Final Research Paper on Corruption
CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT 1
CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT 5
Corruption in government
Yezabeth Cuevas
Excelsior College
Corruption in government
Corruption. What is the first thing people think of when they hear this word? Most think of government. Corrruption is a crime and it is an act of fraud or dishonesty carried out by a person who has been entrusted with an office with power or influence and uses it for their own personal gain or benefit. Corruption is categorized as two types: petty and grand and also as opportunistic and systemic (Basu, Shreya; Fritzen, Scott A. 2013). It is unfortunate that leaders entrusted in these power positions, such as: government officials, customs officers and police officers, can violate the trust that people have placed in them. These “leaders” are supposed to represent the people and look out for their best interest: good economy, less taxes, good education, and good healthcare plans. Instead, they make the decision to go against everything that got them to their positions, their promises to the people, in various corruptive forms such as: bribery, graft, embezzlement, blackmail, extortion, abuse of office and nepotism among others (Rose-Ackerman & Palifka, 2016).
Every government and even companies in the world experience instances of corruption. The big question is; why does corruption happen? There is more than one reason: many times corruption occurs because there are no policies or rules in place to sanction such crime; the lack of work ethic standards that are not high enough; and allowing workers to develop close relationships with external stakeholders to name a few. According to Basu, Shreya; Fritzen, Scott A. (2013), there are four factors why corruption occurs: government structures, economic development, institutional development, and historical/cultural factors.
Through different studies and research, there is believe that one of the biggest reasons for a country to be corrupted is their government; the lack of democracy, lack of freedom, lack of transparency and accountability. Corruption has also been linked to countries that are underdeveloped and whose economy is very poor. These countries do not have the opportunity to trade with foreign countries due to stringent regulations, resulting in illicit actions. Additionally, it slows down economic growth and increases inflation, and due to the misuse of public funds, corruption affects education and the health sector. These public funds never make it to their destination.
As a result of the detrimental impact that corruption has in highly visible areas, there are tools that have been used to measure corruption. One of the tools that is utilized to assess corruption, is the Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, which is a public opinion survey (Basu, Shreya; Fritzen, Scott A. 2013). There is also the Transparency International’s Perceived Corruption Index and the World Bank’s Governance Matters database, which has been used to determine which countries have the stronger and weaker governments. Based on these tools, countries are ranked and those with stronger governments, have been associated with a lesser presence of corruption than those who have weaker governments and economy disadvantages. Through the research of over 70 countries, it was determined that there is no way in which corruption has any sort of positive impact on any level, on any country (Aidt, T., Dutta, J., & Sena, V. 2008).
When a country’s government is weak, lacks transparency to the people and doesn’t hold accountable those who engage in corruptive behaviors for their own personal gain, it doesn’t just affect one area; there is a bigger picture to corruption. It erodes the trust people once had in what they believed in; it affects the way of life
By the research and studies executed by many, it is fair to say that corruption is inevitable. Unfortunately, every country will not have a strong government and for as long as there are weaker governments, high ranking officials with the money to control things for their own personal gain, it will continue to happen. In stronger governments, like ours, yes, we have a “system” which if “caught”, that person will be held accountable. But we can question, to what extent is government being transparent to their people and to what extent are these violators being held accountable? It is hard to say and to be confident that everyone is being held to the same standard and that everyone is being held accountable equally. There have been some international conventions to raise awareness about corruption: Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (1996), the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (1997), and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (2003) and the most recent and considered the most important United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), adopted in 2003 attended by 140 participants (Aidt, T., Dutta, J., & Sena, V. 2008).
References
Rose-Ackerman, S., & Palifka, B. J. (2016). Corruption and government: Causes, consequences, and reform. Cambridge university press.
Treisman, D. (2007). What have we learned about the causes of corruption from ten years of cross-national empirical research?. Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci., 10, 211-244.
Aidt, T., Dutta, J., & Sena, V. (2008). Governance regimes, corruption and growth: Theory and
evidence. Journal of Comparative Economics, 36, 195–220.
Aidt, T., Dutta, J., & Sena, V. (2008) In: Global Social Issues : An Encyclopedia. (pp. 477-88).
Database: Gale Virtual Reference Library