Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:05 am
Time: 3:05 am
Results for politicians
3 results foundAuthor: Kronick, Dorothy Title: Electoral Consequences of Violent Crime: Evidence from Venezuela Summary: To what extent do voters hold political incumbents accountable for policy outcomes? This paper considers retrospective voting in the context of violent crime. Using a novel panel data set on county -and neighborhood- level homicide incidence and vote shares in Venezuela, I find that, relative to other policy outcomes such as cash transfers, voters are generally unresponsive to changes in homicide incidence. However, responsiveness varies with the type of election and with the nature of local crime control institutions (which change within municipality over time). Noting the role of external shocks (for example, from drug enforcement activities in neighboring Colombia) in producing violence in Venezuela, I interpret these results as evidence that voters (correctly) view homicide outcomes as weak signals of incumbent political quality. The results are therefore consistent with rational retrospective models of voting behavior. Details: CAF (Development Bank of Latin America), 2014. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Working papers No. 2014/02: http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/687/Electoral%20Consequences%20of%20Violent%20Crime.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: Venezuela URL: http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/687/Electoral%20Consequences%20of%20Violent%20Crime.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 140332 Keywords: Homicides PoliticiansViolence Violent Crime |
Author: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Title: Protecting Politics: Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Local Democracy Summary: Local democracy encompasses formal and informal sub-national institutions that respond to citizens' needs. At the centre of local democratic practice are open governments, which provide people with space to promote participation, deliberation and a focus on public interests. However, local state fragility undermines democracy. Organized crime increasingly exploits such weaknesses in order to protect its illicit businesses, as political corruption is an ideal avenue preferred by organized criminal groups. This report examines the interlinkages between organized crime networks and political actors at the local level. It also analyses policy responses (particularly decentralization policies) that have—intentionally or unintentionally- enabled or prevented organized crime engagement in political corruption at the local level. Case studies from Afghanistan, Colombia and Niger illustrate how illicit networks relate to local levels of government and decentralization processes. Details: Stockholm, Sweden: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance; Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2016. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2016 at: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/protecting-politics-deterring-the-influence-of-organized-crime-on-local-democracy-pdf.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/protecting-politics-deterring-the-influence-of-organized-crime-on-local-democracy-pdf.pdf Shelf Number: 140460 Keywords: Criminal NetworksDrug CartelsIllicit networksOrganized CrimePoliticians |
Author: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Title: Protecting Politics: Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Public Service Delivery Summary: Public service delivery is one of the main tasks citizens expect from their governments. Democracy is a political system that should improve service delivery as it offers the building blocks for equitable resource distribution and sustainable development. Indeed, in the frameworks of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the democratic principles of transparency and accountability play a key role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, in many contexts, public service delivery is fraught with corrupt practices, leading to less accountable and less effective public services that are not adequately reaching those they are intended to serve. Particularly in fragile and conflict affected states, corrupt practices can sometimes be linked to organized crime. These illicit groups and networks increasingly form parallel structures that compete with the state to provide services, either in open conflict with the state, or sometimes working with the explicit or tacit agreement of the authorities. In other cases, however, organized crime does not become a service provider but instead hinders the state's provision of services by leeching off state resources through corruption in public contracts. In all of these cases, organized crime perpetuates poverty and inequality, while threatening economic growth and, by extension, democracy itself. Furthermore, organized crime challenges the state's legitimacy by profiling itself as a viable provider of services to the population, while the state's capacity to provide services is undermined. Citizens are consequently left with hollow democratic state institutions that are not capable of delivering better lives for them. Growing discontent with politics, as reflected in a number of public perceptions surveys and massive protests around the world, are important wake-up calls to implement serious strategies to prevent and mitigate political corruption linked to organized crime. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI) are therefore committed to supporting countries around the world in addressing the threat that organized crime poses to their democracies. Understanding how organized crime challenges the state's legitimacy as public service provider is therefore one important contribution to these efforts. That is why, in 2011, International IDEA launched the Protecting Politics project, conducting research and providing policy support to tackle the nexus between organized crime and political actors. Most importantly, in 2015 International IDEA joined forces with GI to explore the linkages between organized crime and public service delivery. This report summarizes these findings, drawing on case studies from Afghanistan, Colombia and Somalia to analyse in detail how organized crime has become a viable service provider in some localities in these countries, and how it has captured legitimacy from the state in the process. This report complements three other papers that examine how organized crime affects political parties, elections and local democracy, respectively. Together, these four reports provide a unique and detailed overview of democratic systems' capacity to deal with complex security threats such as organized crime. Details: Stockholm, Sweden: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance; Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2016. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2016 at: http://www.idea.int/publications/protecting-politics-organized-crime-public-service-delivery/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageID=80689 Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://www.idea.int/publications/protecting-politics-organized-crime-public-service-delivery/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageID=80689 Shelf Number: 140461 Keywords: Criminal Networks Drug CartelsIllicit networks Organized Crime Politicians |