-273.

Doig, A. and Riley, S. (1998) ‘Corruption and Anti-Corruption Strategies: Issues and Case Studies from Developing Countries’, in Corruption and Integrity Improvement Initiatives in Developing Countries. New York: UNDP, pp. 45-62. http://www.u4.no/recommended-reading/corruption-and-anti-corruption-strategies-issues-and-case-studies-from-developing-countries/ (Accessed 28 September 2014)

Donahue, P. (2011) Italy, Greece Among Worst Euro Nations in Corruption Ranks, N.Z. Cleanest. Bloomberg, News. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-01/italy-greece-among-worst-euro-countries-in-corruption-ranking.html (Accessed 17 August 2012)

Gardner, P. (2006) ‘Historical Analysis’, in Victor Jupp (Ed.), The SAGE Dictionary of Social Research Methods. Sage, London, pp.134-136.

Hanna, R., Bishop, S., Nadel, S., Scheffler, G. and Durlacher, K. (2011) The effectiveness of anti-corruption policy: what has worked, what hasn’t, and what we don’t know–a systematic review. EPPI-Centre report 1909. London: EPPI-Centre, University of London, London.

Heilbrunn, J.R. (2004) Anti-Corruption Commissions Panacea or Real Medicine to Fight Corruption? World Bank Institute. The World Bank, Washington, D.C. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/WBI/Resources/wbi 37234Heilbrunn.pdf (Accessed 17 August 2012)

Hekman, S.J. (1983) ‘Weber's Ideal Type: A Contemporary Reassessment’, Polity, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.119-137.

Henley, J. (2011) Europe on the breadline: Greeks and Italians blame culture of corruption. The Guardian, 21 October 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/oct/21/europe-breadline-blame-culture-corruption (Accessed 17 August 2012)

Hodgson, G. (1988) Economics and Institutions. A Manifesto for a Modern Institutional Economics. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Joutsen, M. and Keränen, J. (2009) Corruption and the Prevention of Corruption in Finland. Ministry of Justice, Helsinki, Finland. http://www.om.fi/en/Etusivu/Julkaisut/Esitteet/CorruptionandthePreventionof CorruptioninFinland (Accessed 17 August 2012)

Kaufmann, D. (2003) Rethinking Governance. Empirical Lessons Challenge Orthodoxy. Discussion Draft, March 11th, 2003. World Bank Institute (WBI). http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/pdf/rethink_gov_ stanford.pdf (Accessed 17 August 2012)

Kim, P.S. (2008) ‘Building national integrity through corruption eradication in South Korea’, Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 17, pp.155 -178.

Klitgaard, R. (1998) Strategies against corruption. Paper to Foro Iberoamericano sobre el Combate a la Corrupcion, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, June 15–16. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/ clad/clad0035403.pdf (Accessed 17 August 2012)

Koskinen, J. (2003) The Finnish experience in preventing corruption. High-Level Political Conference for the Signature of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, Merida, Mexico, 9-11 December 2003. http://www.un.org/webcast/merida/statements/finl031209en.htm (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Matei, A. and Matei, L. (2011) ‘Assessing the Anti-corruption Strategies: Theoretical and Empirical Models’, Journal of Management and Strategy, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.23-40.

McCusker, R. (2006) Review of anti-corruption strategies. Technical and Background Paper No. 23. Australian Institute of Criminology. Australian Government, Canberra. http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/ 8/F/1/%7B8F179E8B-B998-4761-84B3-AD311D7D3EA8%7Dtbp023.pdf (Accessed 21 August 2012)

Millock, K. and Olson, S. (1993) ‘Why Poor Regions Stay Poor’, Journal of Regional Policy. Vol. 13, pp.51-71.

Moore, M. (1995) Creating public value: Strategic management in government. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

OECD (2000) Trust in Government. Ethics Measures in OECD Countries. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.

