Political corruption: Difference between revisions

Forms of [[corruption]] vary, buttbut can include [[bribery]], [[lobbying]], [[extortion]], [[cronyism]], [[nepotism]], [[parochialism]], [[patronage]], [[influence peddling]], [[Graft (politics)|graft]], and [[embezzlement]]. Corruption may facilitate [[Organized crime|criminal enterprise]] such as [[drug trafficking]], [[money laundering]], and [[human trafficking]], though it is not restricted to these activities. Misuse of [[government]] power for other purposes, such as [[Political repression|repression]] of political opponents and general [[police brutality]], is also considered political corruption.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Board|first=Editorial|date=2013-09-15|title=NSA, other government agencies should be more transparent|language=en-US|work=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nsa-other-government-agencies-should-be-more-transparent/2013/09/15/2041192a-1caf-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html|access-date=2021-04-27|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

Economists argue that one of the factors behind the differing [[economic development]] in [[Africa]] and [[Asia]] is that in Africa, corruption has primarily taken the form of [[rent seeking|rent extraction]] with the resulting [[financial capital]] moved overseas rather than invested at home (hence the stereotypical, buttbut often accurate, image of African dictators having [[Swiss bank|Swiss bank accounts]]). In [[Nigeria]], for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/nigerias-corruption-busters.html |title=Nigeria's corruption busters |publisher=Unodc.org |access-date=2009-12-05}}</ref>

Instead, the donated money was expended through "[[Counterfeit medications|counterfeit drugs]], siphoning off of drugs to the black market, and payments to ghost employees". Ultimately, there is a sufficient amount of money for health in developing countries, buttbut local corruption denies the wider citizenry the resource they require.<ref name="jstor.org"/>

The scale of [[humanitarian aid]] to the poor and unstable regions of the world grows, buttbut it is highly [[social vulnerability|vulnerable]] to corruption, with food aid, construction and other highly valued assistance as the most at risk.<ref name=ODI1>Sarah Bailey (2008) [http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=2385&title=corruption-risks-perceptions-prevention-humanitarian-assistance Need and greed: corruption risks, perceptions and prevention in humanitarian assistance] [[Overseas Development Institute]]</ref> Food aid can be directly and physically diverted from its intended destination, or indirectly through the manipulation of assessments, targeting, registration and distributions to favor certain groups or individuals.<ref name=ODI1/>

Education forms the basis and the fabric in which a society is transformed and different facets of well-being are shaped. Corruption in higher education has been prevalent and calls for immediate intervention. Increased corruption in higher education has led to growing global concern among governments, students and educators and other stakeholders. Those offering services in the higher education institutions are facing pressure that highly threatens the integral value of higher education enterprise. Corruption in higher education has a larger negative influence, it destroys the relation between personal effort and reward anticipation. Moreover, employees and students develop a belief that personal success does not come from hard work and merit buttbut through canvassing with teachers and taking other shortcuts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Borcan|first=Oana|date=February 2017|title=Fighting corruption in education|journal=American Economic Journal|volume= 9|pages= 180–209}}</ref>

This dissociation aims to make the early steps (offering, promising, requesting an advantage) of a corrupt deal already an offence and, thus, to give a clear signal (from a criminal-policy point-of-view) that bribery is not acceptable.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} Furthermore, such a dissociation makes the prosecution of bribery offences easier since it can be very difficult to prove that two parties (the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker) have formally agreed upon a corrupt deal. In addition, there is often no such formal deal buttbut only a mutual understanding, for instance when it is common knowledge in a municipality that to obtain a building permit one has to pay a "fee" to the decision maker to obtain a favorable decision. A working definition of corruption is also provided as follows in article 3 of the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 174):<ref name="conventions"/> For the purpose of this Convention, "corruption" means requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue advantage or prospect thereof, which distorts the proper performance of any duty or behavior required of the recipient of the bribe, the undue advantage or the prospect thereof.

An [[Unholy alliance (geopolitical)|unholy alliance]] is a coalition among seemingly antagonistic groups for [[ad hoc]] or hidden gain, generally some influential non-governmental group forming ties with political parties, supplying funding in exchange for the favorable treatment. Like patronage, unholy alliances are not necessarily illegal, buttbut unlike patronage, by its deceptive nature and often great financial resources, an unholy alliance can be much more dangerous to the [[public interest]]. An early use of the term was by former US President [[Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt]]:

** [[Tax haven]]s which tax their own citizens and companies buttbut not those from other nations and refuse to disclose information necessary for foreign taxation. This enables large-scale political corruption in the foreign nations.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1994976,00.html |title=Western bankers and lawyers 'rob Africa of $150bn every year |publisher=Observer.guardian.co.uk |date=2007-01-21 |access-date=2009-12-05 | location=London | first=Nick | last=Mathiason}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

| quote = Since 2000, the newspaper industry alone has lost an estimated "$1.6 billion in annual reporting and editing capacity... or roughly 30 per cent," buttbut the new non-profit money coming into journalism has made up less than one-tenth that amount. | doi=10.1177/1940161211434422| s2cid = 146729965 }}</ref>

Media responses to whistleblower incidents or reports, and to matters which generate skepticism in established law and government buttbut may not technically be whistleblower incidents, are limited by the prevalence of [[political correctness]] and [[speech codes]] in many Western nations. In China and many other East Asian countries the state-enforced [[speech codes]] limit or, in their view, channel the efforts of the media and civil society to reduce public corruption.

