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Addressing the International Drivers
of Corruption at the Country Level:
Draft Framework
Dr. Rachel Flanary, theIDLgroup, UK
European Commission Training Seminar: EC Support to Governance
in Partner Countries (Africa focus)
4-8 July 2011
Scope
• Introduction
• International Drivers
• The Approach
• Case Studies
o Sierra Leone
o Cameroon
• Questions?
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What do we mean by ‘International
Drivers’?
Ideas from the floor??
Introduction
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• Corruption is a global phenomenon
• Has roots within the domestic political
economy
• Major international factors interact with
these domestic processes
o
Globalisation, cross border banking, multinational
corporations and trade liberalisation have benefited the
globe in many ways – but have also had negative
effects. The infrastructure that facilitates processes
between businesses worldwide and legitimate
international financial transactions is also vulnerable to
being used for illicit purposes. Laundering proceeds of
corruption abroad, paying bribes or transferring stolen
public funds into accounts that benefit
Introduction
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• International instruments and initiatives
(e.g. EITI, EU’s Forest Law Enforcement
Governance and Trade – FLEGT, Financial
Action Task Force etc.)
• Growing recognition of importance of
international drivers
• OECD DAC - analytical tool to help
understand the processes by which
international drivers affect governance and
corruption in different country contexts
International Drivers
“the global or regional factors that influence the
domestic political economy”
Include:
1. Economic processes at global/regional scale
2. International relations and security trends
3. Other aspects of globalisation e.g. ease of
communication
•
Changes in the global economy affect incentives facing
political and economic elites in poor countries,
But
•
The impact of the global environment on poor countries is
not all negative
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International Drivers
1. Sources of rents and unearned incomes
2. Opportunities and constraints to conceal and
move illicit assets
3. Foreign investment
4. Global and regional security threats and
responses
5. International legal measures and sanctions
against domestic elites
6. Reputational pressures on political elites from
regional and international actors
7. External ideas and skills
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1. International drivers
interact with the
domestic political
economy
International
Drivers
2. The key interactions include the way
that international drivers affect elite
strategies for winning, using and
maintaining power, as well as the
conditions for state-society bargaining.
Domestic
Political Economy
Governance
& Corruption
Outcomes
3. The interaction between the international drivers
and the domestic political economy generates
governance outcomes. This may be assessed in
terms of corruption or a broader shift from exclusive
to inclusive forms of political behaviour.
The Approach – The Four Key Steps
Four-step process which:
1. Examines a country’s domestic political economy
2. Identifies international drivers
3. Tracking effects of international drivers
4. Assessing scope for action
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Sierra Leone: Diamonds and Drugs
• Poverty, unemployment & history of poor governance and
economic mismanagement
• Protracted civil war that ended in 2002- formal state
institutions not robust or deeply rooted
• Political system dominated by narrow group: Freetown based;
range of ethno-linguistic, geographic & religious groups
• At decentralised levels, chiefs form a powerful elite with
considerable control
• Diamonds has historically been an important source
of ‘income’ for political elite- many diamonds traded
through both official and unofficial channels and
international networks
• West Africa, including SL, growing importance as transit route
for cocaine
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Sierra Leone: Diamonds and Drugs
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• SL signed up to EITI with some measure of success. Forced
large volume of illicit diamonds out of underground networks
and into official channels
• UNODC played important role in raising awareness of
growing importance of drug trade in W. Africa
• UNIPSIL supports strengthening of SL Joint Drug Interdiction
Task Force
• BUT, with huge profits from diamonds and drugs, war
weakened government institutions and highly porous borders
coupled with…
• High demand and profit for international players plus high
levels of political complicity that is needed to sustain these
illicit activities, unlikely to change in short- to medium-term
Benefits for the EC
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• Better understanding of how international drivers
effect governance of the countries you are working in
• Better able to identify international instruments to
address domestic governance challenges
• Greater confidence in your understanding of the
interactions;
• Better decision-making on: new interventions
:programming : re-directing projects : better targeting
of anti-corruption resources.
Questions
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