Digital identities and
#digitalidcards
are supposed to empower the poor, reduce corruption and open up market opportunities. Why do
#authoritarian
regimes love them? New
@ACE_soas
paper with Pallavi Roy explains why and policy implications
Anti-Corruption in developing countries is unlikely to work unless some groups with the power and capability to do things differently can see it is in their interest to do so. The first podcast in our
@ACE_soas
series explains why and the implications
For anyone with the time to see a problem from several angles. A 'brief' 3-hour discussion of the thinking and philosophy behind the anti-corruption work of
@ACE_soas
!! But cleverly tagged so you can dip into different parts 🙂 Thanks
@robertwiblin
@FCDOREDGCSD
@RoyPallavi2
My chapter (13) in Nayyar's new (free-access) book engages with Myrdal on culture and norms. My take: power and incentives were more important than social norms in transforming Asia, lessons that still matter for institutions and anti-corruption
@ACE_soas
Fraud in skills training programmes in countries like Bangladesh slows down job creation and productivity growth. Our new
@ACE_soas
paper identifies a feasible anti-corruption strategy that can significantly raise productivity in developing countries
Enjoyed talking to
@danbanik
about
@ace_soas
anti-corruption. Political settlement analysis sheds light on the puzzle of the differential effects of access money in China/East Asia compared to elsewhere
@JonathanSaid1
@yuenyuenang
, and gives us feasible AC policies
@FCDOREDGCSD
The political settlement (the power and capabilities of different actors) determines the net effect of rent-seeking processes including corruption. Corruption always has a cost but it can be associated with outcomes ranging from developmental ones to civil war
@JonathanSaid1
Agreed! Some types of corruption can even be developmental but it also depends on the dominant political settlement. Corruption around education grants was developmental in the unified South Korean dictatorship but detrimental in the fragmented Pakistani regime (
@mushtaqkhan100
)
Latest TI report
@anticorruption
shows slow or no progress in the worst affected countries. We argue
@ACE_soas
that we need a radical rethink of approaches to make anti-corruption feasible in these difficult contexts. See
@UNDPNigeria
@DFID_RED_GCSD
My debate with Tim Kelsall on the essential elements of a political settlement may help to clarify many interesting questions. And open up new avenues of research!
New
@ACE_soas
paper shows how withdrawal of policies mitigating risk drove collusion and corruption in power sector in Bangladesh costing > $1 billion in subsidies . Very unaffordable after
#COVID__19
shock but there are feasible solutions
@DFID_RED_GCSD
Local communities reduce corruption in climate change projects in Bangladesh when groups with the ability to control corroption also have the incentive to do so. An application of the
@ACE_soas
approach with significant policy implications
@FCDOREDGCSD
"Working with the grain" may imply working with the powerful who are often the problem. Working "against" may be a non-starter
@PeterEvans_Guv
. Our
@ACE_soas
"strategic realism" aims to identify opportunities that have enough support to have a chance:
@PeterEvans_Guv
@SAISHopkins
@mushtaqkhan100
@nomhossain
The thread was catalyzed by the nice new piece by Akhtar Mahmood. Also because I'm increasingly wrestling with the limitations of unambiguously optimistic 'with the grain' narratives. "Working Against the Grain" as a sequel, perhaps 😎
Great news! New governor of Bangladesh Bank and Finance Minister promise to use international laws and institutions to trace stolen money and make life miserable for the looters. Feasible strategy in the new Bangladesh. We must all help
@ACE_soas
Climate change investments suffer from massive corruption (~35% of funds). Our
@ACE_soas
paper on Bangladesh shows C is lower in projects with significant dual-use benefits like roads (on river embankments) or community centres (in cyclone shelters) 1/2
New
@ACE_soas
brief on effective Collective Action draws on our DSA2020 workshop. Strategic Realism (our Collective Action strategy for feasible anti-corruption) is contrasted with Olson's Calculus and Hirshchman's Possibilism as a better way forward
@ACE_soas