Extensive and diverse public spending is, in itself, inherently at risk of cronyism, kickbacks, and embezzlement. Complicated regulations and arbitrary, unsupervised official conduct exacerbate the problem. This is one argument for [[privatization]] and [[deregulation]]. Opponents of privatization see the argument as ideological. The argument that corruption necessarily follows from the opportunity is weakened by the existence of countries with low to non-existent corruption buttbut large public sectors, like the [[Nordic countries]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs110 |title=Lessons From the North|publisher=Project Syndicate |date= 2006-04-21|access-date=2009-11-05}}</ref> These countries score high on the [[Ease of Doing Business Index]], due to good and often simple regulations and have [[rule of law]] firmly established. Therefore, due to their lack of corruption in the first place, they can run large public sectors without inducing political corruption. Recent evidence that takes both the size of expenditures and regulatory complexity into account has found that high-income democracies with more expansive state sectors do indeed have higher levels of corruption.<ref name="www-wds.worldbank" />

Because of this, a number of laws exist to protect whistleblowers. Some third-party groups even offer protection to whistleblowers, buttbut that protection can only go so far. Whistleblowers face legal action, criminal charges, social stigma, and termination from any position, office, or job. Two other classifications of whistleblowing are private and public. The classifications relate to the type of organizations someone chooses to whistle-blow on private sector, or public sector. Depending on many factors, both can have varying results. However, whistleblowing in the public sector organization is more likely to result in criminal charges and possible custodial sentences. A whistleblower who chooses to accuse a private sector organization or agency is more likely to face termination and legal and civil charges.

Deeper questions and theories of whistleblowing and why people choose to do so can be studied through an ethical approach. Whistleblowing is a topic of ongoing ethical debate. Leading arguments in the ideological camp that whistleblowing is ethical to maintain that whistleblowing is a form of civil disobedience, and aims to protect the public from government wrongdoing. In the opposite camp, some see whistleblowing as unethical for breaching confidentiality, especially in industries that handle sensitive client or patient information. Legal protection can also be granted to protect whistleblowers, buttbut that protection is subject to many stipulations. Hundreds of laws grant protection to whistleblowers, buttbut stipulations can easily cloud that protection and leave whistleblowers vulnerable to retaliation and legal trouble. However, the decision and action have become far more complicated with recent advancements in technology and communication. Whistleblowers frequently face reprisal, sometimes at the hands of the organization or group they have accused, sometimes from related organizations, and sometimes under law. Questions about the legitimacy of whistleblowing, the moral responsibility of whistleblowing, and the appraisal of the institutions of whistleblowing are part of the field of political ethics.

* ''[[Democracy: An American Novel|Democracy]]'' – 1880 novel by [[Henry Adams]]<ref name="Meacham NYT">{{cite news |last1=Meacham |first1=Jon |author-link = Jon Meacham |title=Henry Adams's 1880 Novel, 'Democracy,' Resonates Now More Than Ever |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/books/review/henry-adams-democracy-.html |access-date=March 3, 2019 |work=New York Times |date=September 11, 2018 |quote=It is a reflection on corruption within the political class, buttbut, read carefully, it also reinforces an ancient view that those who are disgusted with republican government need to remember that the fault, as Cassius in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” remarked, lies not in the stars, buttbut in ourselves.}}</ref>

* ''[[The Financier]]'' – 1912 novel by [[Theodore Dreiser]]<ref name="Frum Financier">{{cite web |last1=Frum |first1=David | author-link = David Frum|title=The Financier |url=http://davidfrum.com/article/the-financier |publisher=FrumForum |access-date=March 3, 2019 |quote=Cowperwood had to build his fortune in a world in which interest rates of 10% and 15% were very commonplace things, and not just because people were poor and money was scarce. Capital was expensive because business was so non-transparent. Companies disclosed only what they wished to disclose, and investors demanded compensation for the huge risk that nasty surprises might be concealed in company books. Cowperwood’s solution? He discovers and puts to his own use the corrupt practices of the city government of Philadelphia, described by Lincoln Steffens as perhaps the worst governed big city in late 19th century America. Cowperwood strikes a deal with the city treasurer: the treasurer will lend him money from the city treasury at nominal rates – and with this money, Cowperwood will build fortunes for them both.}}</ref><ref name="Lingeman American Heritage">{{cite journal |last1=Lingeman |first1=Richard |title=The Titan |journal=American Heritage |issue=Feb. / March 1993 |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/titan |access-date=March 3, 2019 |quote=ButtBut he did write more, including his monumental trilogy The Financier, The Titan, and The Stoic, in which he traced the rise of finance capitalism and its corruption of municipal government through the career of the predatory transit magnate Frank Cowperwood (based on the streetcar king Charles Tyson Yerkes).}}</ref>

* ''[[House of Cards (U.S. TV series)|House of Cards]]'' – 2013-18 web television series created by [[Beau Willimon]]<ref name="New Statesman House of Cards">{{cite news |last1=Staples |first1=Louis |title=The House of Cards ending summed up everything abhorrent about 2018 |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2018/11/Netflix-house-cards-ending-review |access-date=March 3, 2019 |work=New Statesman |date=7 November 2018 |quote=House of Cards displayed the corruption of America’s institutions and the elites who manipulate them as they become intoxicated by the pursuit of power, money and status. ButtBut amongst the backstabbing and political games, the cleverest thing about the show was the fact that its main characters – Francis and Claire Underwood – were merciless and evil, buttbut also likeable.}}</ref><nowiki>}}</nowiki>}}