Stanford University

Corruption

Conference Report: Coalition Against Corruption [Jan. 2014]

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CoCo 2014 was the inaugural edition of the Coalition against Corruption (CoCo) conference co-hosted by The Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Bangalore and Sunlight Foundation, Washington DC. 

CoCo brought together participants from over fifteen countries and across a wide spectrum comprising researchers and academics, elected representatives, government officials, practitioners, civil society organisations, technologists and citizens. 

Over three days, we engaged in conversations on a wide range of issues on the following corruption types: 

  • Corruption in public resource allocation
  • Political financing and lobbying
  • Corruption in public procurement
  • Retail corruption in public services for citizens

CoCo 2014 explored these corruption-types in an innovative format across the themes of rule of law, tools of transparency and accountability and the impact of grassroots pressure groups and digital platforms. 

Besides the four plenaries, CoCo allowed plenty of time for short presentations, for showcasing practitioner successes and for open group discussions. Part of the agenda was also an “Unconference” session for surfacing and discussing critical challenges that went beyond the four corruption-types in focus at CoCo. 

For more information on the conference and its sponsors, please see here. 

Below is the link for the conference report. 

 

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The Digital Defenders of Children

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Abstract

Thorn (www.wearethorn.org) drives technology innovation to fight child sexual exploitation. The talk will provide an overview of how technology has drastically changed the dynamics of crimes against children and will present concepts for how technology can also be used in new, innovative ways to combat these crimes and protect children.
 

Bechtel Conference Room, Encina Hall

Julie Cordua Speaker CEO,Thorn
Helen Stacy Director Commentator Program on Human Rights
Seminars
Program on Human Rights Winter Speaker Series

Open Government Partnership - A new platform for reforms in transparent and accountable governments

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Three years ago, world leaders from 8 countries came together to launch the Open Government Partnership (OGP) - a multi-stakeholder initiative that brings together domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable and responsive to citizens. Since then, the partnership has rapidly grown from 8 to 65 countries. In this talk, Linda Frey speaks about OGP's new approach to multilateralism, and how the uniqueness of its model is helping to spur progress on concrete open government reforms in a diverse group of countries.  Frey will draw on the findings of OGP's Independent Reporting Mechanism to speak to early successes, as well as implementation challenges and areas for further study.  

 

Speaker Bio

Munyema Hasan

Munyema Hasan

Program Officer
Open Government Partnership, Support Unit

Munyema joined the OGP Support Unit in January 2014 as Program Officer. She has spent the past four years working in the field of transparent and accountable governance, with organizations like the World Bank, International Budget Partnership, Stanford University and the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability. Munyema holds a M.Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt and the University of California, Berkeley.

This event is part of the Liberation Technology Seminar Series. 

PLEASE NOTE: NEW ROOM

School of Education 

Room 128

 

Munyema Hasan Open Government Partnership
Seminars
Liberation Technology Seminar Series
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Defending Civil Society

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Abstract

Civil society is under siege in many parts of the world.  Governments have arrested human rights activists, closed humanitarian NGOs, and banned peaceful protests. Simply stated, governments are criminalizing dissent and confining civic space.  Join Doug Rutzen for a discussion of the global backlash against civil society and ongoing efforts to protect the freedoms of association and assembly around the world.

Speaker Bio

douglas rutzen photo Douglas Rutzen

Doug Rutzen is President and CEO of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which has worked on the legal framework for civil society in 100 countries.  Doug also teaches “global revolutions, social change, and NGOs” at Georgetown law school.  On the margins of the 2013 UN General Assembly, Doug joined President Obama on a panel discussing civil society.  Under Doug’s leadership, ICNL received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, the organizational analogue to MacArthur's "genius award" for individuals.  Earlier this year, the Nonprofit Times named Doug as one of the most influential nonprofit leaders in the United States.

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Encina Hall, 616 Serra Street, Stanford, CA 94305

Commentator Director, Program on Human Rights, Commentator
Doug Rutzen President and CEO Speaker International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Washington, DC, Speaker
Seminars
Program on Human Rights Winter Speaker Series

UNDP official speaks on rule of law in China

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News Type
Commentary
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Qing Gu, team leader for the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Poverty, Equity, and Governance unit in Beijing, China, spoke at CDDRL's Program on Human Rights on November 19, commenting on recent developments on rule of law in China. 

