DOCSLIB.ORG

Audit of Fraud in Economic Crimes.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Audit of Fraud in Economic Crimes.Pdf From PD’s Desk Economic crimes in India, like else where, are linked to several other offences, or even organised crimes, having bearing on national security. Every day a greater degree of sophistication is being noticed in the activities of the criminals indulging in these activities. There is a growing recognition in the world that the economic offences are, many times, part of other serious crimes posing serious threat to the security of the nation. Problems such as international terrorism, narco-terrorism, money laundering, IPR violations, cyber crimes, import of hazardous substances etc. continue to occupy centre stage as the global threats. A multi-pronged approach by various arms of the Government could help in effectively dealing with this menace. Besides the investigating agencies, Auditors could play a significant role in their prevention and detection. Through a thorough understanding of the key areas of risk and modus operandi adopted in committing the crimes, Auditors could effectively plan their audit engagements focusing on the identified areas of risk. In pursuance of the institute’s endeavour to bring out quality reading material on issues related to the subject of its specialization i.e Audit of Fraud and Fraud Detection Techniques and Forensic Audit, this compilation of selected readings on ‘Economic Crimes’ has been brought out. This compilation seeks to provide a broader perspective so as to further enhance the understanding of the subject. We hope that the readers would find the compilation informative and useful. 7th June 2007 Dr. Sadu Israel CONTENTS Sr. No Topic Page No. 1. The Scenario and Impact i) Dimensions of Economic Crime in India 1 ii) Money Laundering 6 iii) Economic Crimes in a Globalised Society: Its impact on the sound development of the State-An Indian Perspective 12 iv) Report on the Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2006 26 2. Prevention and Detection i) Legislative measures to deal with Economic Crimes in India 50 ii) The set up for detection & Prevention of Economic Crimes in India 57 iii) President’s Address at the Inauguration of Biennial Conference of Anti-Corruption/Vigilance Bureaus of States, UT and Officers of the CBI. 62 iv) PM’s key note address to the conference of CBI and Anti-Corruption Bureau 80 v) Global Integrity-Interview with Mr. David Nussbaum Transparency International’s Chief Executive 83 DIMENSIONS OF ECONOMIC CRIMES IN INDIA. - Mahendra Kumawat IPS, Addl. D.G.P. &Chairman, SLPRB, A.P. Since the early 90's India has witnessed crime. While white collar crimes can be said a spate of major economic scams in different to be crimes committed by professionals like sectors of the economy. While millions of chartered accountants, public servants, small investors have lost thousands of crores private employees in the course of their of rupees, the economic crimes have also occupation, economic offences are crimes caused havoc in the government managed committed by intelligent but devious institutions like Banks, Public Sector Under- individuals involving huge sums of public or takings, Telecom Department, Insurance government money. Companies, etc. The magnitude and the new Magnitude of the problem methods of committing economic crimes have been a cause of serious concern to the Economic offenders have exploited Government as well as to the people. weaknesses in almost all areas of economic activity and siphoned off thousands of crores. Economic Crimes are not a new phenom- Their depredations will continue till the law enon in our country. Even one and a half cen- makers plug loopholes in the affected system. tury ago, when the Indian Penal Code was But the economic offenders, as they have the enacted, punishment was provided for Cheat- knack of exploiting weaknesses in any system ing (Sec.420), Criminal Breach of Trust (Sec- either traverse a new territory or subvert the 409), Counterfeiting of Coins (Sec-232), Mak- system which is their specialized field. In the ing and Selling of Adulterated Drugs (Sec.274 recent past alone, scams have cost the & 275), Fraudulent use of Weights and Mea- exchequer and millions of Indians, sures (Sec.265), Counterfeiting Govt. Stamps astronomical sums of money. Some major and their Sale (Sec,255 and 258), Making and scams/ economic offences, which have Selling of Fake Goods (Sec. 481 to 489), Soon adversely affected our national economy in after the introduction of