Abuses in Public Administration and Their Perception

This article examines patterns of popular trust in political and public institutions in Nepal. We ask to what extent such trust is linked, on one hand, to citizens’ social and political identities, and on the other hand, to citizens’ perceptions of institutional performance. Our findings demonstrate that trust in public institutions varies extensively. Trust is high for a number of professional institutions, such as schools and hospitals. It is also quite high for local government institutions. Trust in the parliament and the government is much lower. Furthermore, the analysis reveals a weak relationship between institutional trust and identity variables. Demographic and social characteristics of participants, such as caste, and religious and political affiliations, have little significance in explaining the level of citizens’ trust in political and public institutions. Such trust primarily depends upon how citizens assess the performance of these institutions. Hence, patterns of institutional trust depend on how participants evaluate the current macro-political situation in Nepal, whether recent political changes are judged to have gone in the right direction. In a more general and comparative perspective our findings from Nepal fit with a performance-based theory of institutional trust, while, to a large extent, they disconfirm identity-based explanations.

Public institutions are essential for executing government policies. Citizens’ trust in public institutions is a crucial factor to consider when assessing the state of democracy. Working processes, trends, organisational principles, neutrality, approaches and impartiality are also used to assess an institution’s trustworthiness. Failing to satisfy any of these indicators can create distrust. Good governance is essential for every country to move forward and attain its development goals. For most countries in South Asia, governance is not in a good condition, with government institutions struggling to perform satisfactorily. In this situation, distrust may be fostered among citizens with limited conviction in democracy and diminish the reliability of public institutions. By taking these issues into account, this article uses secondary literature to evaluate the level of trust in the public institutions of South Asian States with a distinct emphasis on good governance.

This report offers insights into the state of trust in Slovenian public institutions. It analyses data from the 2023 OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, comparing Slovenia's results with 29 other OECD countries. The study reveals both challenges and opportunities for reinforcing public trust in Slovenia, highlighting areas of strength in day-to-day interactions between people and public institutions whilst identifying concerns regarding decision-making processes on complex policy issues.Slovenia, like many nations, is grappling with the aftermath of natural disasters and global crises and is seeking to strengthen its democratic foundations. This report provides actionable insights for improving public governance, reinforcing democratic values, and building a more trusting relationship between citizens and public institutions.This comprehensive analysis offers a roadmap for policymakers, government officials, and civic leaders in Slovenia to enhance trust and, ultimately, strengthen the country's democratic processes and public governance.

The aim of the article is to explore strategies that can be used to build and maintain trust in public institutions in times of crisis. It is well documented that trust in public institutions facilitates citizens’ compliance with restrictive measures, and therefore it is an important resource in times of crisis. In particular, we highlight the importance of crisis communication strategies in a changing and uncertain environment, maintaining transparency and credibility of public institutions, demonstrating empathy, competence and openness, educating stakeholders and the public, and collaborating with relevant stakeholders. In the final part of the paper, we reflect on how strategies to build trust in non-crisis situations are different from the strategies adopted during crisis situations. The analysis is based on the systematic analysis of journal articles published on the topic of trust in public institutions since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Digitalization represents one of the most effective tools for strengthening institutional integrity and com-bating corruption in public administration. This paper aims to examine the role of technology in pre-venting criminal offenses committed by state employees and individuals entrusted with a public service, with a focus on the Albanian context. Through the digitalization of procedures, increased traceability of administrative actions, and the automation of services, powerful mechanisms are created to reduce the space for abuse and corruption. The study analyzes the impact of platforms such as e-Albania, electronic procurement systems, and digital registers on increasing transparency and accountability. It also address-es challenges related to the lack of technical capacities, institutional culture, and the need to harmonize the legal framework with technological developments. In conclusion, it is emphasized that digitalization is not merely a technological tool, but a necessity for building trustworthy and fair institutions that can resist corruptive influences and protect the public interest.

SUMMARYGiven the poor track record of traditional anti‐corruption initiatives, donors and governments are increasingly looking at how civil society can fight corruption in public administration. Social accountability mechanisms intend to perform this role by holding officials directly accountable through citizen engagement. However, this article argues that social accountability mechanisms are only capable of reducing corruption systemically if they activate horizontal accountability and sustain it through the sanctioning mechanisms of electoral accountability. A comparative case study analysis using the cases of the Ugandan Public Expenditure Tracking Survey and the Bangalore Citizen Report Card is applied to test this hypothesis. The Tanzanian Public Expenditure Tracking Survey and an example of citizen engagement in Mumbai are employed as shadow cases to provide additional evidence for the hypothesis. The results indicate that social accountability mechanisms must be inclusive, broad, with public effect and embedded in other accountability relationships to fight corruption effectively. Electoral accountability is key, and support to social accountability mechanisms should therefore always be well placed within a broader agenda aimed at strengthening democratic governance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The topic of fighting against corruption is relevant, because corruption is an extremely dangerous phenomenon for society. The Economic Security Strategy of the Russian Federation consistently proves that corruption is one of the threats to the state, since it is inextricably linked with such threats as an increase in the share of the shadow economy, increased differentiation of the population by income level, insufficient investment, low economic growth, inefficient public administration and a decrease in the quality of education and medicine. The issue of corruption in public administration was particularly acute, since corrupt affects power structures and it inevitably leads to the destabilization of the entire State system. The analysis of the level of corruption in the Russian Federation carried out in this article led to the conclusion that existing anti-corruption law enforcement practices are ineffective in our country, and the corruption of State authorities is particularly dangerous. The purpose of the research is to develop measures for anti-corruption activities in Russian state institutions based on an assessment of the level of corruption in state authorities and management. The practical significance lies in the formulation of a number of recommendations for improving anti-corruption measures implemented in the Russian Federation.

