Designing Anti-Corruption Strategies for Developing Countries

Abstract

This article identifies the anti–corruption strategies used in developing countries and assesses their relevance to the newly independent country of Eritrea. The anti-corruption strategies considered in this article are divided into four broad categories: Economic/Market Reforms, Administrative/Bureaucratic Reforms, Accountability/Transparency Enhancing Reforms, and Political Accountability Enhancing Reforms. The author administered a questionnaire survey to a sample of 62 Eritrean public officials from 13 ministries of the Eritrean government to ascertain their views of the extent, causes and remedies of corruption in Eritrea. The survey responses indicate that while on the whole Eritrean officials perceive that there are relatively low levels of corruption in the country they believe the top five leading causes of corruption are:the low salary of public officials, lack of accountable/transparent political process, lack of meritocratic personnel policy, lack of an effective corruption reporting system, and the self-serving attitudes of public officials.