Societal Accountability and Grand Corruption: How Institutions Shape Citizens’ Efforts to Shape Institutions

In October 2020, President Donald Trump sought to convert many US federal civil servants to at‐will employees by executive order. Trump's initiative, referred to as Schedule F, has stimulated a partisan debate about dismantling the merit system in the US federal government. A substantial international body of evidence has developed during the last three decades about the effects of administrative practices associated with meritocracy and the likely consequences of changes to civil service systems, such as those embedded in Schedule F. This article employs guidelines established under the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) to conduct a systematic review of the evidence to address the question: What does the evidence tell us about merit principles and government performance? This systematic review summarizes what empirical research tells us about effects of civil service practices, such as meritocratic appointments, meritocratic advancement, and tenure protection, for government performance and the quality of government. The findings indicate that factors such as meritocratic appointments/recruitment, tenure protection, impartiality, and professionalism are strongly associated with higher government performance and lower corruption. We conclude by discussing implications of our findings for public policy and management and for future research.

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“… Note : Studies with * (Cornell & Grimes, 2015; Larsson & Grimes, 2022; Svallfors, 2013) treat meritocracy variables as moderating variables. …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neutral competence was significantly related to outcomes in two of three studies involving dependent variables of Note: Studies with * (Cornell & Grimes, 2015;Larsson & Grimes, 2022;Svallfors, 2013) treat meritocracy variables as moderating variables.…”

Section: Quality Of Governmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

What does the evidence tell us about merit principles and government performance?

Oliveira

Abner

Lee

et al. 2023

Public Administration

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“…Over the past decades, scholars have produced an extensive body of literature aimed at comprehending the origins of corruption, identifying strategies to reduce it, and facing its adverse effects (for example, Rothstein, 2021;Rose-Ackerman & Palifka, 2016;Torsello, 2016;Mungiu-Pippidi, 2015;della Porta & Vannucci, 2012). Numerous studies have focused on institutional approaches to combating corruption, but scholars have also recognised the crucial role that civil society actors and social movement organisations play in supporting anti-corruption efforts (for example, Larsson & Grimes, 2022;Rose-Ackerman & Palifka, 2016;Mungiu-Pippidi, 2015;Hough, 2013;Johnston, 2014;Johnston, 2005). Going more in-depth in this direction, some scholars have examined and explained the discourses, forms of protest, and grassroots initiatives against corruption at the national level (for example, Walton, 2017;Beyerle, 2014;Torsello, 2012).…”

Section: The Case For the Concept Of Anti-corruption Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital media and technologies in grassroots struggles against corruption

Mattoni

2024

Digital Media and Grassroots Anti-Corruption

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Corruption is a global social problem that manifests itself in a variety of ways across the world and there are several attempts to counter it, also from the grassroots. Activists, civil society organisations, and concerned citizens engage with anti-corruption in different manners. There have been many examples in which digital media, and especially social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, played a relevant role in the emergence and spreading of protests in the past decade, including the massive anti-corruption movement that developed in 2011 in India (Chowdhury & Abid, 2019), the wave of massive protests that hit Brazil in 2013 tackling, amongst other issues, also the corruption of the political elites (Saad-Filho, 2013), the youth-led anti-corruption protests that occurred in Guatemala in 2015 (Flores, 2019), or the anti-corruption protests that developed in Romania between 2016(Olteanu & Beyerle, 2018. The widespread employment of social media platforms in Indonesia contributed to creating spaces where citizens discuss information about corruption (Prabowo et al., 2018). Furthermore, the use of social media platforms might support the creation of online communities that coalesce around a shared sense of injustice and then, eventually gather in offline mobilisations. This happened in the mobilisations that occurred in Egypt in 2011, in which the Facebook page 'We are all Khaled Said' proved crucial in gathering the discontent of thousands of users against police brutality and, also, the then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's corruption; a sense of disenchantment that went on to flow into the street demonstrations that swept across the country (Alaimo, 2015). While all these cases address the relevant role of social media platforms in anti-corruption efforts, this volume and the chapters in it move their gaze beyond this type of digital media to understand what else is going on in the world of anti-corruption from the grassroots, telling other, often untold, stories.

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“…accountable to the communities they serve, and this mechanism can play a critical role in fighting corruption and increasing overall public management performance (Larsson & Grimes, 2022;Brinkerhoff & Wetterberg, 2016;Nyqvist et al, 2017) 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How social accountability fosters public integrity: the role of public policy councils in curbing corruption

Vieira

2023

Rev. Sociol. Polit.

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Introduction: This article assesses the impact of social accountability, implemented through municipal public policy councils in the fields of health, education, and social assistance, on corruption. Materials and methods: The study adopts a quasi-experimental research design within a robust causal inference framework. A set of estimation techniques, such as regression, propensity score matching, and instrumental variables, is employed to establish a counterfactual for analyzing a random sample of 1,223 municipalities independently audited between 2006 and 2015 as part of the Municipal Oversight Program of the Brazilian Office of the Comptroller General. Findings: Statistically significant effects of social accountability, carried out through public policy councils, on corruption in Brazilian municipalities are observed. When these councils are operational and active, and effectively exercising their legally mandated roles, a statistically significant reduction in the occurrence of corruption cases is evident. Discussion: Findings align with the international literature, emphasizing the positive impact of social accountability in the fight against corruption. The proposed theoretical model elucidates how operational public policy councils, through monitoring, regulation, consultation, and decision-making on local programs, play a key role in promoting social accountability while overcoming the ‘social fence dilemma,' bolstering the necessary collective action for public integrity. However, corruption is a complex problem that demands a multifaceted approach, and further research is required to delve into strategies for optimizing the performance of public policy councils. The study contributes to a more evidence-based design of democratic anticorruption policies.

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Societal Accountability and Grand Corruption: How Institutions Shape Citizens’ Efforts to Shape Institutions

Cited by 8 publications

References 77 publications

What does the evidence tell us about merit principles and government performance?

What does the evidence tell us about merit principles and government performance?

Digital media and technologies in grassroots struggles against corruption

How social accountability fosters public integrity: the role of public policy councils in curbing corruption

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