Paying Bribes for Public Services A Global Guide to Grass-Roots Corruption

by Rose, Richard; Peiffer, Caryn

• ISBN13: 9781137509666
• ISBN10: 113750966X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-02-18
• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot

Summary

Why do 1.6 billion people annually pay bribes to use basic public services, while more than 5 billion people do not? Why does bribery differ between education, health care, the police and courts? Is the idea that bribery is wrong common to cultures on every continent or a luxury value of prosperous Western countries?

This cutting edge Palgrave Pivot answers these questions by drawing on sample surveys of the experience of grass-roots public services world wide. Based on Barometer surveys of more than 250,000 people in 119 countries in Africa, Asia, the European Union, post-Communist Europe, and Latin America, it identifies significant differences in the payment of bribes between countries on every continent and between services and between individuals within each country.

The book also offers six practical principles to reduce the scale of bribery that can be applied to public services ranging from education to policing.

Author Biography

Richard Rose has pioneered the comparative study of public policy in four dozen books and hundreds of articles. Research has been presented in 45 countries and 17 languages. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and a World Bank, OECD, UNDP and Transparency International consultant.

Caryn Peiffer took a doctorate in political science at Claremont Graduate University with field research in Botswana, Zambia and India. She was a research fellow of the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde Glasgow before joining the Developmental Leadership Program at the University of Birmingham.

Table of Contents

List Of Tables And Figures
Preface
1. Why Bribery Matters
Corruption: A Word With Many Uses
Behaviour At The Grass Roots
Questions And Answers
2. Getting Things Done By The Book, By Hook Or By Crook
Bureaucracy As A Book Of Rules
Bureaucracy Not The Only Way Of Getting Things Done
Is Bribery Wrong?
3. Contact Is Critical
Public Services Differ
Contact Varies By Service
4. The Extent Of Bribery
Payment Of A Bribe
Bribes Vary By Service
When Bribery Happens
How Much Is Paid As A Bribe
Credibility Checks
5. Perception Is Not Experience
Mass Perceptions Of Corruption
Potential For Protest
6. Differences Across Time, Space And Individuals
No Trend Over Time
Differences Between Countries
Explaining Differences In Who Pays Bribes
7. Choices In Surveys
Core Topics And Questions
Choices In Fieldwork
8. Reducing Bribes For Public Services
Six Principles For Reducing Bribery
Political Implications