currency notes in our the recent past are: country, counterfeiting of the currency led i) Primary Market Frauds: to addition of Section 489-A and B in the Indian Penal Code in the year 1955. But what The Stock Market Scams of 90's affected has changed in the past few decades is the millions of small investors across the country. magnitude and enormity of economic crimes Fly-by-night operators entered the primary owing to the development in technology markets and through Initial Public Offers and improved means of transport and com- (IPOs), collected hundreds of crores and munication and their use by the perpe- vanished! The irony is that the whereabouts trators of these crimes. of over 100 companies are still not known either to SEBI or to the other investigating The terms 'Economic Crime' and 'White agencies. Even those companies, which did Collar Crimes' are more often than not, used not vanish, used the people's money for as synonyms In fact, both the terms need to purposes other than for which it was be used to define different categories of 1 collected. As a result, the value of their shares iv) Import /Export Frauds: plummeted resulting in heavy losses to the Money laundering operations by under- investors. invoicing imports and over-invoicing of ii) Secondary Market Frauds: exports have been resorted to by unscrupulous traders in a big way and thereby Insider trading has the dangerous converted their black money into white and potential of market manipulation and misuse at the same time, obtained liberal incentives of unpublished price sensitive information by given by the Government in the form of a privileged few insiders who are in exemption of income tax on the earnings, possession of such information. This kind of etc. This is in addition to import/export frauds malpractice defeats the very principle of fair being committed based on forged and and ethical business practices, besides fictitious documents. spelling a doom for the common and small investors. The Capital Markets in India have v) Insurance Frauds: been victims of this malady for years and Insurance companies have been victims more particularly when liberalization attracted of frauds perpetrated by unscrupulous small investors to the markets. Instances of claimants with or without the active artificially jacking up prices of shares and connivance of insurance officials. Instances thereby inducing gullible people to buy them of deliberately setting fire to the insured are also common. People have lost heavily goods, go-down, factory, making more than on account of frauds of this nature committed one claim on the basis of same accident, by unscrupulous market players. inflated claims supported by corrupt iii) Bank Frauds: surveyors, are quite common. Economic offenders have targeted vi) Intellectual Property Crime/ Theft: nationalized and cooperative banks and The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) siphoned off thousands of crores by having of USA has estimated that in 2003 alone, criminal nexus with the managements of the $3 billion (Rs. 13,500 Crores) worth money banks. The big borrowers alone are was lost world wide as a result of criminals responsible for the huge non-performing swiping copyright protected digital copies assets (Rs. 55,000 Crores in 2003) the of music, movies, software and games and nationalized banks are saddled with. distributing them through websites, chat In the 90's, unscrupulous economic of- rooms, mass e-mails. fenders set up large number of UCBs (Urban According to a music and film market Cooperative Banks) in the States of Andhra survey, the Indian Music and Film industry is Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and collected losing around Rs. 1800 crores because of thousands of crores by offering unsustainable piracy, since some unscrupulous people are high rate of interest and later siphoned off making copies of DVD movies and MP 3 hundreds of crores either by sanctioning loans songs illegally without obtaining permission to themselves, or to the borrowers with and paying royalty to the concerned whom they had criminal nexus. Naturally, producers. Some internet sites are offering such banks collapsed, which caused havoc free of cost latest music from hit movies by to the millions of small investors. 