McGill University

INTD: 497: Research Seminar on International Development.

Winter 2014

CORRUPTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Professor Manuel Balán / Class meets: Wed 2:35-5:25pm
Office: Leacock 513 / Class location: LEA 116
514-398-4400 ext. 09191
/ Office hours: TBD

Course Description:

This course explores an issue that affects developed and developing countries alike. Scholars, politicians, and civil society often conceive of corruption as a global problem that demands urgent attention. At the domestic level, it impedes economic development, wastes resources, and reinforces social inequalities. The abuse of power undermines government performance and erodes political legitimacy. At the international level, corruption is often linked to organized crime, money laundering, arms smuggling, and narcotics trafficking. Every day we see a number of news on corruption appearing in media outlets around the world.

As a course designed for advanced undergraduate students, its main purpose is to provide the tools to understand and analyze the relationship between corruption and development. First, we will begin with questions of definition and measurement: How can we identify corruption in its various forms, and how can levels and the prevalence of corruption be measured? Second, we will consider the causes and consequences of corruption, as identified in existing literature. Then, we will explore a number of issues that look at corruption from different angles: political corruption, corruption and the media, efforts to curb corruption, among others. Throughout the course we will think about the impact of corruption on development and the quality of democracy.

Rather than focusing on one country at a time or on a few countries in depth, we will use events and systems in various countries as illustrations. The readings are a collection of research on these issues and require the students to read prior to each class session and to engage the readings critically. We will test authors’ claims against the evidence they present, challenge the logic of their arguments, and question their conclusions. On some units we will also read newspaper or magazine articles, and in others we will watch a movie related to the issue under study.

The class will be a combination of lecture and discussion, with a heavy emphasis in the latter. I will not repeat what is found in the materials, on the assumption that students will come to class prepared. The reading load is heavy, and keeping up is essential to both your success as a student as well as the course’s!

Course Requirements:

The final grade will be determined as follows:

Attendance and Participation (includes weekly assignments) 30%

Analytical Essay – 5 pages 15%

Proposal for Group Project – 5 pages (due before reading week) 5%

Group Project Presentation (2/4, 9/4) 15%

Group Project Paper – 40 pages (16/4) 35%

Attendance and Participation:

There will be 60-155 pages of (sometimes complex!) reading for each week. You are expected to come to class having completed ALL readings.

-Regular class attendance and participation: I will hand out a sign-in attendance sheet at the beginning of each class. You may miss two classes—or parts of two classes—for whatever reason (excused or unexcused) over the course of the semester without incurring any penalty. Participation in class discussions is required and students are expected to keep up with the readings. While speaking in class is important, please keep in mind that it is not just quantity that matters, but also quality.

-Weekly assignments (count toward participation):

1. Leading discussion. Throughout the semester, each student will be assigned to help guide discussion on a class session. The three students assigned on each week (in some weeks there will be four) will coordinate as a team and will be in charge of reviewing the week’s materials and posing discussion questions. The students assigned must work together and send a handout of the questions and points they want to cover (2-3 pages) to the whole class by 8pm the day before the seminar. Each student will be assigned to one week throughout the semester.

2. News coverage. Also throughout the semester, each student will be assigned to cover world news on corruption for a class session (not to coincide with the week in which you are leading discussion). The three students assigned on each week (some weeks there will be four) will coordinate and create a short (5-10 min) presentation on the corruption news of the week. As we move along in the semester, these presentations will need to cover the issues we look at in class, going from the different types of corruption, to their causes, consequences, etc. The three students assigned for each week are required to coordinate and circulate a 2-3 page summary of the news to the whole class by 8pm the day before the seminar. Each student will be assigned to cover the news on one week throughout the semester.

Analytical Essay:

Each student is required to write one analytical essay (5 double-spaced pages) concerning the issues covered in the assigned readings on a particular week. Critiques should focus on strengths and weaknesses of assigned readings, advancing some argument that deals with the readings. There is no summary of readings unless necessary to illustrate your comments. Critiques will only be accepted by email by 8pm the day before class. No extension or incompletes will be given. Critiques will be written for weeks in which you are not leading discussion or covering the news.

