Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the impact of corruption and various countries’ efforts to combat it. Prosecutors in Brazil announced last month that they are investigating Peruvian President Ollanta Humala for allegedly taking bribes worth $3 million from the Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht. In an email interview, Alfredo Schulte-Bockholt, an associate professor at St. Mary’s University in Canada and author of “Corruption as Power: Criminal Governance in Peru during the Fujimori Era (1990-2000),” discussed corruption and governance in Peru. WPR: How widespread is corruption in Peru, and what impact does it have on [...]
Transparency International released its 2015 rankings on perceptions of corruption today, revealing that public-sector graft remains pervasive around the world. But the report also cited progress that offers some reasons for optimism. The index’s scores draw on expert analysis of citizen perceptions of government accountability and responsiveness, as well as the presence of bribery or embezzlement in public institutions. The U.S. and U.K. improved their scores, and familiar countries—including New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada, as well as those in Scandinavia—filled the top spots. But many usual suspects from Europe to Latin America scored dismally. Corruption has become an increasingly powerful [...]
Twenty-five years after the fall of communism and almost 10 years after gaining membership in the European Union, Bulgaria is plagued by widespread corruption, misappropriation of public funds and vote-rigging in nearly every election. Many Bulgarians say their country’s democracy is in shambles. The past several years were marked by widespread protests and a banking crisis that forced former Socialist Party Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski to resign in 2014 after little more than a year in office. Bulgaria, the EU’s poorest country, is now on its fifth government since 2013. But despite changes in leadership, voters continue to express their [...]