2 uploading to the internet which can then be NBFCs failed to repay the amounts to the downloaded by people anywhere in the depositors and finally they collapsed. And world without paying anything to the original hundreds of NBFCs vanished, leaving producers of the music. Thus, the original investors in financial crisis. Unfortunately, till producers of movies and songs as well as date, non-repayment by NBFCs is still a non- exchequer lose heavily on account of this new cognizable crime. The Financial Companies type of economic crime committed with the Regulations Bill 2000, which seeks to protect help of technology. the interest of investors, introduced in the Parliament on 13th December, 2000, has not vii) Non -Banking Finance Companies yet received the attention it deserves. (NBFCs) Frauds: viii) FAKE CURRENCY : NBFCs engaged in wide range of activities like hire-purchase finance, hiring Large scale circulation of fake currency can finance, equipment leasing finance, loans and undermine the economy, as well as national investments have been performing an security of any country. In India, the problem important role in our financial sector. is age old, but with the development in However, unscrupulous market players technology, high quality fake currency notes targeted NBFCs in a big way in the early 90's have been recovered from terrorists, who had .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • FCPA & Anti-Bribery
    alertFall 2019 FCPA & Anti-Bribery Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP A New York Limited Liability Partnership • One Battery Park Plaza New York, New York 10004-1482 • +1 (212) 837-6000 Attorney advertising. Readers are advised that prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. © 2019 Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP CORRUPTION PERCEPTION SCORE No Data 100 Very Clean 50 0 Very Corrupt Data from Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2018. SCORE COUNTRY/TERRITORY RANK 67 Chile 27 52 Grenada 53 41 India 78 35 Armenia 105 29 Honduras 132 23 Uzbekistan 158 88 Denmark 1 66 Seychelles 28 52 Italy 53 41 Kuwait 78 35 Brazil 105 29 Kyrgyzstan 132 22 Zimbabwe 160 87 New Zealand 2 65 Bahamas 29 52 Oman 53 41 Lesotho 78 35 Côte d’Ivoire 105 29 Laos 132 20 Cambodia 161 85 Finland 3 64 Portugal 30 51 Mauritius 56 41 Trinidad 78 35 Egypt 105 29 Myanmar 132 20 Democratic 161 85 Singapore 3 63 Brunei 31 50 Slovakia 57 and Tobago 35 El Salvador 105 29 Paraguay 132 Republic of the Congo 85 Sweden 3 Darussalam 49 Jordan 58 41 Turkey 78 35 Peru 105 28 Guinea 138 20 Haiti 161 85 Switzerland 3 63 Taiwan 31 49 Saudi Arabia 58 40 Argentina 85 35 Timor-Leste 105 28 Iran 138 20 Turkmenistan 161 84 Norway 7 62 Qatar 33 48 Croatia 60 40 Benin 85 35 Zambia 105 28 Lebanon 138 19 Angola 165 82 Netherlands 8 61 Botswana 34 47 Cuba 61 39 China 87 34 Ecuador 114 28 Mexico 138 19 Chad 165 81 Canada 9 61 Israel 34 47 Malaysia 61 39 Serbia 87 34 Ethiopia 114 28 Papua 138 19 Congo 165
    [Show full text]
  • Cesifo Working Paper No. 7874 Category 7: Monetary Policy and International Finance
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Gylfason, Thorvaldur; Zoega, Gylfi Working Paper Individual Behavior and Collective Action: The Path to Iceland's Financial Collapse CESifo Working Paper, No. 7874 Provided in Cooperation with: Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich Suggested Citation: Gylfason, Thorvaldur; Zoega, Gylfi (2019) : Individual Behavior and Collective Action: The Path to Iceland's Financial Collapse, CESifo Working Paper, No. 7874, Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/207265 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten
    [Show full text]
  • Political Control and Perceptions of Corruption in Icelandic Local Government
    n Fræðigreinar STJÓRNMÁL & STJÓRNSÝSLA Political control and perceptions of corruption in Icelandic local government Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, Professor of Political Science, University of Iceland Abstract Political control is an important value of democratic governance and without it democratic accountability can hardly mean much. This is why a number of authors have seen politicization of public service appointments and greater control by the centre as a potential counterweight against trends in in recent decades towards more networked and less hierarchical organizational forms of directing public policy. It may help to reassert democratic control. The option of strengthening political control, however, has not been much studied with regard to its likely effects on corruption. Power has the potential to corrupt unless adequately controlled and strengthening political power in a networked environment may create a structure of temptation which conventional deterrents to corruption are unable to curb. The impact of strong