Pro/Con Chart

Corruption as a World-wide Problem

Yezabeth Cuevas

Advanced Composition

Corruption as a World-wide Problem

The average perception of corruption in the world stands at forty-three on a scale of zero to one hundred, where zero is highly corrupt and one hundred is very clean (Transparency International, 2018). As if this is not astonishing enough, many countries are observed to be making little or no effort at all to deal with corruption. As one ponders upon these facts, it should be noted that no country, among the 180 which were surveyed, had a score above ninety. It is baffling how corruption is rampant in the societies today despite the best efforts of various social activists to call for an end to public corruption.

In this paper, it is asserted that corruption is a worldwide issue which is only accelerated by poor political infrastructure and corruption. Being a global concern, joint efforts are at the best position of ending corruption as a social issue, despite the minor efforts that each country may be required to take to curb corruption. This paper broadly defines corruption as a global social issue, presents data to illustrate the current status, explains the causes and impacts of corruption, and then offers solutions for joint efforts to deal with corruption across countries.

To begin with, corruption refers to the use of means which falls within the definition of fraud, are often dishonest, and most often involve bribing. This is a comprehensive picture of corruption. According to Svensson (2005), the people in power are mostly accused of corruption. In particular, it is denoted that public corruption entails the misuse of office with a purpose of personal gain (Svensson, 2005). However, corruption does not have a clear-cut definition. This implies that the definition of public corruption relies on the legal framework of the affected communities across the world. Therefore, corruption as a global issue encompasses those fraudulent and dishonest acts by people in some type of power which exploits others for personal gain.

From the definition of corruption aforementioned, corruption remains to be a global social problem. This is illustrated in many ways. First, the recent report indicates that many countries rank below 50 on a corruption scale of 0-100 (Transparency International, 2018). This implies that on average, a majority of countries are corrupt. It is also noted by Svensson (2005) that corruption is a true reflection of the institutional framework of a certain country. This makes it easy to both measure a complex set of types of corruption based on these frameworks and to advance workable solutions to avert corruption. However, the efforts that are being advanced to tackle the issue of public corruption are either not enough or they do not address the root cause of corruption.

Perhaps the most important point to note is that corruption is caused mainly by poor political landscapes. First, political frameworks of a certain country influence the freedom of speech and access to information. Current research on the state of corruption in the world today points out that a relationship exists between media freedom and the rate of corruption (James, 2017). Ideally, countries with broken political systems or those whose democracy is not entirely realized tend to have a high prevalence of corruption. As Tanzi and Davoodi (1998) note, democracy influences the prevalence of corruption. What this means is that in countries with well-laid out political systems which allow freedom and upholds the rights of people, the levels of corruption are greatly reduced. Apart from media freedom and protection of people’s rights, a good political landscape denies those in power a chance to advance themselves favors since they face public scrutiny.

Nonetheless, the main reasons that make corruption a global burden are demonstrated in its effects on investment and reduction in the economic growth. There are a number of arguments in favor of this perspective. First, Tanzi and Davoodi (1998) demonstrate that the vice of corruption creates inferior public infrastructure. This includes many aspects such as corrupt systems allocating public contracts to unworthy contractors, embezzlement of funds, and the influence of political leaders on investment projects for monetary reasons. The fact that a country with poor infrastructure, in areas such as transport and communication, is one that is on its collapsing trajectory cannot be argued against (Tanzi & Davoodi, 1998). Second, once infrastructure has been weakened, investment and economic growth are also impaired. Every country is striving to steer economic development yet corruption is working against them. Finally, economic collapse due to corruption creates a burden on other countries. One of these impacts is in the way that more economically developed countries must support those with collapsing economies in terms of humanitarian aids and grants.

Furthermore, corruption is a global issue because it creates an avenue for crime and injustices. One reason is that corruption, as explained above, reflects weak and less credible governance (Levi & Nelken, 1996). This also means that crime rates and other forms of injustices will be committed without proper legal consequences.

Despite the numerous challenges imposed by corruption, there are solutions which can ensure that corruption is eliminated or at the least reduced. However, the efforts must reflect a global joint effort if the issue of corruption must be clearly tackled. First, there should countries should relax laws that limit media and people’s rights (Montinola et al, 2002). This will ensure that the people can access information freely and that leaders face public scrutiny. Ideally, corruption is best tackled by causing changes in the political landscapes in a given country. Democracy which allows freedom of speech should be encouraged (Dunfee & Donaldson, 2017). Finally, public accountability should be fostered while countries are encouraged to embrace the strategic development goals that are set by the United Nations.

Bottom line, the discussion above simply demonstrates that corruption is not an issue of an individual country but rather a global issue. This vice is only accelerated by poor political infrastructure. Furthermore, it has been illustrated that the reason that makes corruption an enemy of development is that it weakens the economy while discouraging investment. However, joint efforts should be made to curb corruption. Mainly, re-structuring of political landscapes will help to increase access to information and public scrutiny-both of which are important in reducing corruption.

References

Dunfee, T. W., & Donaldson, T. J. (2017). Untangling the corruption knot: global bribery viewed through the lens of integrative social contract theory. The Blackwell guide to business ethics, 61-76.

James, S. (2017). The potential benefits of freedom of information. In Open government in a theoretical and practical context (pp. 31-46). Routledge.

Levi, M., & Nelken, D. (1996). The corruption of politics and the politics of corruption. Blackwell.

Montinola, Gabriella R. & Jackman, Robert W. (2002). British journal of political science.

Source of corruption: a cross-country study (pp. 147-170).

Svensson, J. (2005). Eight questions about corruption. Journal of economic perspectives, 19(3), 19-42.

Tanzi, V., & Davoodi, H. (1998). Corruption, public investment, and growth. In The welfare state, public investment, and growth (pp. 41-60). Springer, Tokyo.

Transparency International. (2018). Corruption Perception Index 2017. Retrieved August 20 2018 from https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017