Corruption

Citation:

Branisa, Boris, and Maria Ziegler. 2011. “Reexamining the Link Between Gender and Corruption: The Role of Social Institutions.” No. 15, Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Berlin, June 24-25, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.

Authors: Boris Branisa, Maria Ziegler

Abstract:

In this paper we reexamine the link between gender inequality and corruption. We review the literature on the relationship between representation of women in economic and political life, democracy and corruption, and bring in a new previously omitted variable that captures the level of discrimination against women in a society: social institutions related to gender inequality. Using a sample of developing countries we regress corruption on the representation of women, democracy and other control variables. Then we add the subindex civil liberties from the OECD Development Centre's GID Data-Base as the measure of social institutions related to gender inequality. The results show that corruption is higher in countries where social institutions deprive women of their freedom to participate in social life, even accounting for democracy and representation of women in political and economic life as well as for other variables. Our findings suggest that, in a context where social values disadvantage women, neither political reforms towards democracy nor increasing the representation of women in political and economic positions might be enough to reduce corruption.

Keywords: social institutions, gender inequality, corruption, OECD Development Centre's GID Data-Base

Topics: Corruption, Gender, Women, Governance

Year: 2011

Citation:

Echazu, Luciana. 2010. “Corruption and the Balance of Gender Power.” Review of Law & Economics 6 (1): 59-74.

Author: Luciana Echazu

Abstract:

This paper seeks to explain the negative relationship between female participation in a government and corruption found in empirical research. We propose that even if there are no innate gender differences towards moral values, the costs of corrupt behavior may still differ across genders and are related to the proportion of female participation in government agencies. Hence, females behave more honestly than males do, not because they are naturally prone to it, but because they cannot afford to be corrupt if they are a minority. In that sense, the total density of corruption is non-monotonic in the proportion of female participation.

Topics: Corruption, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Governance

Year: 2010

Citation:

Blaydes, Lisa, and Safinaz El Tarouty. 2009. “Women’s Electoral Participation in Egypt: The Implications of Gender for Voter Recruitment and Mobilization.” Middle East Journal 63 (3): 364-80.

Authors: Lisa Blaydes, Safinaz El Tarouty

Abstract:

To what extent do gender considerations impact voter recruitment strategies in Middle Eastern elections? Based on an examination of voting behavior in Egypt, we find that clientelist voter recruitment tends to empower women economically rather than politically as elections provide an opportunity for disadvantaged women to sell their vote to local vote brokers or offer their vote to a local patron in exchange for a future payoff. In contrast, women who vote for Islamist candidates may be able to increase the influence of their political support by creating common knowledge about the popularity of their candidate and by reducing the effectiveness of government repression.

Topics: Corruption, Gender, Women, Governance, Elections, Political Participation, Religion Regions: Africa, MENA, North Africa, Middle East Countries: Egypt

Year: 2009

Citation:

Chung, Chin-Sung. 1994. “Wartime State Violence against Women of Weak Nations: Military Sexual Slavery Enforced by Japan during World War II.” Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin 5 (2/3): 15–27.

Author: Chin-Sung Chung

Topics: Armed Conflict, Corruption, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Sexual Violence, Rape, Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 1994

Citation:

Vandenberg, Martina. 2002. Bosnia and Herzegovina: Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution. 14 (9). New York: Human Rights Watch.

Author: Martina Vandenberg

Abstract:

Traffickers who have forced thousands of women and girls into prostitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not being apprehended for their crimes. Local corruption and the complicity of international officials in Bosnia have allowed a trafficking network to flourish, in which women are tricked, threatened, physically assaulted and sold as chattel, the report said. The 75-page report, "Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution," documents how local Bosnian police officers facilitate the trafficking by creating false documents; visiting brothels to partake of free sexual services; and sometimes engaging in trafficking directly. Human Rights Watch also obtained documents from the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) that revealed cases of International Police Task Force (IPTF) officers visiting nightclubs as clients of trafficked women and girls, arranging to have trafficked women delivered to their residences, and in one case, tampering with witnesses to conceal an IPTF officer's complicity. 