OECD (2002a) Finland. Review Of Implementation Of The Convention And 1997 Recommendation. Report issued at the 2000 OECD Ministerial on the implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in Finland, 27 June 2000. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/14/20/2386203.pdf (Accessed 16 June 2005)

OECD (2002b) Finland: Phase 2. Report On Application Of The Convention On Combating Bribery Of Foreign Public Officials In International Business Transactions And The 1997 Recommendation On Combatting Bribery In International Business Transactions. OECD, Directorate For Financial, Fiscal And Enterprise Affairs. May 2002. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/52/0/2088239.pdf (Accessed 16 June 2005)

OECD (2005) Principal elements of good governance. OECD, Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. http://www.oecd.org/document/32/0,2340,en_2649_33735_1814560_1_1_1_1,00.html (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Parnini, S.N. (2009) ‘Public Sector Reform and Good Governance: The Impact of Foreign Aid on Bangladesh’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol. 44, pp.553-575.

Quah, J.S.T. (1988) ‘Corruption in Asia with special reference to Singapore: Patterns and consequences’, Asian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.80–98.

Quah, J.S.T. (2007) Combating Corruption Singapore-style: Lessons for Other Asian Countries. Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, Number 2 – 2007 (189). University of Maryland, School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland.

Quah, J.S.T. (2008) Defying Institutional Failure: Learning from the Experiences of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Four Asian Countries. Paper prepared for presentation at the Conference on Empowering Anti-Corruption Agencies, Lisbon, Portugal, May 14-16, 2008. http://ancorage-net.org/content/documents/quah.pdf (Accessed 21 August 2012)

Quah, J.S.T. (2011) ‘Innovation in Public Governance in Singapore: Solving the Housing Shortage and Curbing Corruption’, in A.-V. Anttiroiko, S.J. Bailey and Pekka Valkama (Eds.), Innovative Trends in Public Governance in Asia, IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp.121-136.

Roy, I. (2005) ‘Good governance and the dilemma of development: what lies beneath?’, Socio-Economic Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.83-116.

Santiso, C. (2001) ‘Good Governance and Aid Effectiveness: The World Bank and Conditionality’, The Georgetown Public Policy Review, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.1-22 [online] http://www.eldis.org/fulltext/ conditionality.pdf (Accessed 7 July 2005)

Tan, A.L. (1999) ‘The Experience of Singapore in Combating Corruption’, in R. Stapenhurst and S.J. Kpundeh (Eds.), Curbing Corruption: Toward a Model for Building National Integrity, EDI Development Studies. World Bank, Washington, D.C., pp.59-66.

Tanzi, V. (1998) Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures. IMF Working Paper, WP/98/63. May 1998. International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/ wp9863.pdf (Accessed 16 June 2005)

The Economist (2010) Leaders of the fee world. How much a country's leader is paid compared to GDP per person. The Economist, July 5th 2010. http://www.economist.com/node/16525240 (Accessed 223 August 2012)

Tiihonen, P. (2003) Good governance and corruption. Written for Virtual Finland. Published May 2003. http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25891 (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Transparency International (2004) Corruption Perceptions Index 2004. Document last modified: 10/22/2004. Transparency International, Berlin. http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2004/cpi2004.en.html#cpi2004 (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Transparency International (2005) Global Corruption Report 2005. Special focus: Corruption in construction and post-conflict reconstruction. Transparency International, Berlin. http://www.globalcorruptionreport.org/ (Accessed 16 June 2005)

Transparency International (2009) Global Corruption Barometer 2009. Report prepared by Juanita Riaño, with Robin Hodess and Alastair Evans. Transparency International, Berlin. http://www.acrc.org.ua/ assets/files/zvity_ta_doslidzhennya/global_corruption_barometer_2009_web.pdf (Accessed 21 August 2012)

Ugur, Mehmet and Dasgupta, Nandini (2011) Evidence on the economic growth impacts of corruption in low-income countries and beyond: a systematic review. EPPI-Centre report 1914. London: EPPI-Centre, University of London, London. http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/Outputs/SystematicReviews/Corruption_ impact_2011_Ugur_report.pdf (Accessed 17 August 2012)

UNDP (1997) Corruption and Good Governance. Discussion Paper 3. Management Development and Governance Division, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support. United Nations Development Programme, New York, July 1997. http://magnet.undp.org/Docs/efa/corruption3/corruption3.htm (Accessed 7 July 2005)

UNESCAP (2005) What is good governance? United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok, Thailand. http://www.unescap.org/huset/gg/governance.htm (Accessed 7 July 2005)

World Bank Institute (2005) About Governance. World Bank Institute/The World Bank Group, Washington, D.C. http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/about.html (Accessed 16 April 2005)