How Effective Are Anti-corruption Strategies in Developing Countries?
Although corruption is not a new phenomenon, in recent years, corruption has become a major issue in developing countries; it is also widespread and part of everyday life. Not only that, corruption has become a serious obstacle in the development process of developing countries. Because of corruption good governance can be weakened, public policy can be misrepresented and it can also lead to misallocation of resources and harm the economic development (Bardhan, 1997; Rose-Ackerman, 1999, as cited in Siddiquee, 2009). Furthermore, Otusanya (2012) points out that “corruption has been a critical obstacle for social development in a number of countries because of the devastating effect the deprivation of funds has had on them”. In addition, many believe that most anti-corruption strategies in developing countries are failing and even with the anti-corruption strategies the corruption level remains high. Heeks and Mathisen (2012) believe that “anti-corruption is competitive: if successful it will create losers, and the corrupt tend to fight back” (p. 535). However, there are also a few countries known as successful examples in fighting corruption. This essay will show how effective is the anti-corruption strategies in developing countries by using Malaysia, Ghana, Hong Kong and Singapore as an examples.
Although The Malaysian Government has several strategies to combat corruption, its attempts and strategies have only little success. They has come up with elaborate strategies with the goal of controlling corruption and promoting good governance, using major institutions like the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA), established in 1967 and the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) established in 1971. ACA is also believed to be the most important and powerful anti-corruption institution in Malaysia (Siddiquee, 2009). The ACA’s responsibility is to prevent and eradicate all forms of corruption with three key components, which are education, prevention and enforcement, while PCB is
Although The Malaysian Government has several strategies to combat corruption, its attempts and strategies have only little success. They has come up with elaborate strategies with the goal of controlling corruption and promoting good governance, using major institutions like the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA), established in 1967 and the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) established in 1971. ACA is also believed to be the most important and powerful anti-corruption institution in Malaysia (Siddiquee, 2009). The ACA’s responsibility is to prevent and eradicate all forms of corruption with three key components, which are education, prevention and enforcement, while PCB is