Corrupt Cities

162 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. 'Corrupt Cities' is an important contribution to this emerging field, addressing the historical, traditional, and cultural contexts th at create perverse incentives for corruption to exist. At the same time, this bo ok provides practical solutions and a set of incentives charting a path away fro m misgovernance toward effective local governance. The authors present case stud ies of both success and failure to underscore that addressing corruption is only an entry point to deeper public-sector reforms. The book serves as a guide for local reformers and citizen groups intent on changing corrupt systems by introdu cing practical strategies to combat corruption and to reform local institutions. Practical tools and approaches are presented, including fiscal transfers, syste ms to track public revenues and expenditures, simplified rules to improve the pr ocurement process, diagnostics, and participatory techniques for developing and monitoring local budgets.…