Bauhr, Monika, and Marcia Grimes. “Transparency to Curb Corruption? Concepts Measures and Empirical Merit.” Crime, law and Social Change, vol. 68, no. 4 ,2017, pp. 413-458, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-017-9695-1. Accessed 4 May 2018
Summary: The authors are keen on defining what transparency is and they definite it as a condition that helps to better a government's quality and allow for accountability. Bauhur and Grime talk about how transparency can help curb corruption in a government and its effects. Measures that help in eradicating corruption are also looked into and are quite precise.
Contribution: The article helped me diversify the definition of transparency and fully understand how transparency can be applied in institutions as discussed in the essay.
2. E-book (pdf)
Castlberg, Anthony Didrick. “Current Problems in the Fight against Corruption and some Possible Solutions: US Perspective.” Resource Material Series, no. 56, 2016, pp. 400-411, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0be9/c73b766d75df7ed171f8ae52f8e8f1c8e38f.pdf.
Accessed 4 May 2018.
Summary: The book talks about current instances of corruption in government institutions. More specifically, it focuses on police and investigative departments. It talks about how these institutions are influenced by political forces. It also goes on to speak of how these challenges can be solved.
Contribution: This book has acted as a pillar in my analyses especially in the investigative problems section. It outlines how various stakeholders affect the normality of justice.
3. Newspaper by New York Times.
Cohen, Roger. “Trump’s Corruption of the American Republic.” New York Times, 2 Feb. 2018, https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/opinion/trump-corruption-republic.html. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Summary: The newspaper takes into consideration the lows of the current government. With this, the publication compares Trump's government with Obama's and looks keenly on how different and wrongly the transition has become.
Contribution: With that being said, the newspaper's perspective has helped in mirroring the instances of lack of accountability and transparency in the government as shown in the essay.
4. A journal by Atlantic.
Graham, David. “Political Corruption Enters a New Golden Age.” The Atlantic, 16 Nov. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/a-golden-age-for-corruption/546143/. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Summary: The journal focuses on political involvement in policy execution. It mainly focuses on political influences in the judicial system. Political interest is also seen to play at the police departments. The political class is seen interfering with investigations while working together with the police bosses.
Contribution: I have used some of this work by talking of the effects of the relationship between the politicians and the police. The politics played by the police is also an interesting subject in the essay.
5. A blog post from the World Bank.
Hunja, Robert. “Here are 10 Ways to Fight Corruption.” World Bank, 12 Aug. 2015, http://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/here-are-10-ways-fight-corruption. Accessed 4th May 2018.
Summary: Hunja focuses on things and strategies that will aid curb the corruption vice. A keen interest in paid on giving a clear definition of what corruption is not in very few words. It talks about minimizing the red tape in dealing with corruption cases. It also advocates for public involvement in policy making and government being open to public scrutiny.
Contribution: The basic thing that I transferred to my work was on the minimizing of red tape since the idea was also shared in another source. Public participation is also mentioned in work but has not paid much attention as compared to minimizing of red tape.
6. Article from Transparency International.
Pring, Caralie. “Corruption in the USA: The Difference a Year Makes.” Transparency International, 12 December 2017, https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_in_the_usa_the_difference_a_year_makes. Accessed 4 May 2018
Summary: The article focuses more on the views of Americans on the rate of corruption. This approach is interesting since you get a taste of what Americans think of their nation. It looked at how people viewed the involved of the office of the president in corrupt dealings.
Contribution: The ideas presented in this article together with the view from the CNN, helped in understanding what citizens think of the government. The thought is shared in the CNN article.
7. Article from CNN.
Stelter, Brian. “Why you Should Care about Increasing Secrecy in White House and Senate.” CNN, 15 July 2017, http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/20/media/sean-spicer-white-house-press-briefings-transparency/index.html. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Summary: The paper mainly looks at the relationship between Trump's government and the media. It has observed the cold shoulder the government: both the White House and the Senate was given the press. It mainly focused on the secrecy of the government and how the secrecy led to lack of accountability and transparency.
Contribution: The article helped me a lot in focusing on the relationship between government and media. It also helped in narrowing it down to how the two entities would help each other if they worked together.
8. e-book
Treisman, Daniel. “The Causes of Corruption: A Cross –National Study.” Depertment of Political Science, University of California, 2005, pp. 24-35, https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/131389/original/Treisman2000.pdf. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Summary: Although this book was written a couple of years back, it gives some insights on how a government fails due to corruption. The only thing that discredits this book is the fact that it pays more attention to corruption regarding materialist aspect: especially money as the only evident way of corruption.
Contribution: The biases that it brings to the table has helped me to be more precise and articulate in explaining and handling corruption as a theme.