political leadership on corruption is here studied in the context of Icelandic local government, making use of institutional variations in the office of Mayor, which provide a unique opportunity for testing the effects of strong political control on corruption. The analysis indicates that municipalities with strong political mayors are likely to be associated with perceptions of corruption even when other factors, such as the structure of temptation and deterrents, are accounted for. Keywords: Political control; bureaucratic autonomy; corruption; strong mayor; Icelandic municipalities Icelandic Review of Politics and Administration Vol 11, Issue 1 ( 1-18 ) © 2015 Contacts: Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, [email protected] Article first published online June 23rd 2015 on http://www.irpa.is Publisher: Institute of Public Administration and Politics, Gimli, Sæmundargötu 1, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland Stjórnmál & stjórnsýsla 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Organised Crime Situation Report 2000
    Council of Europe Organised crime situation report 2000 PC-S-CO (2001) 13E (Provisional) Strasbourg, December 2001 Council of Europe - Organ ised Crime situation report 2000 Document prepared by members and scientific experts of the Group of specialists on criminal law and criminological aspects of organised crime (PC-S-CO): Mr. Kauko AROMAA Director, European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the UN (HEUNI), P.O. Box 161, FIN-00131 HELSINKI E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Maximilian EDELBACHER Head, Major Crime Bureau, Rossauer Lände 5, A-1090 VIENNA Tel: 43-1-3134-636002, Fax: 43-1-3134-636008 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Thierry GODEFROY CESDIP, Immeuble Edison, 43 Boulevard Vauban, F- 78280 GUYANCOURT Tel: 33-134 521712; Fax: 33-134 521717 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Michael LEVI Professor of Criminology, Cardiff University, Clamorgaan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, GB–CARDIFF CF10 3WT Tel: 44-29-2087 4376, Fax: 44-29-2087 4436 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Toon VAN DER HEIJDEN Senior Policy Advisor on Drugs and Organised Crime, Criminal Intelligence Division, National Police Agency (KLPD), P.O. Box 3016, NL-2700 KX ZOETERMEER Tel: 31-79345 9312, Fax: 31-79345 9152 E-mail: [email protected] Mr. Tom VANDER BEKEN Professor in Criminal Law, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, Ghent University, Universiteitstraat 4, 9000 GENT Tel: +32-9-264.69.39, Fax: 32-9-236.6971 E-mail: [email protected] 2 Council of Europe - Organ ised Crime situation report 2000 Contents
    [Show full text]
  • Moulding the Icelandic Tax System
    MS ritgerð Hagfræði Moulding the Icelandic Tax System Primary-Industry-Based Special Interest Groups, Taxation, Tax Expenditure, Direct and Indirect State Support, and the Shaping of Tax Rules Jóhannes Hraunfjörð Karlsson Leiðbeinandi Þórólfur Geir Matthíasson Hagfræðideild Október 2014 Moulding the Icelandic Tax System Primary-Industry-Based Special Interest Groups, Taxation, Tax Expenditure, Direct and Indirect State Support, and the Shaping of Tax Rules Jóhannes Hraunfjörð Karlsson Lokaverkefni til MS-gráðu í hagfræði Leiðbeinandi: Þórólfur Geir Matthíasson Hagfræðideild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands Október 2014 Titill ritgerðar. Moulding the Icelandic Tax System/Skattlagning á Íslandi: hvernig mótast hún? Ritgerð þessi er 30 eininga lokaverkefni til MS prófs við Hagfræðideild, Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands. © 2014 Jóhannes Hraunfjörð Karlsson Ritgerðina má ekki afrita með neinum hætti, svo sem ljósmyndun, prentun, hljóðritun eða á annan hátt að hluta eða í heild, án skriflegs leyfis höfundar. Prentun: Háskólaprent Reykjavík 2014 In memory of my parents Ólöf P. Hraunfjörð 10th July 1932–6th DecemBer 2011 and Karl Árnason 2nd May 1932–28th DecemBer 2012 Acknowledgements I wish to express my gratitude to all those who offered me their help and assistance during the writing of this thesis. My parents offered their constant support and help whenever I needed it. Their encouragement and love has always been a source of inspiration for me, and it is to them I dedicate this thesis. I owe special thanks to my thesis Supervisor, Professor Thórólfur Matthíasson, at the University of Iceland, for the many hours of patient dedication that helped me clarify, organize and express my ideas. Very special thanks to my friend and mentor Mikael M.
