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Sarah Chayes on Corruption

Day-to-day corruption is not only detrimental to a country’s economy, but can also make people angry and more sympathetic to violent extremism.

published by
Voice of America
 on February 25, 2015

Source: Voice of America

Carol Castiel and VOA corruption correspondent Jeffrey Young spoke with Carnegie’s Sarah Chayes about her new book Thieves of State. Chayes explained how corruption is an under-recognized driver of extreme behavior, and how Western officials fail to understand how personally humiliating corruption is in countries like Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Ukraine. Corruption that people face every single day is not only detrimental to a country’s economy, but is also wounding to a person’s dignity—it makes people angry, and can at times lead to violent extremism, she warned.

This interview was originally broadcast on Voice of America.

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