IPF	Sorin Ionita

Corruption as a Symptom of Opacity and Poor Policymaking – and a Few Measures to Address These Problems Context and background ▪  Soros network initiatives Open Society Foundation–Romania OSI European Union Accession Monitoring Program (EUMAP) EUMAP Corruption and Anti-Corruption Policy Report (2002) OSI Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Fiscal Decentralization Initiative (FID)  ▪ Relevant initiatives worldwide Romanian Academic Society (SAR) Romanian Journal of Political Science World Bank: Romania – Country Assistance Evaluation World Bank: Romania – Fellow activities & publications and Reports USAID Governance Reform and Sustainable Partnerships (GRASP), Romania Transparency International (TI)  ▪ Annotated papers The 2005 Global Corruption Barometer Romania Policymaking and Coordination Governance Indicators for 1996-2004 Democratization and Clientelism Localization and Corruption Democracy,Credibility and Clientelism Implementing Decentralized Local Governance involvment in Corruption Scandals in Bulgaria    Project objectives study intergovernmental financial transfers (money circulating between the national and various tiers of local governments in a country) and other special funds and allocations performed by central agencies which presuppose substantial spending and/or investment affecting local communities devise a system of quantitative indicators to measure the extent to which the policy-by-default model corresponds to the reality develop four case studies on important sections of the policy area, where policies-by-default seems to be the best explanatory model; particular attention will be devoted to the role played by institutional design, incentives of stakeholders and the resulting political choices develop good governance lessons from this analysis and summarize them in the form of an agenda for change in the sectors studies through the cases edit and disseminate a brief Citizens' Budget Guide, which will target all interested citizens and non-expert opinion leaders and cut through the maze of laws, strategies, government plans and financial data available, which the vast majority of people find hard to comprehend (or even to get access to), in order to offer an illustrated overview of the main public choices and their effects in Romania in the last years write a research paper and 20-page policy study in coordination with the group advisor with recommendations for agencies.

Fellow Website ▪ www.policy.hu/ionita    Fellow activities & publications ▪ Sorin Ionita presented his paper “Policy reform: What works and what does not work” on Romania’s reform experience at conference in Belgrade, 1 Oct. 2005.   ▪ Sorin Ionita’s final Policy paper “Poor policy making and how to improve it with states with weak institutions” is now available.   ▪ Sorin Ionita published “Money for Our People? Fiscal Decentralization and Corruption in Romania,” in Public Administration and Development (no. 25, 2005).   ▪ Sorin Ionita put a draft of his policy paper “The deficit of governance in Romania – politics and policy” on line.   ▪ Sorin Ionita’s issue paper “Good governance and public administration” is now available.    The fellow ▪ Curriculum vitae ▪ Research proposal ▪ e-mail:    2005 Working Groups ▪ 2005 Working Group Summary ▪ Democratic Governance ▪ Wider Europe ▪ Public Health and Roma ▪ Policy Making ▪ Combatting Organized Crime ▪ Higher Education Reform ▪ Open Society in Former SU ▪ Open Society and Muslims    2006 Working Groups ▪ 2006 Working Group Summary ▪ Wider Europe ▪ Open Muslim Societies ▪ Open Society Threats ▪ Resource Curse ▪ Roma Exclusion ▪ Open Information Policy

www.policy.hu

www.soros.org

www.ceu.hu/cps

January 2006