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Activitites: Working Group on Public Sector Transparency
 

Activitites in 2008


Coordinators:
Emilia Sičáková-Beblavá, Institute of Public Policy, Comenius University, Transparency International Slovakia, Bratislava, Slovakia
Katarína Staroňová, Institute of Public Policy, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Discussant: Ronald Maclean Abaroa, World Bank 

 

Place: The16th NISPAcee Annual Conference, Bratislava, Slovakia

Date: May 15-17,  2008

The  coordinators of the WG on Public Sector Transparency  invited contributions for its meeting at the NISPAcee conference 2008 on the theme:
"Anti-corruption measures in policy making"


Call for papers 2008

 


This working group focused on the use of policy instruments (legal, information, economic and administrative) with anti-corruption strategies in a transformation economy. The main aim was to analyse the factors that lead to successful implementation of anti-corruption measures: from their inceptions, struggle over time, to their maintenance and sustainability in practice. The ultimate aim of the research papers was to map anti-corruption measures from the perspective of policy instruments that have been introduced in transition countries during the years 1995-2006. The focus was on all types of public administrating institutions, ranging from central institutions (ministries and specialised agencies) to self–governments at regional and local levels, judiciary etc.


The working group session began with a discussion on the classification of anti-corruption tools from the perspective of policy instruments stressing legal, information, economic and administrative tools. As for the information tools, eight papers were presented and discussed. They focused on the implementation of access to information acts in Slovakia and Poland, lobbying, transparency of political party financing, participation of central and local in the decision-making process, the use of web sites by local governments as well as the use of annual reports to increase the transparency of the central government level. Within the framework of economic anti-corruption tools, the anti-corruption effects of the 2004 active labour market policy reform in Slovakia was discussed.

 

The approach to corruption by the utilisation of economic tools was also discussed in concrete practice in Columbia and Romania. Both presentations stressed the importance of leadership and anti-corruption education of local leaders who have the power to implement and enforce anti-corruption tools. Also two anti-corruption administrative tools were presented – the institute of special courts and court management.


The working group concluded with a discussion on anti-corruption tools.

Last, but not least, is the issue of sustainability. We found that the level of controversy is not a good guide to sustainability of the reforms. Surprisingly, the ideologically charged changes have high levels of sustainability even when they were initially controversial and the steps that have proven to be less sustainable are those where specific interest groups remain opposed and where the reform has not managed to create a powerful constituency in favour of the new status quo.



 


This Working group was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency.



(c) NISPAcee, Generated: March 29, 2024 / 06:43