Political Corruption

Political corruption

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Jump to:navigation, search World map of the 2007Corruption Perceptions IndexbyTransparency International, which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". High numbers (green) indicate less perception of corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate higher perception of corruption.

Political corruption

is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such asrepressionof politicalopponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegalacts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties.All forms of governmentare susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, butinclude bribery,extortion, cronyism,nepotism, patronage, graft, andembezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such asdrug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to theseorganized crimeactivities. In some nations, corruption is so common that it has gained normative status. The end point of political corruption is akleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves".The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction.Certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In somecountries, government officials have broad or poorly defined powers, and the line between whatis legal and illegal can be difficult to draw.Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494bn), and the burden of corruptionfalls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty.

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[edit] Effects

[edit] Effects on politics, administration, and institutions

Detail from

Corrupt Legislation

(1896) byElihu Vedder . Library of CongressThomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.Corruption poses a serious development challenge. In the political realm, it underminesdemocracyandgood governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in electionsand inlegislativebodies reduces accountabilityand distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciarycompromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the inefficient provision of services. More generally, corruption erodesthe institutional capacity of government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphonedoff, and public offices are bought and sold. At the same time, corruption undermines thelegitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance.

[edit] Economic effects

Corruption undermines economic development by generating considerable distortions andinefficiency. In the private sector , corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cuttingredtape, the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays. Openlyremoving costly and lengthy regulations are better than covertly allowing them to be bypassed byusing bribes. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also distorts the playing field,shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms.Corruption also generates economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. Officials may

increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave way for suchdealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance withconstruction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services andinfrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government.Economists argue that one of the factors behind the differing economic development in Africa and Asiais that in the former, corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction with the resultingfinancial capitalmoved overseas rather invested at home (hence the stereotypical, butoften accurate, image of African dictators having Swiss bank accounts

). In Nigeria, for example,more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999.

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University of Massachusettsresearchers estimated that from 1970 to 1996,capital flightfrom 30sub-Saharan countries totaled $187bn, exceeding those nations' external debts.

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(The results,expressed in retarded or suppressed development, have been modeled in theory by economistMancur Olson.) In the case of Africa, one of the factors for this behavior was political instability,and the fact that new governments often confiscated previous government's corruptly-obtainedassets. This encouraged officials to stash their wealth abroad, out of reach of any futureexpropriation. In contrast, Asian administrations such as Suharto's New Order often took a cut on business transactions or provided conditions for development, through infrastructure investment,law and order, etc.

[edit] Environmental and social effects

Corruption facilitates environmental destruction. Even the corrupt countries may formally havelegislation to protect the environment, it cannot be enforced if the officials can be easily bribed.The same applies to social rights such as worker protection, unionizationand prevention of child labor . Violation of these laws and rights enables corrupt countries to gain an illegitimateeconomic advantage in the international market.As the Nobel Prize-winning economistAmartya Senhas observed that "there is no such thing as an apolitical food problem." Whiledroughtand other naturally occurring events may trigger famine conditions, it is government action or inaction that determines its severity, and often evenwhether or not a famine will occur. Governments with strong tendencies towards kleptocracycan underminefood security even when harvests are good. Officials often steal state property. In Bihar ,India,more than 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor is stolen by corrupt officials.

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Similarly, food aid is often robbed at gunpoint by governments, criminals and warlords alike,and sold for a profit. The 20th century is full of many examples of governments undermining thefood security of their own nations – sometimes intentionally.

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[edit] Other areas: health, public safety, education, trade unions etc.

Corruption is not specific to poor, developing or transition countries. In western Europeancountries, there have been cases of bribery and other forms of corruption in all possible fields:under-the-table payments made to reputed surgeons by patients willing to be on top of the list of forthcoming surgeries, bribes paid by suppliers to the automotive industry in order to sell poor quality connectors used for instance in safety equipement such as airbags, bribes paid bysuppliers to manufacturers of defibrilators (to sell poor quality capacitors), contributions paid by

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