Corruption manifests itself at all levels of society, from multinational corporations to small companies; in both developing countries and well-established democracies. An extensive amount of resea...

Corruption is a social problem that seriously affects the functioning of society and in some cases, it is even perceived as an acceptable social behavior. The acceptance or rejection of corruption depends both on the own judgment and on the observed behavior in the environment; so that corruption can be spread or eradicated through social interaction. In this work, we study the convergence dynamics of society towards honesty in view of the implementation of two mechanisms: the modification of the individual perception of corruption; and the complaint of corruption. Since corruption is a complex socioeconomic phenomenon, we study it from the perspective of Agent-Based Modeling. The framework of our analysis is corruption in public administration, which is the one that has the most incidence in Mexico. We found that the mechanism that most favors the eradication of corruption is the complaint. Results also suggest that societies can converge towards honesty even when initial corruption is high, but not majority. Unfortunately, the low credibility in the system discourages reporting, so effective implementation and monitoring of reporting, together with fostering social awareness that corruption affects us all, should be promoted.

Comprehending its mechanisms is key to preventing corruption and redressing damage caused by loss of public confidence in wrongdoing institutions. This chapter extends the concept of institutional corruption (IC), defined as deviation from organizational purpose with or without involving direct personal gain, to theorization of wrongdoing in public institutions. Such theorization overcomes the dichotomy between individual and structural factors, and highlights whistleblowers’ role in restoring organizations to their core institutional mission. It shows how organizations tasked with protecting the public interest may lose credibility if they engage in activities that are not illegal yet that jeopardize their core purpose. Using an illustrative example from the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, it demonstrates how whistleblowers’ disclosures are key to counteracting this by bringing organizations back on track, and concludes by arguing for whistleblower protection and reforms that enable them to speak up openly and without fear of retaliation by their employers.

Staff rotation as an anti-corruption policy: an experimental study

On 7 May 2009 the Eastern Partnership program was launched in Prague, intended to strengthen cooperation between the EU and six former Soviet Republics, including Armenia. It was planned as a combination of the following flagship initiatives: Integrated Border Management Programme, Support for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Regional Energy Markets and Renewable Energy Sources, Environmental Governance and Natural Disaster Management. Within the frame of the first initiative, Armenia implemented projects concerning the election process, cooperation between Armenian judicial bodies and EU courts, promotion of the European model of justice and human rights, prevention of corruption in public administration, introduction of e-administration, support of women's entrepreneurship, support of migration management services and got acquainted with best practices in customs control and tax execution. The second initiative was implemented by organization of trainings for SMEs and active promotion of foreign investments in Armenia. Within the third initiative, the Armenian government laid the basis for energy passports for buildings, revised electricity and natural gas tariffs, and prepared a plan for better use of energy sources and energy generation from renewable sources. As part of the environmental governance initiative, Armenia intensified environmental protection activities. Within the fifth initiative, it developed the Electronic Regional Atlas of areas at risk of natural disasters. In terms of system transformation, in 2009–2013, Armenia was rated by a team of international experts as next to last. It received a poor rating with regard to management and approximation of regulations to EU requirements. Nevertheless, the European Parliament extended funds to Armenia for further transformations in 2014–2020.

Although low tax morale hits developing countries hardest, little is known about its determinants in those countries. This paper examines the impact of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale in four African countries. First, the paper provides theoretical foundations of such a relationship. Further, the paper uses the World Value Survey to estimate the effects of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale. The identification strategy employs the instrumental variables method and relies on historical data on the slave trade and the literature on the cultural heritage of trust. The paper finds that trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood are associated with tax morale in Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. The findings are robust to an alternative identification strategy, additional controls, and a falsification test.

Whether migrants assimilate to the welfare attitudes of native Danes is intimately linked to trust in state institutions. Trust in public institutions and those in charge of them is pivotal for public support for building and maintaining a welfare state. This is one of the most basic theoretical arguments derived from rational choice inspired political scientists. Corruption and arbitrariness in public administration makes the public question whether taxes are collected and spent/redistributed in a procedurally just and efficient way. Thus, institutional trust is believed to be a necessary condition for supporting a welfare state. The results show that that migrants in Denmark display very high trust in the Danish state. This holds true for all the 14 most-different migrant groups. This finding is consistent with previous research which have found migrants in other contexts to display an “over-confidence” in destination-country institutions.

Crime has tangible economic costs. It also has less understood and likely sizable intangible costs. In particular, widespread crime has the potential to weaken trust between citizens and institutions, undermine government reform efforts, and become an obstacle to development. Yet, the impact of crime on trust remains relatively unexplored in the literature. This paper analyzes the potential interrelationship between individual victimization and several measures of trust, including trust in formal public institutions and trust in informal private networks. It is based on a representative sample of individuals in 19 countries in Latin America. The empirical strategy is intended to mitigate overt biases and assess sensitivity to hidden biases. The results show that victimization has a substantial negative effect on trust in the local police but no robust effect on informal institutions. Governments may henceforth need to redouble efforts to reduce victimization and the resulting erosion of trust in public institutions.