    [Show full text]
  • MAKING SENSE of CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS: Who to Ask (And About What?) - Evidence from Iceland
    MAKING SENSE OF CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS: Who to Ask (and About What?) - Evidence from Iceland GISSUR ÓLAFUR ERLINGSSON GUNNAR HELGI KRISTINSSON WORKING PAPER SERIES 2016:13 QOG THE QUALITY OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTE Department of Political Science University of Gothenburg Box 711, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG October 2016 ISSN 1653-8919 © 2016 by Gissur Ólafur Erlingsson & Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson. All rights reserved. Making Sense of Corruption Perceptions: Who to Ask (and About What?) - Evidence from Iceland Gissur Ólafur Erlingsson Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson QoG Working Paper Series 2016:13 October 2016 ISSN 1653-8919 ABSTRACT The extent of corruption in Iceland is highly contested. International corruption measures indicate a relatively small amount of corruption, while domestic public opinion suggest a serious corruption problem. Thus, uncertainty prevails about the actual extent of corruption and whose perceptions to rely on. This problem is relevant for corruption research in general. Perceptions are increasingly used as proxies for the actual levels of corruption in comparative research. But we still do not know enough about the accuracy of these proxies or the criteria they must meet in order to give depend- able results. In fact, radical differences exist concerning evaluations of perceptions between those who believe in unbiased learning and those believing perceptual bias to be widespread. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to attempt to gauge which factors may influence how perceptions of corruption are shaped and why differences in corruption perceptions between different groups may be so pronounced. We present findings from original survey data from three parallel surveys – among the ‘public’, experts, and ‘municipal practitioners’ – conducted in Iceland in 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Shades of Corrup- Tion Tolerance
    EXPLORING SHADES OF CORRUP- TION TOLERANCE Three Lessons from Iceland and Sweden GISSUR ÓLAFUR ERLINGSSON GUNNAR HELGI KRISTINSSON WORKING PAPER SERIES 2018:5 QOG THE QUALITY OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTE Department of Political Science University of Gothenburg Box 711, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG October 2018 ISSN 1653-8919 © 2018 by Gissur Ólafur Erlingsson & Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson. All rights reserved. Exploring Shades of Corruption Tolerance: Three Lessons from Iceland and Sweden Gissur Ólafur Erlingsson Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson QoG Working Paper Series 2018:5 October 2018 ISSN 1653-8919 ABSTRACT It is sometimes argued that tolerance for corruption is universally low, i.e. that corruption is shunned among all individuals, in all societies and cultures. Against this backdrop, this paper engages in two interrelated tasks: to descriptively map variations in corruption tolerance in two low-corrupt countries, and exploratively identify factors that influence tolerance of cor- ruption at the individual level. We note that although corruption tends to be widely disliked, there are shades to this dislike. In particular, three results stand out from our analyses. First, we reject the ‘pureness of the people’ versus ‘the corrupt elite’-hypothesis, observing that if anything, politicians are less tolerant of corruption than the general public. Second, we find striking differences in corruption tolerance between such homogenous, low-corrupt and in other respects such similar nations as Iceland and Sweden; differences we argue could be traced back to their different paths to representative democracy and strong state-capacity respectively. Third, analysing within-country variations in these countries, we observe that civil-servants generally tend to have a lower tolerance for corruption than do e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Iceland's Involvement in Bribes and Corruption in Namibia's Fishing
    Iceland’s involvement in bribes and corruption in Namibia’s fishing industry - Discourse analysis of the media Master's Thesis Culture, Communication and Globalisation September 15th 2020 Sól Margrét Bjarnadóttir Study no: 20180664 Keystrokes: 117.061 Supervisor: Oscar Garcia Augustin Abstract This thesis aims to examine the discourse in the Icelandic media coverage on the so-called Samherja case from the period on November 12, 2019, until July 12, 2020. The case concerns a significant document leak including over 30.000 documents on one of the biggest fishing companies of Iceland, Samherji, and their considered corrupt involvement in the fishing industry in Namibia. The theoretical framework consisted of perspectives in both international relations and