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Fighting Corruption in Public Services
established and that people with influence were no longer accorded special privileges. Credibility was also enhanced by clarifying the legal basis for fighting corruption and quickly passing a host of anticorruption laws, including anti-mafia legislation, laws permitting the confiscation of illegally obtained property, amendments to the criminal law to permit plea bargaining, and constitutional amendments to rebalance the powers between the different branches of government.
3. Launch a Frontal Assault on Corruption In many countries promoting reforms, capacity constraints become binding, inducing reformers to settle for piecemeal efforts. What made leaders in Georgia forge ahead with sweeping reforms rather than adopt this approach? Reformers recognized that attacking corruption across many fronts simultaneously was the only way to fight it. They understood that piecemeal reforms would not work, as vested interests would be able to block them. It was essential to adopt a blitzkrieg approach and keep the opposition unbalanced to prevent opponents from resisting them. Policy makers also understood that many of the reforms were interlinked and that success in one area needed success in others. For the anticorruption reforms in the power sector to succeed, for instance, the state had to improve the availability and reliability of power supply, which required immediate investments in power generation, transmission, and distribution. Public resources were scarce, however. Tax collection needed to improve to fund these investments. When everything needs fixing, the question is where to begin. Georgia’s leaders believed that restoring the rule of law and improving tax collection were necessary first steps. The order of other reforms was driven by the desire to benefit the maximum number of people in the shortest time possible. Not surprisingly, restoring power supply was a priority in 2004, as was deregulating business and ridding higher education of corruption. Some reforms carried inherent risks, as the population would have to share some of the burden for making changes work. Restoring power, for example, required higher power tariffs and more stringent collection. According to Zurab Nogaideli, the former prime minister, government leaders bet that around-the-clock power, a visible and welcome change, would outweigh concerns about higher rates.
4. Attract New Staff The lack of capable staff often limits the ability to implement reforms. Georgian policy makers overcame human capacity constraints in public