research shows that our Power-Capabilities-Interests framework can identify feasible and high impact anti-corruption strategies: See our new paper
@FCDOREDGCSD
@FCDOResearch
@RoyPallavi2
. We also have a short summary ;)
Great piece by
@AkhtarM1956
: Bangladesh's weak state still made important contributions to its development by being incremental and adaptive and being willing to (slowly!) correct mistakes. Speeding this up is the next great challenge
#Corruption
is constraining
#COVID19
responses and quick effective responses are required to save lives. In our FP2P blog
@ACE_soas
we argue a feasible response is to build in 'redundancy', mobilize multiple actors and scale up what works:
@DFID_RED_GCSD
As some of the poorest countries go into covid lockdowns, what are the effects on the poor? Relevant issues of 'flattening curves', health capacity and governance quality raised by
@hamarquette
in
@DFID_RED_GCSD
@ACE_soas
Can lowering financing costs for public procurements pay for itself? Yes many times over! If it reduces risks sufficiently to attract new investors and break down collusion. Our
@ACE_soas
paper on the BD power sector is now published
@FCDOREDGCSD
Really convincing arguments. The historical inheritance of organizational capabilities in different sectors and regions and how they developed further in response to opportunities and policies is the key to understanding the development of the economy. A must-read book!
A tendency to read the past using the lens of colonial dominance impairs the study of India’s economic history. It underplays other factors that mattered to economic change, geography, culture, or the precolonial. Here is an example from business history.
@ACE_soas
@FSS_UNN
researched “Miracle Exam Centres” that help students get desired results via corrupt practices. Solutions? Horizontal pressures by student clubs & actors like
#Nigerian
Youth Service Corps in contexts where incentive and power to change are present
#education
It's also useful to think of a political settlement as a distribution of power at different levels of society. This helps to design policy that can be implemented to achieve social goals
@JinSakaiiiii
@mushtaqkhan100
@ACE_soas
A political settlement is a tacit agreement among powerful groups about the rules of the political and economic game, that keeps the peace by providing opportunities for those groups to secure a distribution of benefits (such as resources, rights, and status)they find acceptable.
Great map and a timely call for a dialogue! We
@ACE_soas
think that 'indirect' and 'localised' approaches to anti-corruption are the way forward. Combined with enforcement and international support. But 'state modernisation' or 'big bangs' don't seem to work.
@FCDOREDGCSD
@Integrilicious
@results4dev
@HarvardAsh
Great to see different research methodologies joining up. Our anti-corruption work
@ACE_soas
supported by
@DFID_RED_GCSD
begins with the assumption that anti-corruption is feasible and has impact only when the interests of some powerful actors can be aligned with the outcome
Congratulations to YPF on your 5th birthday. It is a sad day for me as the great Zafrullah Chowdhury has left us in mourning. But the ray of light is that the next generation is ready to pick up the baton to keep making big differences to Bangladesh
Thanks
@PeterEvans_Guv
@charlesjkenny
@BarnabyJDye
we need to bring together
@ACE_soas
power sector work in Bangladesh and Nigeria with the interesting work on Rwanda and elsewhere to look for general findings behind country differences and feasible policy options in each country
Interesting piece on the over capacity and over supply of electricity in Rwanda -
? can I feel a bigger conversation about the politics of power investment coming on, following recent pieces by
@charlesjkenny
and
@mushtaqkhan100
see below
National companies are not always better than global MNCs like Twitter if they are easier to control. Authoritarian governments should not be allowed to exploit progressive critiques of MNCs like Twitter
@JibrinIbrahim17
@CDDWestAfrica
@FCDOREDGCSD
#TwitterBan
Some think India's domestic Twitter, Koo, which toes the government line, is a model for Nigeria. Koo wants to enter Nigeria but the Nigerian government wants its own Koo. The irony? Industrial Policy is now about restricting freedom of expression.
