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Good Governance Facades

Author

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  • Kalle Moene
  • Tina Søreide

Abstract

Fashions come and go in the development community. When a policy idea becomes popular, some governments implement a cosmetic variant of the policy. What looks like development, are institutional façades; pretty from the outside, ugly from the inside. A good governance façade can be introduced deliberately to mislead observers and stakeholders to cover political theft. An example from the past is development planning, introduced with good intentions but sometimes exploited as a cover for corruption. In the 1960s donors rewarded developing countries that introduced five years plans by offering more aid. Recipient governments were therefore tempted to come up with cosmetic plans to satisfy foreign donors rather than the needs of their citizens. This paper argues that rents can be extracted under the cover of executing good policies; that nominally beneficial policies permit corrupt decision-makers to hide in plain sight.

Suggested Citation

  • Kalle Moene & Tina Søreide, 2015. "Good Governance Facades," CMI Working Papers 2, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
  • Handle: RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2015-2
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    File URL: https://www.cmi.no/publications/file/5388-good-governance-facades.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Baland, Jean-Marie & Moene, Karl Ove & Robinson, James A., 2010. "Governance and Development," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4597-4656, Elsevier.
    2. Daniel Benitez & Antonio Estache & Tina Søreide, 2012. "Infrastructure policy and governance failures," CMI Working Papers 5, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
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    7. Bigsten, Arne & Moene, Karl Ove, 1996. "Growth and Rent Dissipation: The Case of Kenya," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 5(2), pages 177-198, June.
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