Why multi-stakeholder groups succeed and fail

Anti-corruption initiatives increasingly use multi-stakeholder groups, comprised of representatives from government, private sector, and civil society organizations, to drive implementation at the local level and serve as a force for transparency. In theory, the multi-stakeholder groups ideal is quite appealing -- each stakeholder has its own interest in the initiative and contributes its unique capacities. In practice, many multi-stakeholder groups have fallen short of expectations. This paper considers two separate but related questions. First, what are the unique barriers to implementation facing multi-stakeholder groups? Second, what policy measures can be taken to improve the likelihood that multi-stakeholder groups will succeed? The authors use existing research in political science and economics to develop a multi-level framework that accounts for the"nested nature"of multi-stakeholder groups. The framework is then applied to experiences of MSGs from the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative, a new pilot program that aims to promote transparency in construction through the release of material project information. The evidence shows that the barriers facing multi-stakeholder groups are substantial, but once the level (individual incentives, organizational dynamics, country context, or international pressures) of the challenge confronting a multi-stakeholder group is identified, the specific barrier, its root causes, and appropriate solutions can be identified. More broadly, the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative experiences suggest that multi-stakeholder groups are best used as a means of promoting dialogue and building consensus, not as the locus of policy implementation and oversight.Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Social Accountability,Emerging Markets,Corporate Law,Corruption&Anticorruption Law

Corruption, Attitudes, and Education: Survey Evidence from Nepal

Summary Social norms can reduce the costs of corrupt behavior and push a society toward a high-corruption equilibrium, but what determines individual attitudes toward corruption? How does acceptance vary across different types of corrupt behavior? An original survey of Kathmandu residents shows substantial variation in attitudes toward different types of corrupt behavior. Overall, respondents generally agreed that large-scale bribery was unacceptable, but there was relative discord over behaviors involving petty corruption, gift giving, and favoritism. Education consistently emerged as the primary determinant of these attitudes, with more educated respondents showing less accepting attitudes across the range of corrupt behaviors. These findings suggest that improving access to education in developing countries may reduce the presence of corruption norms and ultimately corruption itself, although further research is needed to test the strength of these relationships outside of Nepal.Corruption Social norms Education Corruption acceptance survey Nepal Asia

Donald Trump and the Lie

The legitimacy of democratically elected governments rests in part on widespread acceptance of the outcome of elections, especially among those who lost. This "losers' consent'' allows the winners to govern and, when the incumbent is the losing party, it allows for a peaceful transition of power. What happens in a democratic system when one side not only refuses to concede, but actively perpetuates lies about the outcome? This paper studies the consequences of a Donald Trump's "big lie" using a daily tracking survey, yielding 40-days of polls and over 20,000 responses from American voters. We find that the lie is pervasive and sticky-- the number of Republicans and independents believing that the election was fraudulent is substantial, and this proportion did not change appreciably over time or shift after important political developments. In reaction to the lie, and the threat it brought to the transition of power, there was a significant rise in support for political violence among Democrats, support that only waned after the insurrection of January 6th. We also find there are likely significant, long term consequences to the lie. Republican voters will reward politicians that perpetuate it in the next electoral cycle

Supplemental Material, JCR-17-0299.R1 - Focal Points, Dissident Calendars, and Preemptive Repression

<p>Supplemental Material, JCR-17-0299.R1 for Focal Points, Dissident Calendars, and Preemptive Repression by Rory Truex in Journal of Conflict Resolution</p

Replication Data for: Implicit Attitudes Toward an Authoritarian Regime

Replication files for Implicit Attitudes for an Authoritarian Regim

Oiling the Legislature: An Appraisal of the Committee System in Nigeria’s National Assembly

he legislature occupies the epicenter of modern democratic system for two major reasons, namely it houses the largest number of elected representatives and secondly, it is the engine room of modern governance as it performs the traditional four-fold tasks of representation, lawmaking, oversight function and constituency services. The demands of modern governance entail that legislative assemblies must sift through several competing expectations and act in the overall public interest. In order to actualize these expectations, legislative assemblies have evolved the committee system to fast-track their operations. Nigeria’s National Assembly has been performing its core mandates through the instrumentality of committees. This chapter appraises the committee system in the National Assembly and finds that in addition to its relevance in reducing workload and improving overall efficiency, membership appointments into committees have been used by successive leaderships as prebends to consolidate their tenures. The chapter recognizes that while committees have been embroiled in several corruption scandals which undermine their moral authority to instil integrity in governance, it concludes that the committees have contributed immensely to the development of critical competencies that have aided the overall legislative success of the National Assembly