World Bank Sees No Progress in Russia’s Governance
The World Bank presented a report on Tuesday analyzing the quality of governance in 212 countries. The study underscores improvements in Kenya, Rwanda, Algeria and Tajikistan and declines in countries such as Belarus, Bolivia and Cote d’Ivoire. Russia has made no progress over the past decade, according to the report which ranks this country close to infamous regimes in Venezuela and Iran.
The new Governance Matters report for 1996-2006 says quality of governance in Russia has remained the same. Indicators are also the same for Italy, Vietnam, Brazil, India and China.
The quality of governance has deteriorated in Nepal, Belarus, Bolivia and Cote d’Ivoire. Countries as diverse as Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia, Alegia and Tajikistan have made “significant progress” in improving governance over the decade.
“The good news is that some countries, including some of the poorest ones in Africa, are deciding to move forward, and are showing to the world that it is possible to make substantial inroads in improving governance over a relatively short period of time – in less than a decade,” report co-author Daniel Kaufmann, Director of Global Governance at the World Bank, said. He added bribes worldwide are worth the total of $1 trillion with corruption especially grave in the poorest nations.
The study is based on indicators which measure Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Major Violence and Terror, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality Rule of Law and Control of Corruption. The indicators are based on 33 individual data sources and views of “tens of thousand household and firm survey respondents.” The statistics also consider opinions of nongovernmental organizations and public sector experts.
“I think it’s laughable to compare China, Russia and Zimbabwe in terms of governance,” says Vladimir Mau, chair of the Russian State Governance Academy. “It has certainly improved in Africa – from the zero level. It has not deteriorated in Russia, and thank God for that. China has a closed society, that why indicators there will be better.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 11, 2007
|