Progress with international anti-corruption efforts has stalled lately ⛔️
In their latest study,
@MartinRonceray
& Katja Sergejeff offer recommendations on how to inject new dynamism to these efforts🤝
The key? Pulling together many different threads🪢
👉
Looking forward to our DSA roundtable session on Thursday at 9am: how best to think about possibilities of collective action for reform in a constrained reality drawing on our experiences of working on
#anticorruption
in
@ACE_soas
@DFID_RED_GCSD
Thanks
@CIPE_ACGC
for compiling this excellent list of
#anti
-corruption podcasts and for featuring the work of ACE prominently
@ACE_soas
@FCDOREDGCSD
We are in great company here!
One consequence of the pandemic is that I am in my little library reading hardcover books! Not really any compensation but I had almost forgotten how nice it is to hold books made of paper and board and sometime bound in leather.
The Anti-Corruption Evidence Research programme team photo! Good variety of working from home backgrounds, slightly envious of
@mushtaqkhan100
beauty and the beast-esque library staircase.
Thanks
@AbirHasanYPF
@ypfbd
Really impressive questions and engagement from YPF forum members. After the great discussion on informality, the next one should be on feasible and effective anti-corruption
@ACE_soas
!
@ACE_soas
research on how to effectively fight corruption in climate change projects highlighted. And why it is important to talk about addressing corruption in climate change projects to sustain public support for massive investments
@FCDOResearch
Yet more evidence that checking by peers with whom you have to live and work is always more effective than 'vertical' checking by third parties in the informal contexts of developing countries
@FCDOREDGCSD
@ACE_soas
It is amazing that in this
@ACE_soas
study of ours, external supervisors who should ordinarily elicit good behaviours from health workers were somewhat disregarded! Rather, supervisors from within communities were eliciting better behaviours! Curious??
Great new
@ace_soas
research on artisanal refining in Nigeria shows how corruption ‘buys in’ the poor and makes enforcement fail. Creating alternative opportunities and incentives + mitigating harsh effects is both pro-poor and effective
@RoyPallavi2
@SDNNigerDelta
@FCDOREDGCSD
👇
Was an honor to join and learn from
@EES_Eval
#EES2022
. My keynote on "The Power and Peril of the Evaluator's Gaze" here if of any interest; thoughts/reactions very welcome!
On International Anti-Corruption Day the OECD is sharing interesting ideas from Knowledge Partners:
@ACE_soas
is honoured to be part of that and our contribution (with Pallavi Roy) can be viewed on
@FCDOREDGCSD
Thanks
@AntonielliM
and
@CelestinMonga
! The
@80000Hours
podcast page has a section called Key Points which is the equivalent of a powerpoint summary but not quite! That's followed by the full transcript of the podcast. Hope that helps Marco.
Listened to this wonderful podcast w
@mushtaqkhan100
while building furniture over the weekend. So much we could draw from this in dev policy. But hard to take notes and build furniture at the same time. Does a ppt summary exist?
@80000Hours
@robertwiblin
@traffyaston
@ACE_soas
Deliberately so! Revolutions occasionally happen but the really radical changes often happen incrementally. A lot of anti-corruption efforts have failed in developing countries because the radical solutions were actually unimplementable.
The rapid extension of digital surveillance is hugely concerning in countries where the rule of law is weak. The pandemic makes it easy for governments to move ahead with limited oversight. We need to assess what has happened once the crisis is over.
@ACE_soas
we believe anti-corruption only works in developing countries if we can identify a solution *and* who will enforce this in their own interest. The climate change findings
@Global_Policy
show once again there are many such opportunities
@FCDOREDGCSD
Immediate dual-use benefits draw in individuals with voice/authority in monitoring activities and effectively checks corruption by others. Policy implication: Maximize feasible dual use benefits in climate projects to improve development AND governance outcomes
@FCDOREDGCSD
2/2
@PeterEvans_Guv
Truth telling about power, interests and feasible reform priorities is now a virtue in Bangladesh.
