4. Paul Lagunes on transparency 2.0, the importance of citizens for anti-corruption in Latin America

If you are interested in… …how average citizens could contribute to holding politicians more accountable? ..how transparency 2.0 might help to reduce corruption more effectively? …why politicians who campaigned strongly against corruption do not seem to follow through once they take office? … the current trends in anti-corruption in general, maybe even care about Latin America in particular? Then the latest episode of KickBack featuring an interview with Paul Lagunes will provide many insightful answers. This week’s guest Paul Lagunes is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. In his research Paul combines mixed methods, including field experiments, as a means to better understand and limit corruption in city governments across the Americas. The interview starts off by discussing Paul’s latest book called The Watchful Eye & the Cracking Whip: Field Experiments on Corruption & Inefficiency in the Americas. Paul mentions the recent corruption allegations against Walmart in Mexico as well as the large lava jato (Car wash) scandal, which is covered in a previous episode of KickBack. Things get technical when Matthew and Paul discuss on the different theoretical approach to understand corruption as a Principal Agent Problem, most famously outlined by a previous guest of KickBack, Susan Rose-Ackerman. Paul defends that view against the criticism that in systemic corrupt societies there is often “no principled principle” – the officials responsible to police corruption fall prey to the high level of corruption. Find out how an intelligence officer abusing his power to spy on his wife fits into this discussion. They discuss which factors are important so that the officials remain honest, where Paul mentions Melanie Manion’s work. The two discuss whether and how people like you and me can contribute to being part of the watchful eye, drawing on Paul’s experience in collaborating with the Peruvian chapter of Transparency International – ProEtica. Paul outlines how in the past decades an increased emphasis has been to promote transparency. Moving forward, transparency 2.0 help NGO to conduct monitoring they are already doing Evalua in Mexico monitoring the use of public funds. Towards the end, Matthew and Paul discuss where Latin America is headed in when it comes to anti-corruption, touching on the Anti-Impunity Commission International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG) in Guatemala. Find out whether Paul is optimistic about recent political changes in Brazil and Mexico, why elected presidents might not fulfill their anti-corruption promises and how the Odebrecht scandal ties into that.