Gu is cautiously optimistic about the slow consolidation of the rule of law in China. Many positive programs have been put into place regarding law development in China, and Gu discussed the political implications that are behind these changes. While it is still a long way from being fully implemented, there has been a renewed focus on the rule of law under Xi Jinping’s leadership. Jinping has even equated the “Chinese Dream” with the “Dream of Constitutionalism.”

However, this has not been without controversy. A similar statement published in the South China Weekend in 2013 led to the newspaper’s recall by the government. Gu argues that this demonstrates that the Party is not yet ready to accept the rule of law.

China’s Fourth Plenum, a key governmental meeting that took place in October 2014, laid out what Gu called “a blueprint” for constitutional reform, rule of law and anti-corruption mechanisms for the judicial system and overall Party leadership. Gu’s hope is that this blueprint will be realized in the near future.

The talk concluded with a series of questions from the audience, ranging from philosophical questions regarding rule of law in China, to pragmatic questions concerning the “Western” media’s role in shaping U.S.-China relations and the impact of the rule of law on legal practitioners in China. In response, Gu pointed out that instituting the rule of law in the country requires deep restructuring of the system's foundations. However, she considers Confucianism to offer a compatible construction of the rule of law that will propel China’s moves to end corruption while still holding on to its rich cultural traditions that embody Chinese identity.

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Christian Ollano
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CDDRL scholar examines leadership turnover in Africa

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Citing recent attempts to amend presidential term limits in Burkina Faso, CDDRL pre-doctoral fellow Ken Opalo provides insights on why leadership turnover is essential for democratic growth and political stability in Africa. Published in The Washington Post, Opalo underscores the rising challenge Africa faces as leaders seek out new and creative methods to stay in power. 

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President Paul Kagame of Rwanda at the World Economic Forum in 2009. | Eric Miller, World Economic Forum, Wikimedia Commons
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Why democracy is worth fighting for -- now more than ever

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Larry Diamond
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News
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Is democracy heading toward a depression? CDDRL Director Larry Diamond answers in a recent Foreign Policy piece, assessing the challenges of overcoming a global, decade-long democratic recession. With much of the world losing faith in the model of liberal democracy, Diamond believes the key to setting democracy back on track involves heavy reform in America, serious crackdowns on corruption, and a reassessment of how the West approaches its support for democratic development abroad. 

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'Protect your Republic Protest' in Anıtkabir, Ankara, Turkey. 14 April 2007. | Selahattin Sönmez, Wikimedia Commons
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The Logic of Violence in Drug Wars: Cartel-State Conflict in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia

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Abstract:

Why have militarized interventions to curtail violence by drug cartels had wildly divergent results? In the past six years, state crackdowns drove a nine-fold increase in cartel-state violence in Mexico, versus a two-thirds decrease in Brazil. Prevailing analyses of drug wars as a criminal subtype of insurgency provide little traction, because they elide differences in rebels’ and cartels’ aims. Cartels, I argue, fight states not to conquer territory or political control, but to coerce state actors and influence policy outcomes. The empirically predominant channel is violent corruption— threatening enforcers while negotiating bribes. A formal model reveals that greater state repression raises bribe prices, leading cartels to fight back whenever (a) corruption is sufficiently rampant, and (b) repression is insufficiently conditional on cartels’ use of violence. Variation in conditionality helps explain observed outcomes: switching to conditional repression pushed Brazilian cartels into nonviolent strategies, while Mexico’s war “without distinctions” inadvertently made fighting advantageous.

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Publication Type
Working Papers
Journal Publisher
CDDRL Working Papers
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Diamond assesses democratic crises worldwide

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News
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In a recent seminar at Stanford University, CDDRL Director Larry Diamond addresses the question of whether or not there is an emerging global crisis of democracy. Though brazen corruption, democratic breakdown, democratic paralysis and military authoritarian rule threaten to undermine the integrity of democracy, Diamond argues that hope is not lost and that the human species today has done better with democracy than what history might predict.
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