Urgently Needed: New Efforts to Protect Anti-Corruption Civil Society Activists

November 17, 2014 by Frank Vogl in Accountability, Corporate Governance, Politics

"With impunity there cannot be peace," says Carlos Hernández, Director in Honduras of the Asociación para una Sociedad Mas Justa (the Honduran national chapter of Transparency International). Carlos calmly talks about the endless waves of murders in his country, the rising numbers of contract killers and the intense efforts that he and his colleagues are making to find constructive ways to work with the police, the judiciary and, more broadly, with the general public to curb corruption and find a path to justice and stability.

Accountability & Transparency Now in U.S. Aid to Egypt

August 19, 2013 by Frank Vogl in Corruption, US Politics, News

The horrendous slaughter in the streets of Egyptian cities is calling into question the value of U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. Currently, the U.S. provides about $1.5 billion annually in aid to Egypt.

Hopefully, this discussion will lead to a deeper and broader debate about the objectives of our aid programs and the methods used to provide aid and monitor its uses. – not just to Egypt, but to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Kenya where key issues of international security are a prime driver of U.S. largesse.

Urgently Needed: Reform of the Broken American Political System

July 27, 2013 by Frank Vogl in Corruption, US Politics

The American political system is damaged goods. Public confidence in the U.S. Congress is at an all-time low of just 10 percent, according to a recent Gallup Poll. Then, according to a brand new poll, 85 percent of U.S. business leaders see major problems with the U.S. campaign finance system, indeed 42 percent say the system is completely broken.