Regulatory Quality Improvements for Preventing Corruption in Public Administration: a Capacity Building Perspective

This paper highlights one element that appears to be a major cause of corruption: inadequate public regulation. Based on a simple model of the interplay between the costs of acting in accordance with government regulations for individuals or their organizations, on one side, and the capacities of those individuals or organizations to comply with the regulations, on the other side, a series of relevant aspects are identified for the design and implementation of public strategies to prevent corruption, regarding both petty corruption and grand or political corruption. This approach seems useful in a twofold sense. First, it calls attention to the quality of public regulation and the processes of public administration by which regulations are introduced and applied, underlining the importance to encompass these issues within public strategies aimed at the prevention of corruption. This is relevant because these issues are not explicitly recognized within the catalogue of preventive measures reflected in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and rather remain within the category of generic measures that could be utilized by countries for preventive purposes, to the extent that these issues are fully convergent and in accordance with the UNCAC. By raising awareness about the pertinence of these fundamental issues, the paper contributes to further substantiate the UNCAC with additional effective means to prevent corruption, from the perspectives of public regulation and public administration. And, second, the approach also leads directly to recognize a variety of concrete elements to be articulated within full-fledged capacity building strategies for the prevention of corruption. This is of practical utility for many different stakeholders engaged in countering corruption within the scope of the UNCAC, such as national governments, international development partners and aid donors, international organizations and civil society organizations. The paper suggests a list of topics relevant for capacity building in connection with the enhancement of regulation as a means to prevent corruption, which can serve as a point of departure for subsequent international cooperation projects for technical assistance, training and institution building, which could be pursued by those stakeholders in diverse countries or regions. In this regard, while highlighting the importance of adequate public regulation within prevention efforts, the paper also stresses the close interrelation between prevention and other approaches foreseen in the UNCAC to counter corruption: law enforcement and international cooperation. Last, but not least, the paper conveys plenty of information regarding the UNCAC and suggests a series of themes for further academic and empirical research. A variety of indicators of corruption are presented in relation with the themes addressed in the paper, taking Latin American countries for illustration purposes. 1 This paper was prepared to serve as background reading material to stimulate discussion among participants in the Expert Group Meeting on Countering Corruption in the Public Sector, held on 25-28 June 2012 in New York, as part of the Public Service Forum 2012 organized by the Public Administration Capacity Branch (PACB), of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM), of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The author is Inter-Regional Advisor in PACB/DPADM/UNDESA; however, the contents of this paper reflect his own views and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the United Nations, its specialized agencies or their member countries. Comments or inquiries on this paper can be sent to [email protected].