media with a focus on poststructuralism, trust theories, theories on small state and then media theory of agenda-setting. The researcher used of mixed-method, including content analysis of media coverage and discourse analysis of those. Three media were analyses Stundin, Fréttablaðið and Morgunblaðið, which should give a holistic picture of the discourse in the media in general. The purpose was not to form a new theory from the data; rather, the focus is on the complex relations between social structure and discourse situation at any moment. From the perspective of constructivism and poststructuralism, we identify objects or themes that spin through the discourse and form a regime of truth. The analysis of data revealed four ideological standpoints that shaped the discourse: Corruption within, Exploitation of Namibian resources, Reputation of Iceland internationally, Mistrust and disputes in government. It could, therefore, be concluded from the analysis that corruption is considered a problem in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Combating Business Participation in Corruption in Mozambique
    Combating Business Participation in Corruption in Mozambique A Discussion Paper 31st October 2005 This project is supported by a Grant from The Center for International Private Enterprise in Washington, D.C. and was prepared with assistance from SAL Public Administration Observatory Combating Business Participation in Corruption in Mozambique CONTENTS 1 Executive summary 4 2 Introduction 8 2.1 Structure and purpose of the report 8 2.2 Corruption in Mozambique 9 2.3 The project 11 2.4 ACIS 12 2.5 CIPE 13 3 Types of corruption 14 3.1 Traditional definitions 14 3.2 Mozambique-specific definitions 15 4 The private sector experience 18 4.1 Experiences of corruption 19 4.2 Impact of corruption 21 4.3 Ways of combating corruption 22 4.4 Case studies 23 5 Analysis of the private sector & corruption in Mozambique 29 5.1 Government anti-corruption strategy 29 5.2 National study on governance and corruption 31 5.3 Business environment assessment 33 5.4 Inhambane investment climate survey 35 5.5 Ética study on corruption in Mozambique 36 6 International conventions 38 6.1 OECD 39 6.2 United Nations 40 6.3 African Union 41 6.4 Southern African Development Community 42 ACIS Discussion Paper – Combating Business Participation in Corruption in Mozambique. 2 www.acisofala.com 6.5 Transparency International 43 6.6 Summary 44 7 International initiatives 44 7.1 Transparency International supported initiatives 44 7.2 Transparency audits 47 7.3 Corruption-proofing audits 48 7.4 Codes of Business Principles 49 7.5 Islands of Integrity 50 7.6 Summary 51 8 Comparative frameworks 52 8.1 General 52 8.2 Private sector specific 53 9 Conclusions & Recommendations 55 10 Annexes 57 I.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Trust in Iceland Determinants and Trends, 1983 to 2018
    Political Trust in Iceland Determinants and trends, 1983 to 2018 Sjöfn Vilhelmsdóttir PhD Thesis February 2020 Supervisor Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson PhD Committee Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson Guðbjörg Andrea Jónsdóttir Peter W. Van Arsdale Political Trust in Iceland: Determinants and trends, 1983 to 2018 Supervisor: Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson PhD Committee: Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, University of Iceland Guðbjörg Andrea Jónsdóttir, University of Iceland Peter W. Van Arsdale, University of Denver The University of Iceland: Faculty of Political Science ISBN 978-9935-9477-5-8 Reykjavík 2020 © Sjöfn Vilhelmsdóttir Háskólaprent ehf. Abstract Despite the often intense public debate about how Icelanders have lost confidence in their regime institutions following the financial crisis of 2008 and policy recommendations on how to restore political trust, no systematic examination on the sources of political trust in Iceland has been carried out. This doctoral research aims to provide theoretical and empirical answers to the question: “what are the determinants of political trust in Iceland?” This includes mapping the dependent variable (i.e. political trust levels in Iceland) over time and studying its relationship with potential explanatory factors. Five theoretical perspectives from political science literature explaining the origins of public trust in political institutions guide the study: modernisation and value change, civic culture and social capital, policy performance, process performance, and electoral outcomes and partisanship. The study’s empirical section is based on repeated opinion survey data from two European programmes, and this data is used to conduct two types of analyses: a longitudinal descriptive analysis and a multivariate analysis. The longitudinal descriptive analysis identifies trends in the development of political trust levels in Iceland from 1983 to 2018, focusing on public trust in the national parliament (Althingi) in a comparative perspective.
