Many Poor Countries Progressing Against Corruption
"[This is] hopeful news," said Daniel Kaufmann, the report's co-author and director of global governance at the World Bank Institute, adding that gains in good governance were made in a number of countries straddling all six continents. They include countries as varied as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Liberia, Niger, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Tajikistan, and Tanzania. Reflecting on the report's findings, Kaufmann added: "The good news is that some countries, including the poorest ones in Africa, are showing to the world that it is possible to make substantial inroads to improve governance." Though pleased with the positive results, Kaufmann and his fellow researchers were also quick to note that good governance has yet to be seen in a number of countries, adding that in the past decade there were "significant" declines in governance in countries such as Cote d'Ivore, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. On average, they said, the quality of governance around the world has not improved significantly over the past decade. For each country, the studied measured "voice and accountability, political stability and absence of major violence and terror, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption." The report covered 212 countries and territories from 1996 to 2006 and captured the views of tens of thousands of survey respondents worldwide, as well as thousands of experts from the business, non-profit, and government sectors. The full data can be found on the World Governance Indicators (WGI) Web site, maintained by the World Bank. The researchers spent 10 years building what they believe to be "the most comprehensive cross-country set of governance indicators currently available to the public." In their report, also called "Worldwide Governance Indicators," the authors explained that the research indicators they used in the new study do not necessarily produce a precise international ranking of countries. The research did, however, show the importance of good governance for promoting literacy, equality, and child health, and ensuring the effectiveness of international aid, they said. Furthermore, good governance helps combat poverty and is "within reach," they added, as "it is just a fraction of the difference between the worst and best performers." The researchers reserved specific praise for many less developed African countries. Over the period from 1998 to 2006, Kenya, Niger, and Sierra Leone have shown marked improvements in "voice and accountability," the researchers noted, while Algeria and Liberia have strengthened their "rule of law." Countries like Algeria, Angola, Libya, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone have made improvements in "political stability" and Tanzania has recorded gains on "control of corruption." The report, according to its authors, does not necessarily reflect official views of the World Bank, and are not used to allocate Bank resources across countries. Kaufmann and co-authors Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi, emphasizing the importance they give to transparency in their work, note that complete access to the individual indicators underlying their conclusions is provided on the newly redesigned WGI Web site. The World Governance Indicators have provoked debate and discussions about their strengths and limitations for monitoring country governance, and for informing specific strategies on how countries should reform. The aggregate WGI data, according to the authors, are just the starting point for identifying the governance strengths, vulnerabilities, and broad trends, and for thinking about governance in specific country contexts. Kaufmann said it's not only developing countries that face governance challenges, adding that WGI data shows that a number of emerging economies rate better in governance and control of corruption than some rich industrialized economies. He also said the research points to continuing bribery by many multinational corporations headquartered in wealthier countries but operating in less developed ones. About $1 trillion in bribes are believed to change hands each year, Kaufmann said, noting that the negative consequences are felt disproportionately by "the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty." "We have explicitly recognized that we need to 'practice what we preach'," Kaufmann added, "striving to attain exemplary governance standards within our own institutions, promoting internal governance reforms and change." ....................................................................................
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