Corruption-Free Sustainable Development

Despite various discursive and rhetorical appropriations of the term, the concept of sustainable development and its goals remain contested and elusive. However, in modern times the application of the term has broadened considerably, not only to include the original dominant discourse of the 1987 WCED Brundtland Report of environmental politics and policy, but a strong commitment to a number of normative principles of good governance. The present book which is the outcome of the two panels organized by the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee 4 on Public Bureaucracies in Developing Societies at its 18the Congress in Quebec in 2000 and another panel at its midterm Conference organized at Abuja in 2001, attempts to discuss in detail the various issues involved in developing such strategies in the perspective of the experiences of different countries. The various essays included and the book on the whole demonstrate that although different approaches like institutional development, capacity building, strengthening policy-processes mechanisms etc. have been advocated and used by a number of national and international organizations and think tanks all over the world, it is only recently that tanks all over the world, it is only recently that emphasis on ethical and moral dimensions, achieving transparency and accountability along with integrity have emerged as crucial elements of good governance, which have posed various challenges to modern states in the new millennium. It is now obvious that the phenomenon of corruption cannot be fought and ethical conduct on the part of bureaucracy cannot be ensured simply by reforming internal rule sand structures. Innovative activities involving governmental institution, private corporate bodies and non-governmental organizations have become critical for any integrated anti-corruption programmes to achieve sustainable development. It is in this perspective that the present compendium attempts to address the concerns and problems that modern governments face in this milliennium.