Rule of Law
« Previous Entries Next Entries »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 [...]
Apology Letter to Maradona, or to the Soccer World?: Don’t cry for me Argentina
Sunday, July 4th, 2010The Letter, entitled ‘An Apology to Maradona, a Rolicking Genius’, was published just before yesterday’s World Cup game between Argentina and Germany. Excerpted, it reads:…
Scrap FIFA World Soccer Ranking: Geography and Governance predict World Cup results
Friday, June 25th, 2010In its own World Soccer Federation portal, FIFA.com, boasts: ‘since 1993, the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking has become a regular part of international sports and an important indicator to find where teams stand in world’s football’s pecking order’…
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met unless governance improves
Friday, May 14th, 2010In 2000, the international community agreed on eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among others, countries pledged to halve extreme poverty, achieve universal education, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce child and maternal mortality rates by 2015. Ahead of the UN’s upcoming September 2010 Summit on the MDGs, countries and aid donors have begun [...]
Does Grease Money Speed Up the Wheels of Commerce?
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010Does bribery reduce bureaucratic red tape to an enterprise? That is a question that Shang-Jin Wei and I investigated in a research paper over a decade ago. The Economist writes about it in their current issue in an article called (following Moises Naim’s coining) ‘The Corruption Eruption’ , here, also citing the work of Wharton’s [...]
Wall Street Reform and Beyond
Friday, April 16th, 2010For years I have been arguing that regulatory and state capture is a major challenge in many countries, including in the US. I wrote papers, presented analysis and evidence, even argued the case to top executives at the World Economic Forum long ago. Yet I had limited success, other than getting some articles published in [...]
Breaking the Cycle of Crime and Corruption (while questioning existence of the cycle)
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010The World Policy Journal asked for the views of a few of us on “How Can Nations Break the Cycle of Crime and Corruption?” I answered, in a just-published short piece, though I disagreed with the main premise behind such question: Crime and Corruption need not be inextricably linked, or party to a vicious cycle…
Transparent Aid for Haiti’s Reconstruction: Capture Matters
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010On Wednesday, March 31, international donors are convening at the United Nations to discuss Haiti’s long-term reconstruction plans and to make assistance pledges. The publicly disseminated Action Plan for Reconstruction and National Development of Haiti, produced by the government of Haiti with inputs from the U.N., European Commission, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and civil [...]
Earthquake aftershock of magnitude 7.2: Not a dent to the democratic transfer of power in Chile
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Not a minor tremor by any means, even if not the February 27th 8.8 mega-earthquake twelve days ago: 7.2* in the Richter scale is the magnitude of another earthquake aftershock that took place a few minutes ago in Chile, followed by a number of strong aftershocks to this March 11th aftershock. A tsunami alert has been issued, preventively…
Desastres Naturales y Deberes Nacionales: El Terremoto de Chile en una Perspectiva Internacional
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Un enfoque amplio de gobernabilidad comparativa conlleva a nuestra conclusión de que Chile ha respondido relativamente bien al mega-terremoto, a pesar de errores serios en la etapa inicial. Identificamos logros, errores, y desafíos en la reacción frente al terremoto, los cuales constituyen una oportunidad de reforma para el país. Traducción del artículo “Natural Disasters, National Diligence: The Chilean Earthquake in Perspective”, por [...]
Natural Disasters, National Diligence: The Chilean Earthquake in Perspective
Saturday, March 6th, 2010The Chilean earthquake that hit during the early morning hours of February 27 has brought searing images of devastation; and international news coverage has shown scenes of looting and arson incidents occurring in its immediate aftermath. In Chile, criticism of the government’s response is widespread. Many are wondering whether numerous deaths and severe destruction could [...]
National Disasters Today Provide Governance Lessons
Monday, March 1st, 2010Let us consider three countries: Country 1: Its approach to industrialization has relied heavily on a very large public sector that accounts for well over 40 percent of GDP, and on aid financing from richer countries. The country has no fiscal discipline, running a deficit exceeding 13 percent of GDP. Rather, leaders have focused more [...]
Guns, uninterrupted: beyond Alabama killings, onto Virginia and National Parks
Friday, February 19th, 2010Predictably, the Alabama faculty killings by Amy Bishop have generated views from all sides, including to my previous post (here, and in Facebook as well). I posted that entry as news about the shootings were emerging. Subsequently I contributed a commentary piece at Brookings (here). In that commentary I mention that it could be argued that the system did not fail, but that Amy [...]
Harvard Educated Professor Kills Faculty Colleagues: Second Amendment of the Constitution traveled from Massachusetts to Alabama
Saturday, February 13th, 2010I defer to the news outlets to continue to cover yesterday afternoon killings of three faculty member at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, allegedly perpetrated by a Amy Bishop, a Harvard doctorate in neurobiology. She is accused of opening fire during the biology department faculty meeting she was a member of, which discussed a [...]
State Capture by “Main Street”?: The Toyota Saga Accelerates
Thursday, February 11th, 2010A few days ago I argued that one ought not point a finger at Toyota alone for the ‘sudden unintended acceleration’ (SUA) woes in their vehicles, and suggested that the problem also reflects the failure of the US Government regulatory agency (NHTSA) to do its job. At that time I provided incipient evidence that there [...]
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