    [Show full text]
  • Causes of Corruption in European Countries: History, Law, and Political Stability
    Causes of Corruption in European Countries: History, Law, and Political Stability Ronald MacDonald Muhammad Tariq Majeed* University of Glasgow University of Glasgow Abstract This study asks why corruption is increasing in European countries and what are the most important factors that explain such corruption? Although corruption scandals, speeches and reports indicate that corruption persists in European countries no one has tested the causes of corruption in European countries and this study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to empirically examine the causes of corruption for European countries. Cross-country data for European countries is used to examine the role of legal influences, historical factors and the effect of political stability on corruption. Five key findings are: (1) the effects of the legal strengths on the incidence of corruption are significant with a negative sign - a one-standard-deviation increase in the legal strengths is associated with a decrease in corruption of 0.26 points, 26% of a standard deviation in the corruption index; (2) political stability is a significant determinant of corruption; (3) the interactive effects of history and law are important in reducing corruption levels; (4) the size of government matters in affecting corruption levels; (5) finally, this study shows that an interdisciplinary approach is the most appropriate way to explain corruption. Key Words: History; Law; Political Instability; Corruption; European Countries JEL Classification: K0, O52, P37, C33, H0 Acknowledgement: this paper has benefited from comments received from participants at the First German ECSA Young Researcher Conference, 21-23 February 2011, Berlin Germany. Conference Topic: Europe’s Post-Crisis Stability – An Interdisciplinary Approach organized by German ECSA Arbeitskreis Europäische Integration (AEI) and ZEW Mannheim European Academy Berlin Bismarckallee 46/48 D-14193 Berlin Germany http://www.eab-berlin.de/.
    [Show full text]
  • In Defence of Small States
    ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY IN DEFENCE OF SMALL STATES HANNES H. GISSURARSON www.europeanreform.org @europeanreform A Brussels-based free market, euro-realist think-tank and publisher, established in 2010 under the patronage of Baroness Thatcher. We have satellite offices in London, Rome and Warsaw. New Direction - The Foundation for European Reform is registered in Belgium as a non-for-profit organisation (ASBL) and is partly funded by the European Parliament. REGISTERED OFFICE: Rue du Trône, 4, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Naweed Khan. www.europeanreform.org @europeanreform The European Parliament and New Direction assume no responsibility for the opinions expressed in this publication. Sole liability rests with the author. In Defence of Small States Prof Hannes H. Gissurarson AUTHOR TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 7 2 AGAINST SMALL NATIONS: MARX AND ENGELS 8 3 THE PROLIFERATION OF SMALL STATES 11 4 IS ICELAND TOO SMALL? 14 5 ECONOMIC GROWTH AND VOLATILITY 20 6 THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF SMALL SIZE 22 7 SIZE AND NATURAL DISASTERS 27 8 SIBERT’S ATTACK ON DAVID ODDSSON 28 9 WAS THE CBI LEADERSHIP ACQUIESCENT IN THE FACE OF DISASTER? 30 10 ICELAND RING-FENCED 35 11 NEPOTISM AND CORRUPTION IN SMALL STATES 38 12 POLITICAL PATRONAGE IN ICELAND 40 Prof Hannes H. Gissurarson 13 APPOINTMENTS OF SUPREME COURT JUDGES 44 14 CAUSES OF CORRUPTION 47 Dr Hannes H. Gissurarson, Professor of Politics in the School 15 POLITICAL PATRONAGE IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES 48 of Social Sciences at the University of Iceland. 16 FAVOURITISM IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES 51 17 LACK OF EXPERTISE IN SMALL STATES 53 18 THE “SHELTER” THEORY 56 19 IMPLAUSIBLE ACCOUNT OF THE COMMONWEALTH’S DOWNFALL 60 20 WHEN A SHELTER BECOMES A TRAP - THE CASE OF ICELAND 64 21 ENTRAPPED BY ALLIES 66 22 ENTRAPPED BY MULTI-NATIONAL ORGANISATIONS 69 23 STATES AND NATIONS 73 24 RECOMMENDATIONS 79 4 New Direction - The Foundation for European Reform www.europeanreform.org @europeanreform 5 In Defence of Small States Prof Hannes H.
    [Show full text]