About my Work

Blog & weblink of the week

Blogs I Follow

Datalinks of the Week

Governance Maps

Selected Papers

Some Brief Articles

Some Sites I Like

Public-Private Linkages

Empowering people through Web 3.0 + Gen Y + m-governance

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

As the Fortune Brainstorm Tech near Silicon Valley was getting going last week, I contributed a blog entry on ‘Governance-on-the-Go’, or ‘GonGo’, emphasizing the need to move away from static  ‘e-government’ towards the highly mobile citizen becoming center stage in the next phase of IT interface with governance.  The blog entry and the contributions I made during the BrainstormTech drew some […]

‘Governance Matters’: A new blog on governance at the World Bank

Monday, May 26th, 2008

     With the just launched ‘Governance Matters’ blog, the World Bank has now fully joined the governance blogosphere.  The idea was afoot for many months. There was initial pushback by a few higher ups.  But support from many quarters and persistence prevailed, helped by the growing recognition of the importance of blogging in today’s world.  And this personal blog I have hosted for a […]

Myth #4: From Crisis to Regulating (or Transparenting instead?)

Friday, April 11th, 2008

     Recall the downfall of Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat and others, in the aftermath of the vast corporate corruption scandals a few years back.  Then we witnessed a push for tightening the corporate regulatory framework in the US (through SOX).  It is naïve to argue now that it makes sense to return to the pre-Enron and pre-SOX regulatory framework.  Or to continue […]

Myth # 3: Governance cannot be defined?

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

In debunking the previous myth, I tried to challenge those ‘governoskeptics’ who doubt that governance and rule of law matter much for growth and development.  Yet governoskeptics come in different guises; for instance there are those that do not believe that governance can be measured — I leave that claim for a future blog entry.  Here I address those ‘governoskeptics’ who claim that governance is nearly impossible to define. 
There are […]

Oil, capture and corruption illustrated?: Alaska’s hotel Baranoff, suite 604…

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

Alaska: hardly a tropical developing state.  This vivid illustration of alleged corruption, in the video below, exemplifies the general point in the Governance Myth #1:  there is a way to go in improving governance in industrialized countries as well. 
Rather than pointing a finger at a particular state, firm, or individual, posting a video link excerpted from a program aired by PBS is meant to illustrate […]

Myth #1: Developing world hopelessly corrupt; Industrialized countries in Nirvana?

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Myth #1.  Developing countries, and governments in particular, are all rife with corruption, while corruption is virtually absent in much of the rich industrialized world.   
Actually, the reality is different. The evidence points to an enormous diversity in the extent of corruption within emerging economies, and among industrialized countries as well.  The data suggests that some emerging […]

Myths About Governance

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

In spite of progress in this field over the past decade, particularly in terms of research, measurement, and some lessons from experience, governance and corruption remain controversial and often misunderstood topics.  There are a number of common misconceptions and popular notions which are now coming under challenge as a result of the  analysis of the evidence.   
At the […]

A Word of Welcome

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

The past decade has witnessed a sea change in awareness about governance, including corruption, transparency, democratic voice and participation, violence, and rule of law.  Governance and corruption are not seen any longer merely through a moral prism:  they are  everybody’s business, and they matter for development and global stability.  It pertains to both industrialized and developing countries, to multinational and domestic businesses, to elites and common […]