Nicaraguans Talk About Corruption: a Study of Public Opinion
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NICARAGUANS TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION: A STUDY OF PUBLIC OPINION by Mitchell A. Seligson¹ March 1997 ¹Dr. Seligson is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania This document was prepared by Casals & Associates, Inc., Arlington, Virginia, under Contract No. 524-0330-C-00-5066-00 of the United States Agency for International Development, Managua, Nicaragua. The opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not reflect the position or opinion of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................... vii NICARAGUANS TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION: A STUDY OF PUBLIC OPINION .............................................. 1 Methodology and Sample Design .......................................... 2 Corruption: How Serious a Problem? ....................................... 4 Definition of Corruption ................................................. 8 Corruption in Government ......................................... 8 Corruption by Individual Citizens ................................... 10 Experience with Corruption ............................................. 12 IMPACT OF EXPERIENCE WITH CORRUPTION ON POLITICAL OFFICIALS .............................................. 22 SUPPORT FOR ANTI-CORRUPTION MEASURES ............................... 25 PUBLIC AWARENESS OF THE PROGRAM TO IMPROVE GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT .................................. 27 CORRUPTION AND THE STABILITY OF DEMOCRACY: KEY LINKAGES .................................................... 35 PERCEPTION OF COMPARISONS WITH THE PAST ............................ 39 AN OVERALL LOOK AT THE FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION ............ 45 APPENDIX I Survey Questionnaire iii Figures 1. Does corruption affect you? .............................................. 4 2. Perception of being affected by corruption, by level of education .................. 5 3. Perception of being affected by corruption among those who listened or not to the radio daily ........................................... 6 4. Perception of being affected by corruption among those who read or not newspapers daily ................................................. 6 5. Perception of being affected by corruption among those who watch or not television news daily .............................................. 7 6. Percentage of rural and urban residents who claim to be affected by corruption ......................................................... 7 7. Perception of Nicaraguans regarding certain actions by government officials on the “Corrupt-Honest” scale ..................................... 9 8. Perception of corruption when mayor lends tractor without the authorization of municipal council ......................................... 9 9. Perceptions of Nicaraguans regarding certain actions by or on behalf of individuals on the “Corrupt-Honest” scale ........................... 10 10. Perception of corruption when mother pays bribe to obtain birth certificate ....................................................... 11 11. Percentage of Nicaraguans who claim to have had personal experiences with corruption, by type of experience ............................ 13 12. Percentage of respondents who indicated indirect knowledge of payment of bribes to public employees ..................................... 14 13. Percentage of Nicaraguans who claimed not to have knowledge of acts of corruption or to know of one or two experiences: Cumulative impact ....... 15 14. Based on your experience, the payment of bribes is: ........................... 15 15. How common is payment of bribes, by partisan vote and gender .................. 18 16. Cumulative knowledge of acts of corruption according to income ................ 19 17. Cumulative knowledge of corruption according to level of education .............. 19 18. Relationship between knowledge of corruption and exposure to media coverage ...................................................... 20 19. Knowledge of acts of corruption, by place of residence in different types of urban areas and in rural areas ..................................... 20 20. Knowledge of corruption, by gender ...................................... 21 21. How Nicaraguans perceive various categories of public officials and other social groups on the “Corrupt-Honest” scale ............................ 22 22. Relationship between cumulative knowledge of corruption and the perceived honesty of legislators .......................................... 23 23. Relationship between cumulative knowledge of corruption and the perceived honesty of public officials ....................................... 24 iv 24. Support for anti-corruption measures ...................................... 26 25. Knowledge of efforts to improve the management of public funds ................ 27 26. Have you heard of efforts to improve the management of public funds?, by level of educational attainment ......................................... 28 27. Knowledge of measures to improve the management of public funds, by whether or not they listen to daily radio news programs ...................... 28 28. Knowledge of measures to improve the management of public funds, by whether or not they watch daily television news broadcasts .................. 29 29. Knowledge of measures to improve the management of public funds, by whether or not they read a newspaper daily ............................... 29 30. Knowledge of measure taken to improve the management of public funds .......... 31 31. Do you know the functions of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic ......................................................... 31 32. Do you know the functions of the Ministry of Finance ......................... 32 33. Knowledge of the functions of the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, by level of education ................... 33 34. Perception of the frequency of bribes and support for the court system ............. 37 35. Perception of the frequency of bribes and support for the political system ...................................................... 37 36. Perception of the frequency of bribes and support for the National Assembly .................................................... 38 37. Perception of the level of bribery during the presidency of Chamorro as compared to the Somoza era .......................................... 39 38. Perception of the level of bribery during the presidency of Chamorro as compared to the Sandinista decade ...................................... 39 39. Perceived occurrence of bribery during Chamorro’s administration as compared to the Somoza era and the Sandinista decade ........................ 40 40. Perception of the incidence of bribery, by age of respondent ..................... 46 v Tables 1. Sample design and weighting scheme for 1996 sample .......................... 3 2. How do Nicaraguans evaluate various acts in terms of whether or not they are corrupt and whether or not they are justified .......................... 12 3. Personal experience with corruption in Nicaragua ............................ 16 4. Measures taken to control management of public funds ........................ 30 5. What is the main role of the Office of the Comptroller General ................... 32 6. Multiple regression coefficients .......................................... 46 7. Age by department .................................................... 47 8. Mean residual score of perception of prevalence of bribes, by department ........... 48 Maps 1. Perception of the incidence with which bribes are paid, by department ............. 17 2. Perception of the incidence of corruption during the Chamorro government in comparison to the Sandinista decade, by department ............... 42 3. Perception of the incidence of corruption during the Chamorro government in comparison to the Somoza regime, by department ................. 43 4. Mean residual score of perception of prevalence of bribes ...................... 50 vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Even though the public has given considerable attention to the issues of mismanagement of public funds and corruption in Nicaragua, a systematic effort has yet to be conducted to determine the causes and possible solutions of corrupt acts, their magnitude and impact on the perceptions of the public, and how these perceptions vary by gender, education, ideology, or geographic region. The purpose of this survey, whose results are summarized in this report, is to provide answers to some of these questions. The survey was conducted in the months of July and August 1996, and it is based on a national probability (i.e., random) sample of 2,400 members of the voting-age Nicaraguan public. Survey results can be generalized to 98.3% of the country’s population. Data for the survey were collected in each department of the country, with the exception of Rio San Juan. The study reflects the perceptions of survey respondents regarding several themes related to the management of public funds and corruption. The information gathered was the product of recollections of acts in which the respondents participated or about which they had indirect knowledge. As a result, the survey was not designed to measure or determine the extent of corruption. Measuring corruption is a difficult, if not impossible, task. Citizens acquire their own ideas about corruption through personal experiences, daily activities,