Keywords: political corruption, local government, United Nations, sex trafficking, prostitution, corruption, International Police Task Force

Topics: Corruption, Displacement & Migration, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, International Organizations, Justice, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2002

Citation:

Tverdova, Yuliya V. 2011. "Human Trafficking in Russia and Other Post-Soviet States." Human Rights Review 12 (3): 329-44.

Author: Yuliya V. Tverdova

Abstract:

Since the collapse of the Soviet regime, post-communist states have rapidly learned the modern face of slavery. Slavic women have been trafficked to the sex markets of Western Europe, Asia, and North America. The surge in human trafficking is the result of numerous factors, including the dramatic fall of the economic system and complete deterioration of the social safety net. This paper explores the causes and conditions of the growth of the trade in persons in the region, the profile and typical behavior of the victims, and the public perception of the trafficking problem. It identifies the inefficiencies behind the national and international responses to trafficking and the complications for policymaking associated with the stigma attached to sex workers.

Keywords: human trafficking, russia, sex work, slavic women

Topics: Corruption, Economies, Gender, Sexual Violence, Sexual Slavery, Sexuality, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe, Western Europe Countries: Russian Federation

Year: 2011

Citation:

Klopcic, Alja. 2004. "Trafficking in Human Beings in Transition and Post-Conflict Countries." Human Security Perspectives 1 (1): 7-12.

Author: Alja Klopcic

Abstract:

Transition and post-conflict societies with their negative side-products (e.g. organised crime, trafficking in human beings and corruption), which stem from the recent political and economic changes in the South Eastern European region are of particular concern to the international community - due to their cross-border effects. In the following essay, the author concentrates on trafficking in human beings as a regional and global problem and as a serious threat to the human security of women and children living in the poor areas of South Eastern Europe. 

Keywords: political corruption, migration, post-conflict reconstruction, human trafficking, organized crime

Annotation:

This essay examines how recent political and economic changes in the transition and post-conflict societies of the southeastern European region have led to massive migration and the emergence of organized crime, trafficking in human beings, and corruption. It traces trends and routes in human trafficking in the region after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the early 1990s, as refugees and economic migrants sought to enter Western Europe from economically weak countries in the East or from conflict-affected regions (the former Yugoslav republics).

The author posits that armed conflict (along with other post-cold war political changes) has weakened the individual nation-states, contributed to refugee flows and migration, and “difficult socioeconomic conditions that increased illegal activities,” including trafficking. (Annotation from Nelson, Sue. 2004. "Literature Review and Analysis Related to Human Trafficking in Post-Conflict Situations." USAID Report.)

Topics: Corruption, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Post-Conflict, Security, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe

Year: 2004

Citation:

Goetz, Anne-Marie. 2002. "No Shortcuts to Power: Constraints on Women's Political Effectiveness in Uganda." Journal of Modern African Studies 40 (4): 549-575.

Author: Anne-Marie Goetz

Abstract:

Numbers of women in public representative office have increased dramatically in Uganda since the introduction of the National Resistance Movement's 'no party' system, because affirmative action measures have been taken to reserve seats for them in Parliament and local government. This article offers an assessment of the impact of these measureson women's political effectiveness, examining how far women in Parliament have been able to advance gender equity concerns in key new legislation. The article suggests that the political value of specially created new seats has been eroded by their exploitation as currency for the NRM's patronage system, undermining women's effectiveness as representatives of women's interests once in office. This is because the gate-keepers of access to reserved political space are not the women's movement, or even women voters, but Movement elites. The women's movement in Uganda, though a beneficiary of the NRM's patronage, has become increasingly critical of the deepening authoritarianism of the NRM, pointing out that the lack of internal democracy in the Movement accounts for its failure to follow constitutional commitments to gender equity through to changes in key new pieces of legislation affecting women's rights.

Keywords: affirmative action, political corruption, quotas, political representation, democracy

Topics: Corruption, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Quotas, Political Participation Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2002