The Postcard Project:

Future Directions in International and Comparative Administration

The Original Six Postcards

Introduction
Postcards from
... Paris
... Seoul
... Bamako
... New York City
... Rio de Janeiro
... Washington, DC
References

Further Contributions

... Derick Brinkerhoff
... Marc Lindenberg
... Fred Riggs
... Ted Thomas
... Tjip Walker

Contribute a Postcard
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Postcard from Paris

Take this workshop.  Bribery and other forms of corruption are not new problems.  But for a long time they were seen as domestic problems with each country tackling them in the ways they saw fit.  But in this era of ever larger transnational corporations and ever greater commercial trade, a domestic focus on rooting out the bribe-takers is now seen to miss major features of the problem.  Transnational corporations and their home countries are also heavily involved.  Corporations are as likely to offer bribes as a part of doing business as public officials are to take them.  Indeed, permissive tax laws or accounting conventions in a corporation's home country seems to encourage such aggressive behavior.  Moreover, what country is going to crack down on foreign firms guilty of bribery if the likely consequence is corporate flight from that country to a more easy-going locale.  Thus like a host of other issues from global warming to AIDS to immigration, bribery has been argued to be global problem demanding a concerted global response.  This was the motivation for the Convention on Combating Bribery and for this meeting of signatory countries on how to ensure common interpretation and application of its provisions.  All well and good, but the discussion the last few days has left me wondering if we are ready to move beyond superficial diplomacy to meaningful discussion of governance and management issues across countries. 

Or take the matter of information technology.  Undoubtably there is convergence.  Participants here from Niger to Nepal and from Uruguay to the Ukraine have e-mail addresses.  Indeed, at dinner tonight someone suggested setting up an e-mail discussion list so that this group can continue to share ideas after the meetings are done.  Another raised the possibility of an even wider discussion list on international corruption issues that would involve academics, lawyers, business people as well as civil servants.  "Just think," this fellow chortled, "if we have such a list I can send out questions and get back useful suggestions without having to pay high fees to visiting consultants."  A third participant raised the possibility of getting the OECD to establish a web-site that would contain a range of resources on combating corruption.  I found this whole discussion quite amazing.  Less because of the actual proposals and more because of the reach of information technology and its ready---almost uncritical---acceptance as a management solution. 

Then on the way out of the dining room, I overheard snippets of other conversations.  Everywhere evidence of a convergence of public concerns and governance responses.  A customs official from the Czech Republic and a vice-minister of finance from Côte d'Ivoire were discussing the impact of the European Monetary Union and the move to a single currency next year.  At another table, several participants were exchanging war stories about the difficulties of pursuing privatization programs.  But what struck me during the elevator ride to my room---and prompted me to write---was my sense of unease.  We see these global trends out there; we see the convergence it creates.  We can even talk about what's going on, at least superficially.  But we really seem to lack the tools and the language to engage in the kinds of meaningful global dialogue and shared analysis we need if we are to respond effectively to the problems we all face.