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Controlling fiscal corruption. Theoretical approaches and illustrations from Tanzania
Get PDFThe primary concern of this paper is to discuss the role of various economic factors in explaining corruption in tax administration. The emphasis is on how the incentive structure of the tax system affects the decisions of tax collectors to engage in fraudulent behaviour. It is argued that divergent motivations of the individuals involved and imperfect information lie at the core of understanding these problems. Divergent motivations open up the door to strategic behaviour where agents are pursuing their personal goals, and not the success of the institution. This is a particular problem when information is asymmetric across individuals. Such informational asymmetries may be significant in the tax administration. The paper starts with a set of research questions based on empirical observations from local governments in Tanzania, and examines the fundamental ideas, basic assumptions and limitations of possible theoretical approaches to answering these questions
Social Relations of Poverty: A Case-Study from Owambo, Namibia
Get PDFEvidence from a number of quantitative studies on poverty in Namibia suggests that poverty is widespread, albeit unevenly distributed. The relatively high GDP per capita conceals wide income differentials by geographical location, occupation, age and gender. This study addresses urban poverty and the importance of social relations and networks ('social capita!') in the coping strategies of the poor - a phenomenon which has received little attention in poverty research. On the basis of case studies of four shantytowns in Oshakati and two rural villages with extensive links to urban areas, it is argued that the poorest sections of the urban shantytowns are systematically marginalised and excluded from political, economic and social processes. Horizontal transfers and social capital play a role in spreading risk and reducing vulnerability - though more so for the somewhat better off than for the poorest in a setting where social relations increasingly have to be filled with material content to be sustainable. People apparently trapped in poverty and vulnerability are those for whom the shantytown encapsulates their universe both in socio-economic and cultural terms. While interventions with a view to developing social capital in the form of networks, associations, etc. are helpful, any serious attempt to reduce urban poverty in Namibia requires vertical transfers through an active public policy commitment by the government.
The study has been conducted under the Agreement of Cooperation between the Social Sciences Division of the
University of Namibia (SSD/UNAM), the Namibia Economic
Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) and the Chr. Michelsen
Institute.
Inge Tvedten, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway
Selma Nangulah, Social Sciences Division, University of
Namibi
Bergen Seminar on Development 1999. Making South-North organisational cooperation an effective instrument for institution building
Get PDFThe Bergen Seminar on Development 1999 focused on aid funded institutional partnerships and twinning, and the extent that these are effective mechanisms for promoting organisational change and institution building. Institutional cooperation, also called twinning, has been promoted as an alternative to conventional technical assistance, and implies that similar organisations and institutions in the South and North enter into a medium to long term collaborative arrangement.
At this seminar some 50 participants, including aid officials, practitioners in public institutions and NGOs, researchers and resource persons from the South and the North, gathered to review experience from evaluations and case studies, and to make a set of recommendations for improved policies and practices. It was agreed that the success of institutional cooperation depends fundamentally on the capacity for equal participation and real ownership by both sides. Since twinning is a form of tied aid, alternative mechanisms including regional and global networking must always be considered. Organisational and broader institutional change also depends on an enabling political and legal environment, which may have to be created.
This publication contains the full report from the Seminar. A separate off-print of the summary and conclusions is also available as a CMI Conference Report
Political Corruption: An Introduction to the Issues
Get PDFCorruption is generally defined as the misuse of public authority, and political corruption is here defined as corruption in which the political decision-makers are involved. In addition to a review of the various definitions of corruption a classification of the various forms of corruption (bribery, embezzlement, fraud and extortion), this paper presents two alternative theories on corruption ("extractive" and "redistributive") in order to illustrate the effects of corruption in various regime types.
Furthermore, the paper presents some causes and effects of corruption, in particular in economic and political terms. Finally, there various sources of anti-corruption initiatives and endowment are discussed. Even when the effect of democratisation in curtailing corruption is not too strong according to the possible source of corruption)
Truth in transition. The role of truth commissions in political transition in Chile and El Salvador
Get PDFTruth Commissions are increasingly being used as one mechanism in a broader strategy to consolidate democratic governance following a period of authoritarian rule.
However, there has been little research on the impact of
Commissions, including identifying the aspects of a transition process that they are able to address. Accordingly, this study offers a framework for understanding the role of Truth Commissions in political transition. It argues that Commissions have the potential to support the consolidation of a democratic polity when they contribute towards two essential tasks. First, Commissions must act to dismantle enclaves of authoritarian power that were transplanted from the past into the post-transition polity. The presence of these enclaves undermines the democratic qualities of the new polity and renders the transition process incomplete. Second, Commissions must simultaneously help to create new structures and values on which democratic governance can be built. The interaction between the Commissions and authoritarian enclaves takes place in specific sites of transition in a given society; Strategic Behaviour (the institutional matrix of constraints and opportunities that shape interaction between social actors), Social Epistemes (bodies of knowledge and ways of imagining relations within a political collective) and the Material Environment (economic structures). Enclaves not falling within the mandate of a Commission must be the subject of action from other initiatives.
