16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
From inclusion and transparency, to equity and quality: How can we improve local budget processes?
The objective of this project is to investigate how equitable, inclusive, transparent and accountable budget processes are at local government level and to propose measures for their improvement. The analysis included four pilot municipalities in North Macedonia, selected to represent different geographic locations and socio-economic characteristics. We employed different methods to assess the current state…
Problems of Public Participation in Urban Improvement Programmes: Cases of Petrozavodsk, Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg
As part of the LUPSRUSS³ -2 project, our team compared the implementation of the state-run ‘Creation of Comfortable Urban Environment’ programme in three Russian cities. Based on the analysis of regulatory documents, media and social network publications, surveys and interviews, we identified the main problems associated with public engagement in the formation of a comfortable…
Multi-Level Perspectives on Anti-Corruption: A Systematic Literature Review
This systematic literature review investigates the extent to which recent anti-corruption literature goes beyond the established paradigms (i.e., principal-agent perspective, macro-level, structural, and legal centralistic approaches) to focus on society’s informal norms, everyday micro-level power relations and non-monetary currencies (e.g. respect, prestige, social status and trust). By reconceptualising the various meanings and morality of informal,non-legal…
Overcoming Barriers to Participate in Local Democracy for People with Disabilities: The Case of Zimbabwe
This policy brief discusses barriers to the inclusion and participation of people with disabilities in local democracy in rural Zimbabwe and provides recommendations for enhanced participation. The analysis is part of a broader mixed research study on the inclusion and participation of vulnerable groups in Zimbabwe’s local democracy. Results of the study show how people…
WhatsAppers for Social Good: Local Community Response to Covid-19 in Brazil
The so-called “WhatsAppers” constitute a local community of activists and concerned citizens who use WhatsApp to promote networks of solidarity in Brazil. Since the app’s launch,WhatsApp is increasingly appropriated for social good by activists, not only for “hanging-out” with like-minded people, but it has also become a key platform for twenty-first century politics, particularly in…
Building Political Will to Combat Corruption
Authors: Marcia Grimes, Oksana Huss & Ksenia Ivanyshyn (2021) Pervasive corruption presents a challenge to scholars, practitioners, and activists. This policy brief reviews academic and policy perspectives on political will in anti-corruption efforts. The importance of political will for the success of anti-corruption reforms is widely cited, but knowledge gaps remain regarding why political will…
