Are Democracy-Supporting Bureaucrats More Honest Bureaucrats? A Study of Corruption and Democratic Attitudes Among Bureaucrats in South Asia

Studies of democratization and development draw particular attention to problems of governance and corruption. The consolidation of democracy has been argued to hinge on the presence of a use-able bureaucracy. As such it requires bureaucrats who are positively supportive of the new democratic regime and who do not engage to in corruption to undermine both the successful democratization and development. This paper moves beyond existing country-level studies of the relation between democracy, bureaucracy and corruption by focusing on the attitudes and behavior of individual bureaucrats, in particular, the question whether democracy-supporting bureaucrats are more honest and, by implication, less corrupt bureaucrats. The paper draws on a survey of 1800 public servants in two South Asian countries: Bangladesh and Nepal. It uses standard indicators to measure democratic attitudes of public servants in combination with a measure of revealed honesty of public servants that has previously been used in laboratory settings in behavioral economics. The paper concludes with a broader discussion of the relation between democracy, corruption and civil service reform in developing countries.