David Gairdner currently works with the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, an autonomous research institute of the Canadian State, as Manager of the Fund for Public Policy Development in Guatemala. Mr. Gairdner has previously worked in Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, and has contributed to CMI publications on three occasions. He is a graduate of the Masters programme of York University, Department of Political Science
Humanitarian assistance during conflict in a state-less society: The case of Somalia
Get PDFThis working paper was prepared for the workshop on "Aid and Humanitarian Assistance in Africa" in Arusha, 27-29 June, 1998, with financial support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is based on a series of interviews with aid agencies operating in Somalia after the crisis of 1992-1993. It tries to map out how different agencies reacted in a state-less society, which efforts they made to help re-build local administrative and political structures, which local partners they worked with, how they dealt with security issues, and how they assessed the prospects for the future of Somalia.
The report first gives a critical overview over the problems and the different positions held on these issues, before giving a short overview over the respons es of the different agencies.
The central observation of the report is the dilemma faced by agencies which want to give humanitarian aid to the affected people without compromising the efforts of the local population to form new local structures, and without contributing to a continuation of internal warfare. It shows that agencies find different solutions to these problems, and act on different assumptions and hence with different objectives - though towards a common goal
Local government taxation and tax administration in Tanzania
Get PDFLocal taxes represent less than 5 per cent of total tax revenues in Tanzania. However, the large number of these taxes, together with their unsatisfactory nature, means that their economic, political and social impacts are considerably more significant than their figure implies. This report reviews the main characteristics and impacts of the existing local tax system. It discusses how the present tax system emerged, and why it has been maintained for such a long period in spite of all its weaknesses. Furthermore, it considers options for reform. An important component of the ongoing decentralisation reform in Tanzania is to increase the fiscal autonomy of local authorities. This policy is encouraged and partly initiated by the donor community. The above findings suggest that care must be taken in implementing this policy. It is unrealistic to expect that the present administration in many local authorities has adequate capacity and the required integrity to manage increased fiscal autonomy. In fact, there is a real danger that in the absence of substantial restructuring of the current tax system combined with capacity building and improved integrity, increased autonomy will raise mismanagement and corruption
Marine protected areas and managing fished ecosystems
Get PDFThis paper provides a synthesis of the current literature on the potential of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a management tool to limit the ecosystem effects of fishing, including biological and socio-economic perspectives. There is sufficient evidence to show that fishing can indeed negatively impact ecosystems. Modelling and case studies show that the establishment of marine protected areas, especially for overexploited populations, can mitigate ecosystem effects. Although quantitative ecosystem modelling techniques incorporating MPAs are in their infancy, their role in exploring scenarios is considered crucial. Success in implementing MPAs will depend on how well the biological concern, and the socioeconomic needs of the fishing community are reconciled.
Ussif Rashid Sumaila, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen,
Norway /Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, Canada
Sylvie Guenette, Fisheries Centre, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Jackie Alder, School of Natural Sciences, Edith Cowan
University, Joondalup, Australia
David Pollard, NSW Fisheries Research Institute,
Cronulla, Australia/Station Marine d "Endourne,
Marseille, France
Ratana Chuenpagdee, Institute for Resources and
Environment, Vancouver, Canad
Liberalization of Trade in Producer Services - the Impact on Developing Countries
Get PDFThis paper analyzes the impact of liberalization of trade in producer services, focusing on financial services, telecommunications and transport. The likely effects on developing countries is that they will become net importers of the liberalized services, but they will also become more industrialized and increase their exports of labor-intensive goods and services, if given market access under the most appropriate modes of trade. Potential gains from this pattern of trade are large, since imports of efficient producer services will improve productivity in all sectors of the economy and depends on the developing countries' capacity to en sure sufficient competition in the liberalized sectors, and the quality of infrastructure in the country in question.
The paper continues with a discussion of the experience from liberalization in the financial and telecommunication sectors of South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania. South Africa has apparently gained the most from liberalization, as its markets are sufficiently large and reasonably well regulated to attract foreign investors. Namibia has seen very little foreign investment after liberalization, while Tanzania has attracted investors that have established themselves in the most profitable niches of the markets.
James Hodge, DPRU, University of Cape Town
Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, Chr. Michelsen Institut
The institutional impact of aid dependence on recipients in Africa
Get PDFHeavy aid dependence can have significant effects on institutions and governance. In Botswana, Mauritius, Korea and Taiwan, high levels of aid reinforced local capacity, enabling them to 'graduate' from most aid. But in many countries, the costs of aid dependence have been high. Aid dependence can overload institutions and weaken capacity and ownership, create revenue instability and fragment budgets, lower tax effort, and undermine accountability and democratic decision-making. These pernicious effects of aid dependence suggest that countries differ strongly in their institutional absorptive capacity, and that economic cooperation needs to be designed quite differently for countries with 'good' institutions and those without.
Revised version of a pa per prepared for the Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and the Overseas Development Council (ODC)'s Collaborative Research Project on Managing the Transition frorn Aid Dependency in Sub-Saharan Africa. The usual disclaimers apply. A very stimulating environrnent and support for Deborah Brautigarn's work on the second draft of this paper was provided by the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway. The wonderful librarians at CMI tracked down the most elusive references, and deserve special thanks. Thanks are also due for comments received frorn participants at the AERC/ODC conference in Nairobi, May 21-22, 1998, where an earlier draft of this paper was presented, and for those received at a seminar at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, where a later version was presented, October 1, 1998. Art Goldsmith, Nicolas van de Walle, Carol Lancaster and Samuel Wangwe gave rnuch appreciated written comments on an earlier draft