Eradicating corruption in countries where it is the way of life can’t be achieved by following a rule book. “Liberalization and deregulation helped destroy corruption, and the destruction of corruption, in turn, helped liberalization and deregulation,” was how he described the process. The IMF’s “mitigating strategies” for corruption also centre on transparency, enhancing the rule of law, building institutions and trying patiently to change social norms in corrupt societies. The economist Hernando De Soto regarded excessive bureaucracy as the root cause of corruption in the developing world. In post-Soviet states, some of the world’s most corrupt, the bureaucracy is mostly inherited from a time when cheating the state was a national pastime.

Source: Mint May 15, 2016 13:15 UTC