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What makes for effective anti-corruption systems? A new paper by Global Integrity’s Marianne Camerer argues that a number of conditions are required to ensure that anti-corruption reforms in any context are effective, sustainable and not easily subverted. What makes for effective anti-corruption systems? (English .PDF) Que faut-il pour créer des systèmes de lutte contre la…

Mike Manning, chairman of Transparency International’s Papua New Guinea chapter, has died of a heart attack. Radio Australia: One of Papua New Guinea’s leading anti-corruption campaigners has died suddenly. Firmin Nanol reports the chairman of PNG’s anti-corruption group, Transparency International- has died of a heart attack. Mike Manning collapsed while walking in Rabaul in PNG’s…

Egyptian Shura Council building burns in Cairo. Photo by Mohamed Abdel Aziz. Have a street-level view of news in your neighborhood? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll post it.

Yasha Levine at Wired tells the story of a Sergey Gorshkov, a Moscow blogger who has become a national sensation by publishing a steady stream of political smears — and perhaps half of his stories are zakazukha, bought and paid for by rival politicians. He says he’s in it for the money, and the money…

The Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy’s Fuad Aliyev writes on Islamic banking practices, which are expanding under the noses of regulators who attempt to ban these practices. A case study in how local culture can make issues of regulation and transparency fiendishly complex. “Guerrilla Islamic Finance:” Islamic Banking the Azerbaijani Way By Fuad Aliyev Project Manager &…

A cigarette gets you in the door,And with the wine you hear the deal,But if you want the problem solved,It’s gotta be a great big meal. This Chinese “slippery jingle” via translator Perry Link, author unknown.One more, also translated by Perry: Officials are addicted to moneyWhile the people labor and sweat.If something else counts, then…