Challenges of Anti-Corruption Reforms in Brazil
Authors: Fabiano Angélico, Ana Luiza Aranha e Michael Freitas Mohallem.
Corruption draws resources from the state, affecting public policies to the detriment of those most in need of protection. It is not only the social function of the state that is threatened by corruption. It also undermines the economy, adulterating the business environment, rewarding inefficiency, and disrupting competition and the pursuit of productivity and innovation. Politics also suffer - data indicate that the recent decline in support for democracy is concomitant with the burst of major corruption cases, especially in Latin America.
Even security and peace are threatened by corruption. The United Nations Security Council held in 2018 its first session on the connections between corruption and conflicts. At the time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres linked corruption to forms of instability and violence, such as illegal trafficking in arms, drugs and people. Guterres cited research conducted by Unodc - the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime - which notes that rate of bribery of public servants is particularly high in conflict-affected areas.
Given the impact and severity of corruption in various areas of social, economic and political life in different countries and in the world, the question is: how can we control this phenomenon? What has been tried in the world and in Brazil? From these experiences, does the new Brazilian government, responsible for conducting the country's destiny between 2019 and 2022, have conditions to implement a reform agenda in order to vigorously improve the prevention, detection and fight against corruption?
This article seeks to explore these questions. We begin with a brief description of the corruption, phenomenon, presenting three typologies. We then briefly present experiences of anti-corruption reform in five territories (Greece, Iraq, Mexico, Ukraine and the European Union). In the following section, we present the creation of the New Measures against Corruption, a package of 70 proposals built by professionals in Brazil, people and entities with different visions and backgrounds. Finally, we present possible strategies to promote the discussion of this anticorruption reform in the National Congress.
