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Provides a thorough overview about corruption and the quality of government, featuring contributions from world leading scholars in the field
Presents an overview of the most recent findings in the field and a new evidence-based analysis
Provides a diverse set of theoretical perspectives
Points out avenues for future research on the quality of government




Recent research demonstrates that the quality of public institutions is crucial for a number of important environmental, social, economic, and political outcomes, and thereby human well-being. The Quality of Government (QoG) approach directs attention to issues such as impartiality in the exercise of public power, professionalism in public service delivery, effective measures against corruption, and meritocracy instead of patronage and nepotism.

This Handbook offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of this rapidly expanding research field and also identifies viable avenues for future research. The initial chapters focus on theoretical approaches and debates, and the central question of how QoG can be measured. A second set of chapters examines the wealth of empirical research on how QoG relates to democratization, social trust and cohesion, ethnic diversity, happiness and human wellbeing, democratic accountability, economic growth and inequality, political legitimacy, environmental sustainability, gender equality, and the outbreak of civil conflicts. The remaining chapters turn to the perennial issue of which contextual factors and policy approaches-national, local, and international-have proven successful (and not so successful) for increasing QoG.

The Quality of Government approach both challenges and complements important strands of inquiry in the social sciences. For research about democratization, QoG adds the importance of taking state capacity into account. For economics, the QoG approach shows that in order to produce economic prosperity, markets need to be embedded in institutions with a certain set of qualities. For development studies, QoG emphasizes that issues relating to corruption are integral to understanding development writ large.



Table of Contents

Introduction: Quality of Government: Why - What - How, Andreas Bågenholm, Monika Bauhr, Marcia Grimes and Bo Rothstein
Part I: Theory and Conceptualization
1:Quality of Government: Theory and Conceptualization, Bo Rothstein
2:The Universalization of Ethical Universalism, Alina Mungiu-Pippidi
3:´Quality of Government´: A Philosophical Assessment, Nikolas Kirby & Jonathan Wolf
4:Shadow Elites: Beyond Institutional Corruption Theory and Ill-conceived Anti-Corruption Regimes. Toward A New Research Agenda, Janine Wedel
Part II: Data and methodological Approaches
5:Measuring the Unmeasurable? Taking Stock of QoG Measures, Nicholas Charron
6:Down-To-Earth: What Can We Learn From Local Case Studies?, Eliska Drapalova
7:What We Can Learn About Corruption From Historical Case Studies?, Mark Knights
8:The Ethnographic Study of Corruption, Davide Torsello
Part III: Democracy, Accountability, and Participation
9:Democracy and the Quality of Government, Monika Bauhr and Marcia Grimes
10:Corruption Voting and Electoral Accountability, Andreas Bågenholm
11:Quality of Government and Political Support, Jonas Linde and Stefan Dahlberg
12:Trust, Populism, and the Quality of Government, Philip Keefer, Carlos Scartascini, and Razvan Vlaicu
13:Social Accountability and Quality of Government: Effectiveness and Recursive Effects, Frida Boräng and Marcia Grimes
14:Civil Society Against Corruption, Donatella della Porta and Alice Mattoni
15:Electoral Rules and Corruption: A Meta-Analysis, Georgios Xezonakis and Stephen Dawson
Part IV: Sustainability and Development
16:Inequality and Corruption, Jong-sung You
17:The Quality of Government and Economic Growth, Pelle Ahlerup, Thushyanthan Baskaran, and Arne Bigsten
18:Economic Diversification, Homogeneity of Interests and the Impartiality of Government, Petrus Olander
19:Quality of Government and Environmental Sustainability, Marina Povitkina and Simon Matti
20:Inequality, Education, and Corruption, Eric Uslaner
Part V: International Policies and Global Strategies
21:Foreign Aid and Quality of Government, Simone Dietrich and Matthew S. Winters
22:Corruption, Elites and Power: An Overview of International Policy Efforts to Improve the Quality of Government, Francis Fukuyama and Francesca Recanatini
23:International Efforts to Combat Corruption, Mathis Lohaus and Ellen Gutterman
24:Controlling Corruption: Institutional Strategies, Michael Johnston
Part VI: Diversity, Social Cohesion, and Well-Being
25:Quality of Government and Social Trust, Peter Thisted Dinesen and Kim Mannemar Sønderskov
26:Gender, Gender Equality, and Corruption: A Review of Theory and Evidence, Amy C. Alexander
27:Bringing Politics Back In: Ethnic Fractionalization, Quality of Government, and Public Goods Provision Revisited, Anna Persson
28:Happiness and the Quality of Government, John Helliwell, Haifang Huang, and Shun Wang
29:Governance Beyond the State: Social Institutions and Service Delivery, Ruth Carlitz and Ellen Lust
Part VII: State Structure and Policy
30:Bureaucracy and Government Quality, Carl Dahlström and Victor Lapuente
31:Pockets of Effectiveness and Islands of Integrity: Variation in Quality of Government Within Central State Administrations, Erin Metz McDonnell and Luiz Vilaça
32:Improving Governance in Tightly Controlled Societies: The Importance of Transformational Leadership, Robert I. Rotberg
33:Taxation and the Quality of Government, Steven M. Karceski and Edgar Kiser
34:Quality of Government and Welfare State Support, Staffan Kumlin
Part VIII: State Building and Breakdown
35:The Challenge of State Building in Historical Perspective: How States are Built Critically Affects Political Development and Quality of Government, Sheri Berman
36:State Capacity, Quality of Government, Sequencing and Development Outcomes, Michelle D´Arcy and Marina Nistotskaya
37:The Quality of Government and Civil Conflict, Annekatrin Deglow and Hanne Fjelde
38:Organized Crime and the Quality of Government, Leslie Holmes