Corrupt Cities: A Practical Guide to Cure and Prevention

176 pages. The movement toward decentralization, accountability, and democratic forms of government at the local level is gathering momentum and the enormous costs of c orruption are being explicitly recognized. Corruption is an entrenched symptom o f misgovernance often reflected in patronage, red tape, ineffective revenue-gene rating agencies, large-scale bribery in procurement, and failure to deliver serv ices to city dwellers. But when local officials are accountable to their citizen s, decisionmaking can become participatory. In turn, a participatory process can be the cornerstone of a strategy to reform 'sick' institutions and improve the welfare of city dwellers. n n'Corrupt Cities' is an important contribution to th is emerging field, addressing the historical, traditional, and cultural contexts that create perverse incentives for corruption to exist. At the same time, this book provides practical solutions and a set of incentives charting a path away from misgovernance toward effective local governance. n nThe authors present cas e studies of both success and failure to underscore that addressing corruption i s only an entry point to deeper public-sector reforms. The book serves as a guid e for local reformers and citizen groups intent on changing corrupt systems by i ntroducing practical strategies to combat corruption and to reform local institu tions. Practical tools and approaches are presented, including fiscal transfers, systems to track public revenues and expenditures, simplified rules to improve the procurement process, diagnostics, and participatory techniques for developin g and monitoring local budgets.