Final Group Project: The main assignment for this class is a group project that will take place throughout the semester. As soon as the add-drop period is over, we will form 6 groups of 5 students (assuming we’ll have 30 students in the class). The idea of the project is to design and propose a development project to address some aspect of corruption in some place of the world. The group has to collectively decide upon a project and a place (region, country, province/state, city) where the project will be applied. You have absolute freedom to create the project you want, but you need to explicitly assess both the costs and potential benefits/outcomes of the project, as well as the constraints and opportunities generated by the location where you choose to implement the project. The projects must include:

·  A detailed description of the project and the rationale behind it.

·  A detailed budget of the costs of carrying out the project.

·  A timeline of implementation and of expected outcomes.

·  A detailed analysis of the location background insofar as it affects the feasibility and potential effectiveness of the project.

·  An assessment of the potential replicability of the project in other contexts.

More details about this project will be provided as we move forward in the semester. The project will consist of three stages: proposal, paper and presentation.

I.  Research Proposal: Each group must submit a 5-page proposal for their development project. This proposal should present the idea you want to advance, and briefly cover the different components of the project. The proposal should also cover the division of labor among the students in the group. The proposal also needs to clarify the sources of information, case selection, and other details you deem relevant. The more work you put into this proposal stage, the more detailed feedback you’ll receive from me.

II.  Presentation: In the two last weeks of the term, each group will present their project to the whole class. You should plan on 30-minute presentations. Your objective is to provide a clear and compelling brief on your project. Presentations should NOT be read, and need to be well-planned and rehearsed. The use of visual aids and graphs is highly encouraged. Creativity and originality will be rewarded. In short, your presentations need to be awesome, and you should work on providing an entertaining and thoughtful talk that will make people remember and buy into your project.

III.  Final Paper: The final group project paper should be of around 40-45 pages.

Extra credit Opportunities:

1. March Conference: On March 13 and 14, the Institute for the Study of International Development is organizing a conference on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. There will be one session taking place on Thursday March 13th and a few sessions on Friday March 14th. Attendance to any session of the conference willearn students extra credit (1.5%) that will count toward their participation grade. Please note that participation is never to exceed the percentage established for the course. At the conference there will be a sign up sheet at each session. Students should put their name, student ID, and signature. Needless to say, students leaving early from a session will not receive the extra credit.

2. Course Evaluations: To encourage filling out course evaluations I will give everybody in the class an extra 1% if at least 80% of the students enrolled fills out the course evaluations in time.

Writing assignments have to be presented following these guidelines: double space, Times New Roman, font 12, 1-inch margins. All endmatter does NOT count toward page limits.

Course and University Policies:

Integrity: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information).

Special Needs: If you have a disability, please contact the instructor to arrange a time to discuss your situation. It would be helpful if you contact the Office for Students with Disabilities at 514.398.6009 before you do this.

Language: In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. Note that this right applies to ALL written work that is to be graded, from one-word answers to dissertations.

Course-Evaluations: End-of-term course evaluations are one of the ways that McGill works towards maintaining and improving the quality of courses and the students’ learning experience. You will be notified by e-mail when the evaluations are available on Mercury.

MyCourses: This course has its own website on MyCourses. It will be updated regularly, so you are required to check it often. On the website, in addition to this syllabus, you will find other useful information regarding course assignments and classes. Other items of interest will also be posted. ALL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE TURNED IN VIA EMAIL.

Note: In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.


Schedule and Reading Assignments

Week 1: NO CLASS (January 8)

Please review Syllabus and Clip posted on MyCourses.

PART 1: STUDYING CORRUPTION

Week 2: Definition and Measurements (January 15)

Definitions:

·  Svensson, Jakob. 2005. Eight Questions About Corruption. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3): 19-42. Read pages 19-24 & 30-32.

