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Corruption in Mauritania in 2021
Corruption was a serious problem in public administration in Mauritania during 2021 and the government rarely held officials accountable or prosecuted them for abuses according to the US State Department’s 2021 report on human rights practices in Mauritania, published on 12 April 2022. The US State Department notes there were reports government officials used their…
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Levelling-up White Paper commentary: Time to deliver
By David Fellows The WP sets out a decade long programme of UK public service development for the whole of the UK. It is presented under four headings: Empowering Local Leaders and Communities (extending combined authorities and mayoral capacity to secure local economic and physical improvement) Improving Productivity, Pay, Jobs and Living Standards (promoting innovation…
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Coherent Policy, Planning, and Performance for Delivering the SDGs
Posted by David Fellows[1] This is an extraordinarily important time for coherent policy, planning, and performance – the “3 Ps” – for delivering the SDGs and other core public policy objectives. The SDGs present an extensive range of essential service improvements that are applicable across the world. The threat posed by climate change has become…
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Levelling-up opportunity for future generations (addressing four decades of institutional discrimination)
Posted by David Fellows ABSTRACT This paper updates an earlier paper ‘Levelling-up through economic growth (a business strategy for the regions)’ published in April this year that examined the nature of the Prime Minister’s levelling-up commitment. This paper suggests that for the past four decades most UK regions have experienced deliberate and destructive economic neglect…
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African ACAs’ digital media progress
By John Leonardo [1] We recently reviewed the degree of usage of digital platforms by African anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) in a blog and supporting video. We also highlighted the opportunities that digital platforms offer African ACAs in pursuing their war on corruption in a separate blog earlier this year. In view of the interest in…
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Levelling-up through economic growth (a business strategy for the regions)
Posted by David Fellows ABSTRACT This paper presents a case for the Government’s levelling-up commitment being the most crucial post-Covid recovery issue for the next decade. It suggests that the commitment should be addressed through a process of regionally-based business development grounded in a clearly defined UK growth model derived from current developments in innovation…
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African anti-corruption agencies’ digital platform usage
Posted by David Fellows and John Leonardo [1] The release of TI’s 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) on 28 January 2021 has focused attention in many countries on current corruption levels. In a recent blog we outlined the possible role social media platforms offer for promoting online public engagement in the war against corruption. We…
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Freedom is what you make of it
by David Fellows [i] UK Governments can no longer claim that EU rules prevent necessary changes to improve the UK economy or the life prospects of UK citizens. The UK’s decisions may have some tariff consequences but there is no EU veto or imperative that would lead us to doing those things that run counter…
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Digital Media, Transparency and the War Against Corruption
Posted by David Fellows and John Leonardo[1] Corruption is highly damaging to economic and social life through misappropriation of public funds, restriction of open market activity, favouritism towards families of those in power, and the many detrimental effects of rent seeking. In this piece we review evidence for the power of transparency to reduce corruption…
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Regional Pacific SIDS PFM digital transparency update
Our June 2020 video “Improving PFM digital transparency in SIDS finance ministries” examined finance ministries (MoFs) use of digital platforms such as websites and social media to provide public financial management (PFM) related information in small island developing states (SIDS). Recent PFM digital transparency regional trends in Pacific SIDS are examined in our “Regional Pacific…