News and views from the Blavatnik School of Government community 
By abruptly revoking the special, constitutionally protected status of Jammu and Kashmir, India has become the latest major democracy to act against a minority community for short-term political popularity. Kashmir will henceforth be ruled more directly from the government in New Delhi, and Hindu nationalists are thrilled. Carefully maintained constitutional […]
“Don’t get mad, get even.” That aphorism needs to become the new norm in democratic politics across Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Rather than complaining about populist successes, established political parties should take a page from the populist playbook. Three lessons, in particular, cry out for attention. The first […]
The wrongful exercise of authority over the use of public money is a major issue for public governance in many countries. As a tool of public governance, auditing is often directed against public office-holders’ corrupt activities and behaviour. This study seeks to advance professional knowledge about applying auditing to this […]
It seems reasonable to assume that progressive policies help each other along. That, for example, programmes to improve transparency and lower corruption go hand in hand with efforts to encourage more women to stand for political office. But is this assumption justified? And what if the opposite were sometimes the […]
This January the Blavatnik School of Government welcomed 31 Lemann Fellows and four MPP alumni to its ‘Integrity and Values in Government’ executive training course. The first of its kind at the School, the three-day course comprised seminars and lectures discussing the concepts of integrity and corruption, as well as […]
In these “orange times of terror”, Latin America has some more important issues to focus on, rather than spend all its energy and efforts dealing with Trump and his distinctive foreign policy in the region. Only a few months after the ‘Panama Papers’ controversy, a new corruption scandal has emerged. […]
During my time in the MPP, a senior civil servant delivered a lecture about his experience organising the London 2012 Olympic Games. I had not fully understood the scale of the Olympic Games before that lecture, nor had I thought about the vast amount of planning and infrastructure that goes into […]
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff will soon submit nominations for senior positions to the Congress for approval. Positions up for nomination include directors at the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) and a judge on the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal – STF). But Rousseff, one of the world’s most powerful women, […]