·  Warren, Mark E. 2006. Political Corruption as Duplicitous Exclusion. Political Science and Politics. 39(October): 7803-07.

·  Leys, Colin. 1965. What is the Problem about Corruption? The Journal of Modern African Studies 3(2): 215-230. (Read only pages 215-221).

·  Bardhan, Pranab. 2006. “The Economist’s Approach to the Problem of Corruption,” World Development, 34(2): 341-348

Measurements:

·  Gladwell, Malcolm. 2011. The Order of Things. The New Yorker. 14 Feb.

·  Johnston, Michael. 2005. Syndromes of Corruption. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1, 1-15.

·  Sequeira, Sandra. Advances in Measuring Corruption in the Field. Unpublished Manuscript. 1-36.

·  Camerer, Marianne. 2006. Measuring Public Integrity. Journal of Democracy 17(Jan.): 152-165.

Total Pages: 93

Week 3: Causes of Corruption (January 22)

·  Svensson, Jakob. 2005. Eight Questions About Corruption. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3): 19-42. Read pages 24-31.

·  Treisman, Daniel. 2007. What Have We Learned about the Causes of Corruption from Ten Years of Cross-National Research? Annual Review of Political Science. 10: 211-44.

·  Glaeser, Edward L. and Raven E. Saks. 2006. Corruption in America, Journal of Public Economics, 90(6-7): 1053-1072.

·  Golden, Miriam A, and Eric C C Chang. 2001. Competitive Corruption: Factional Conflict and Political Malfeasance in Postwar Italian Christian Democracy. World Politics 53: 588-622.

·  Persson, Torsten et al. 2003. Electoral Rules and Corruption. Journal of the European Economic Association 1(4): 958-89. (Skip methodological discussion)

·  Dininio, Phyllis. 2005. Explaining Patterns of Corruption in the Russian Regions. World Politics, 57(4): 500-529.

Total Pages: 153

Week 4: Consequences of Corruption (January 29)

·  Svensson, Jakob. 2005. Eight Questions About Corruption. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(3): 19-42. Read pages 36-39.

·  Fisman, Raymond. 2010. Corruption you can Count on. The Wall Street Journal, April 3-4: W3.

·  Leff, Nathaniel. 1964. Economic Development through Bureaucratic Corruption, American Behavioral Scientist, 8(3): 8-14. [Focus on main argument]

·  Méon, Pierre-Guillaume and Laurent Weill. 2010. Is corruption an efficient grease? World Development 38(3): 244-359.

·  China Argues. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-07/china-argues-over-how-much-corruption-is-best.html

·  Mauro, Paulo. 2002. “The Effects of Corruption on Growth and Public Expenditure,” in Arnold J. Heidenheimer and Michael Johnston, Eds. Political Corruption: Concepts and Contexts, New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers. 339-352.

·  Gupta, Sajeev et al. 1998. Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty? IMF Working Paper (Read only pages 24-30).

·  Rose-Ackerman, Susan. 2002. “When is Corruption Harmful?” in Arnold J. Heidenheimer and Michael Johnston, Eds. Political Corruption: Concepts and Contexts, New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers. 353-371.

·  Balán, Manuel. Surviving Corruption in Brazil: Lula and Dilma’s success despite corruption allegations and its consequences. Forthcoming in Journal of Politics in Latin America. 1-33.

Total Pages: 100

PART 2: TOPICS ON CORRUPTION

Week 5: The Politics of Corruption: Politics as Usual (February 5)

·  Luo, Michael. 2010. Corporate Money and Elections. The Economist. Sept 14.

v  Schaffer, F.C. and Andreas Schedler. 2007. What is Vote Buying? In Elections for Sale: The Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying, edited by Schaffer, F.C. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. 17-30.

·  Stokes, Susan. 2005. Perverse Accountability: A Formal Model of Machine Politics with Evidence from Argentina. American Political Science Review, 99(August): 315-25.