capture
« Previous EntriesPutin President Again: A Wake-Up Call to the World?
Sunday, March 4th, 2012Vladimir Putin is about to be re-elected, yet again, as President of Russia. He already served as President twice, over the 2000-2008 period, to then immediately ease himself into the Kremlin’s Premiership for the past four years, awaiting his next term as President, which is about to begin. His new term is expected to last six [...]
Conviction of Spain’s Superjudge Garzon: An indictment of its own judiciary?
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012The recent conviction (ostensibly for ordering jailhouse witetaps) of Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish judge who took on corrupt officials, despots, terrorists and human rights violators during the Franco regime, casts a dark shadow on Spain’s judiciary and hints at a political witch-hunt. In October 1998, Judge Garzón catapulted to prominence when he broke with [...]
Iran’s Ahmadinejad warmly welcomed in Latin America, or not quite?: Misgovernance in one chart
Saturday, January 14th, 2012Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Latin America has received wide coverage. Much is being written about the fact that the President of Iran, increasingly isolated around the world, can count on a warm welcome in one continent, Latin America, providing him with excellent photo-ops embracing the region’s leaders, thereby stinging the U.S. It is however [...]
Transparency, Conflict Minerals and Natural Resources: Debating Sections 1502 and 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011With a focus on conflict minerals and natural resource transparency, Sections 1504 and 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Financial Reform Act are unrelated to the U.S. banking system. Yet they have stirred up controversy. As is often the case with provisions that aim at changing the rules of the game, Sections 1502 and 1504 [...]
Judge Rakoff Challenge to the S.E.C.: Can Regulatory Capture be Reversed?
Saturday, December 3rd, 2011Last Monday, Federal Judge Jed Rakoff issued a potentially precedent-setting challenge to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) when he rejected the $285 million settlement between the agency and Citigroup. The bank is charged with negligence related to its misleading sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities, which ultimately cost investors nearly $700 million but earned the [...]
Unexpected Earthquake in U.S. East Coast Spurs a Stock Market Rally?
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011A rare earthquake of magnitude 5.8 shook the East Coast of the US earlier today, affecting Washington, D.C., New York, their environs some environs, and Virginia. While an earthquake of this magnitude carries a minimal fraction of the force of the mega-earthquakes experienced by countries like Chile, Japan, Indonesia and Haiti in recent years, it did rattle buildings and nerves. And it raised [...]
Congress’ Dismal Performance Need Not Be the Case: A Governance Perspective
Friday, July 29th, 2011According to a Gallup nationwide poll ten years ago, 55 percent of citizens approved of the way Congress was handling its job. That was in March 2001, before the surge in solidarity that resulted in Congressional approval ratings of 70-80 percent following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. By mid-2002, the approval ratings were back to pre-9/11 [...]
Preventing Nuclear Meltdown: Assessing Regulatory Failure in Japan and the United States
Thursday, March 31st, 2011Many wonder whether Japan’s nuclear disaster could have been averted. The embattled operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has borne the brunt of criticism; its numerous failures over the years are certainly well known. However, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), responsible for regulating the nuclear industry, also [...]
Amid Global Crises, Can Obama Make a Real Impact in Latin America?
Friday, March 18th, 2011President Obama’s tour of Latin America, including visits to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador, is starting this weekend. This visit is unlikely to constitute a historical watershed. It comes at a time when Obama faces three major crises— Libya’s ongoing civil conflict, Japan’s unfolding triple disaster, and the United States’ congressional impasse over the federal [...]
On the Triple Disaster in Japan: Governance and the Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crises
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011In light of the unprecedented triple disaster that has struck Japan, I contributed this Opinion article at Brookings with Veronika Penciakova (here). We discuss the governance failures in Japan that have exacerbated its nuclear crisis. Of particular concern is the extent of regulatory capture and failure in the nuclear industry, and the country’s lack of [...]
Qaddafi’s Corrupt Influence in the West: a case of International State Capture?
Monday, March 7th, 2011We know about the story in many countries of low level bureaucrats demanding a bribe to expedite the processing of a business license, or a driver’s permit, or to pay reduced taxes. For a long time, such administrative corruption has been the focus of research and measurement in the field of corruption. Administrative corruption is [...]
Financial Regulatory Capture Symposium at Fordham Law School
Sunday, February 6th, 2011The global financial crisis that started in Wall Street a few years ago brought to the forefront the notion of ‘capture’ in the financial sector. Policy-makers, experts and academics still disagree whether regulatory capture was a major determinant of the crisis. Nonetheless, the problem of capture has at least become an important part of the [...]
Will now FIFA finally ban North Korea from International Soccer, moving away from double standards?
Saturday, July 31st, 2010It is well known that a month ago Sepp Blatter, the president of the world’s soccer governing body, FIFA, was irritated, vociferous and quick to officially react when French politicians engaged on a debate about the performance of their national football squad at the South Africa World Cup. Imperiously, and consistent with the monopolistic power [...]
Wall Street Financial Reform: Less than meets the eye on Financial Institutions, More than meets the eye on Oil Companies
Friday, July 16th, 2010The 2,500 page long Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform Bill has passed through the United States Senate. The bill will now be signed into law by President Barack Obama. It signals a halt to the deregulatory process that the U.S. financial system has experienced for almost fifteen years. The bill promises to strengthen consumer protection. In principle, [...]
Blowing the Vuvuzela on FIFA: Governance Reforms for Development
Friday, July 9th, 2010Sixty-two games have been played at the 2010 World Cup, which has been marvelously hosted by South Africa. Only two games remain; one tomorrow for third place, and then Sunday’s much awaited World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands. In a couple of days, we will have a brand new world soccer champion. But [...]
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