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Corruption and Development: Some Perspectives

NCJ Number
182842
Author(s)
Chris Heymans; Barbara Lipietz
Date Published
September 1999
Length
64 pages
Annotation
This monograph offers a perspective on corruption and its impact on development, particularly in South Africa.
Abstract
South Africa is fast learning that corruption is one of the major impediments to effective development. The greater openness that democracy has brought since 1994 offers new opportunities to deal with corruption in the context of the country’s new constitutional values. But it also brings into sharper focus the constraints posed by corruption, past and present, on development. For years, the apartheid regime’s authoritarian culture and practices obscured the levels of corruption. Getting rid of that legacy has been one of the major challenges facing the new democratic government. While South Africa’s government has publicly stated its determination to eradicate corruption, it has been struggling to shape a consistent and coherent approach, together with business and society. There is a distinct need for a clear conceptualization of the problem, an understanding of its implications, and directions about how it can be addressed. The monograph considers the problem conceptually, comparatively and through a South African lens. Notes, appendixes