@ACE_soas
research even more relevant and we can be more ambitious because many powerful extractive organisations have been hit hard.
@mushtaqkhan100
@nomhossain
A phenomenal challenge/ opportunity, is this the moment to say out loud the dominant & controlling elite interests* in each major sector...? You mention a few here; others are clear in
@ACE_soas
research. I hope truth telling been sufficiently de-risked.
*both legal & illegal.
Anti-corruption has hope and can pay large dividends if it becomes embedded in policy design to help deliver results exactly in the way suggested by
@ACE_soas
and others!
রাজনৈতিক সংস্কার ও বাস্তবতা | ২৪ ঘণ্টা | 24 Ghonta | 18 August 2024 | Ja... via
@YouTube
For anyone who understands Bangla I was privileged to discuss reform priorities with one of the six central student leaders, Hasib al Islam of Dhaka University.
Least Developed Countries are on the front line of the fight against the climate emergency.
I reiterate my call to urgently allocate 50% of total climate finance to adaptation and resilience, which are crucial and must not be the forgotten components of
#ClimateAction
.
I read
@Brianlevy387
's disquiet with WWTG as saying we shouldn't always support the powerful to achieve development because it may not be sustainable. Figuring out how to exploit rifts within the powerful for sustaining development is more challenging but not impossible
@ACE_soas
@traffyaston
@mushtaqkhan100
@PeterEvans_Guv
@ACE_soas
Agree. I have read with the grain as linked to feasibility informed by politics.Often go gradual due to grasp of limited relative power, longer time horizon, complexity, etc
Also, against the grain lit can also be told in anambiguous normative narratives, often is
@Brianlevy387
Why anti-corruption strategies from the top generally fail in developing countries? Hear what
@ACE_soas
researchers
@mushtaqkhan100
and Pallavi Roy have to say.
Thanks FCDO!
@ACE_soas
is indeed looking for an outstanding programme manager for our great team. Well done Sonia for getting such a wonderful new job and it's a validation of the great work you have been doing and helping us to do!
This is a great role. We'll miss 'SS', the current PM who gets the best out of
@mushtaqkhan100
& a dazzling research team - so if you want to help drive world leading anti corruption research and impact - step up!
《A.C.E》!!
First they came for the
#Rohingyas
... then they came for... then they came for... and then they came for me.
Creating viable checks and balances on the army is clearly in the interests of all people in (and from) Myanmar and something we must all support.
We condemn the detention and charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected officials. They must be released immediately and have charges removed. There must be no backsliding from democracy. The UK is consulting with international partners on next steps
The artisanal refinery in the Niger Delta can be a black box. This film shows it isn't-production is organized, technology is upgraded, there is even learning-by-doing. But it's illegal and polluting. Research by
@ACE_soas
and
@SDNNigerDelta
identifies possible solutions
#Nigeria
@PeterEvans_Guv
@A4EA_Research
@SOAS
@fp2p
@nomhossain
Fuel subsidies drive corruption in Nigeria and mainly benefit middle class. But >90m Nigerians live on less than 1$/day and any increases in transportation costs + food prices if/when fuel prices rise will make extreme poverty worse. GoN must have effective offsetting measures
"If we try to achieve policy change without engaging with power, we are putting our faith in powerful people, + all the blind spots that stem from their privilege, to solve the problems of underprivilege." Wise words from
@chrischoongww
cc
@mushtaqkhan100
@MugiziG
Powerful actors are not 'elites', we don't use that term. They are simply actors who can potentially take on other actors who are corrupt in a particular actiivity. If an AC strategy cannot explain who is able and interested to actually implement it, its a non-starter:
@ACE_soas
Exactly
@apkessler
:
@ACE_soas
says effective anti-C requires a) support of the locally powerful but ALSO that b) they want to follow these rules to support development in their own interest. That's why we are not always impressed by powerful PMs using AC to lock up the opposition
Great podcast from
@robertwiblin
@80000Hours
@mushtaqkhan100
on institutional economics. Argues clearly and convincingly that anti-corruption initiatives will fail unless they align with the self-interests of some locally powerful groups.
