The government is responsible for providing citizens with requisite social services in a bid to enhance their wellbeing and overall quality of life. This mandate's success depends on the effectiveness of existing policies and how they are implemented. While a government may have effective policies that would guarantee better outcomes, it is not automatic that it would be the case. Corruption, which a major social issue affecting most governments worldwide, hampers the delivery of services to citizens. Funds meant for development are usually diverted to personal projects paving the way for a vicious cycle of international debt, poverty, and underdevelopment. Decentralization and institutionalizing political parties would help curb corruption enhance accountability, thus facilitating public trust.
Background Information
Accountability in governance is a crucial aspect as it establishes how well regimes meet the needs of citizens. Democratic governments are usually associated with more accountability since they are more open to scrutiny and public feedback. According to Lyrio et al. (2018), transparency and openness in governance are considered the soul of political systems as citizens are in apposition to hold government accountable for its actions. In such a case, transparency, which is a substitute for accountability, would be considered a crucial part of the democratic process. Citizens who are assured of being allowed to participate in government decisions will have improved life outcomes. However, most of the governments across the world have not embraced the spirit of accountability due to corruption, which affects developing nations and the developed ones. Corruption could be viewed as a lack of accountability and transparency in the public sector, with the concerned officials focusing more on personal interests. Nuristani &Vanhove (2020) note that in as much as corruption has negative impacts, it continues to persist mostly in post-conflict countries. Initiatives to rebuild post-conflict nations create anomic conditions, which in turn result in weak control systems that are not capable of deterring corrupt, self-serving actors. Prolonged corruption weakens economies as the state actors can no longer be held accountable for their actions.
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Solutions to Corruption
Nations that are keen on achieving exponential economic growth must embrace transparency and accountability. Currently, most countries are still struggling with corruption, as the state actors do not adhere to fiscal policies that ought to govern decisions. Decentralization, which is the transfer of governance mandate to lower levels of governments, is a strategy that would help improve accountability. According to Shon & Cho (2020), a single centralized government is more likely to encourage corruption since it is far removed from the citizens. However, decentralization translates to taking power closer to the people meaning that it is easier for citizens to give feedback. In the recent past, there has been an overwhelming demand for decentralization, especially in developing counties, with the public claiming that it allows for openness and accountability. Ionescu (2018) asserts that both the elected and appointed officials in lower governments are more likely to be more accountable and responsible due to their proximity to people. This proximity allows them to be more attentive to their communities' priorities and be more receptive to punishing local bureaucrats. Furthermore, repeated communication among bureaucrats, citizens, and politicians in a decentralized system provides instruments for punishing misbehavior. This aspect of decentralized government makes them more effective in fighting corruption while upholding accountability.
Elections are a crucial component of the democratic process, which allows citizens to elect their preferred leaders and, at the same time, get rid of corrupt ones. Party system institutionalization, an aspect of elections, is a factor that should be considered when trying to enforce accountability in governance. Schleiter and Voznaya (2016) assert that the institutionalization of party systems is instrumental in shaping the scope of corruption in democracies as it conditions elections to be tools for controlling politicians. In most democracies around the world, voters are unable to control politicians owing to unstable and poorly institutionalized party systems. These systems are characterized by short-lived political parties that are always competing to change electoral alliances. In such instances, it becomes impossible to attribute blame for poor performance and remove incumbents who are usually formidable with a powerful impact on the scope of corruption. However, the institutionalization of party systems characterized by constant affiliations and stable alliances would allow for more accountability. According to Schleiter & Voznaya (2018), institutionalization paves the way for elections to become instruments of accountability as government officials cannot behind endless political alliances. Well-institutionalized systems where party systems last longer and alliances show continuity allows parties to develop a reputation. This reputation then allows voters to distinguish between incumbents and opposition and, in this way, have more leeway in unseating corrupt incumbents.
Conclusion
Corruption comes in the way of accountability on the part of the government, a phenomenon that affects both developing and developed nations. The public sector is mandated to enhance the wellbeing of citizens by providing them with requisite social services. While the government may have well-meaning policies, it is not automatic that it will deliver on its mandate due to self-serving state actors. Nonetheless, governments can still become accountable if they adopt decentralization, a political structure that is more likely to enhance accountability owing to proximity to citizens. Apart from decentralized governments can adopt more institutionalized party systems that can develop their reputations. In this way, citizens will be able to distinguish between politicians who are accountable or not and use elections to affirm them. The adoption of these strategies would go a long way in raising accountable state officials who would not resort to corruption at the expense of citizens’ wellbeing.
References
Ionescu, L. (2018). Public perception of government accountability and corruption and the performance of the political system. Journalism Studies 19 (2).87-97
Lyrio, M., Rogerio, L., & Taliani, E. (2018). Thirty years of studies on transparency, accountability, and corruption in the public sector: The state of the art and opportunities for future research. Public Integrity , 20(1), 512-533. DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2017.1416537
Nuristani, S., & Vanhove, A. (2020). A model of the institutionalization of corruption during the rebuilding process. Public Integrity , 22(3), 170-186. DOI:10.1080/10999922.2018.1544018.
Schleiter, P., & Voznaya, A. (2018). Party system institutionalization, accountability, and governmental corruption. British Journal of Political Science, 48 (2), 315-342. DOI:10.1017/S0007123415000770
Shon, J., & Cho, Y. K. (2020). Fiscal decentralization and government corruption: Evidence from the United States. Public Integrity, 22 (2), 187-204. DOI: 10.1080/10999922.2019.1566427