@N_Kabeer
Great points and yet another validation of Deaton and Cartwright's critique that randomisation is a very poor way of adjusting for differences in all relevant characteristics between treatment and control groups.
@rambletastic
I'm serious! I would love to explore research ideas with you on how transparency and accountability systems may actually be useful in improving bureaucratic outcomes. I can see the connections between what you are saying and we are working on in ACE but it's a new research field
@isiAfrica
@DFID_RED_GCSD
Why is anyone pushing Digital IDs to protect rights and access to services? Because of violations due to corruption or power. That is exactly what we
@ACE_soas
are saying: Sometimes digital IDs do help BUT they can also worsen asymmetries of power. The evidence is in our paper
Thanks
@asad_sayeed
! Given the huge effort
@ImranKhanPTI
is putting into anti-corruption in Pakistan, mostly in transparency, accountability and enforcement, that we agree are not sufficient, can we get GoP to try out some
@ACE_soas
approaches outlined in ?
This is the most exhaustive narration on why top down anti-corruption fails in developing countries. Horizontal checks by those with equal power is how corruption has been checked historically. Repeating what has not worked in the past, will not miraculously work in the future.
@RoyPallavi2
absolutely right. Seen from BD this was a mass uprising led by students against a coalition of murderous kleptocrats and crony capitalists. Those who are selling other narratives were beneficiaries of this authoritarianism, but no one here is listening
The unseating of Sheikh Hasina was not the result of this conspiracy, or that machination. That is why it is so difficult for so many in the mainstream Indian media to understand the movement was student-led, from campuses, organic, completely sovereign.1/3
#BangladeshProtests
@A_L_Pickering
@RollingAlpha
@rglenner
@TimHarford
We can't get rid of all corruption at early stages of development because the powerful don't support a rule of law. But some corruption can block development and some of these can be feasibly addressed. This is our anti-corruption approach
@ACE_soas
. See
@LucyH_FCDO
our
@ACE_soas
work on Nigeria shows how informal networks matter and how to use/get around them. See work on artisanal refining, power for SMEs, and watch our website for upcoming papers on health absenteeism and exam malpractices
@RoyPallavi2
@Leventov
's exciting piece looks at the commonalities between my political settlements framework and emerging biological and cognitive theories. I was fascinated and hope others will be too. It's a great read & points to new areas of thinking and research
Connecting
@mushtaqkhan100
's institutional economics and political settlement framework with
@drmichaellevin
's and Chris Fields' regulative development and scale-free morphogenesis and cognitive science theories.
Small risk mitigation subsidies had a huge impact on prices (>62%) by increasing competition in bids. When these were withdrawn, unconnected private investors withdrew, allowing collusive pricing and corruption to shoot up. The feasible
#anticorruption
strategy is obvious!!
@edking_I
@RHarrabin
@SimonMaxwell001
@FCDOREDGCSD
Coal became too expensive for BD even with gov financing from CN, JP and IN because price-setting was collusive.
@ACE_soas
paper shows risk mitigation is financially feasible, promotes competition and enables greener power
@philvernon2
@traffyaston
@DFID_RED_GCSD
Political settlements have sometimes been defined and used in ways that are not very useful. Defined as the distribution of power it is an effective tool for analysing the enforceability of institutions that we successfully use to identify feasible anti-corruption in
@ACE_soas
@michaelsonnensc
The 80,000 podcast has a list of publications at the end, but you can also visit the SOAS-ACE website for a lot of material on anti-corruption including our theoretical approach and most of my publications are available on Thanks!