Paper on government corruption

8/9/2019 Paper on government corruption

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Abstract

Political corruption is a major problem in our society. It has a long history dating back to the

very beginnings of government and rule. Those who work in branches of the government have

used their power and status in order to gain an unfair advantage over the common man. In some

cases they have even misused their power in order to make a monetary gain. Contrary to popular

belief, corruption is an etremely widespread crime that causes damage to countries, people, and

societies and it is carried out in many different methods.


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Table of Contents

Abstract!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Table of Contents !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.#

Corruption$ The %idespread Problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..&

'eferences(%orks Cited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!")

Tables(*igures(Photographs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..""


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Corruption$ The %idespread Problem

Corruption can easily be considered as one of the foremost greatest problems in our society.

It is an evil the takes root in every society and nation around the globe from western democracies

like the +nited tates to strict regimes such as -orth orea. This is not because government is

flawed, but because we as humans are flawed. Corruption stems from our own greed and grows

until it turns into a severe political issue, just as it has in countries like /eico and India. In the

media most people accused of corruption are mainly congressmen, lawmakers, lobbyists, and

sometimes even a president. ometimes they are accused of accepting bribes or manipulating

votes to tip the election in a certain direction. 0owever, many people aren1t aware that corruption

takes place even on the streets with policemen and even such respected professionals as doctors.

In the end, corruption affects numerous branches of society from health, public safety, education,

and trade to name a few. Contrary to popular belief, corruption is an etremely widespread crime

that causes damage to countries, people, and societies that it is carried out and has been carried

out though many different methods over time.

2ne type of corruption rampant in 0aiti, a small nation in the Caribbean, is bribery. In

3anuary of #)") a devastating earth4uake rattled the city of Port au Prince on the island of 0aiti

in the Caribbean islands. It was ranked as a 5.) on the 'ichter scale and as the fourteenth most

powerful earth4uake to hit any part of the world in the first decade of the #"stcentury. In total, it

is estimated that about &)),))) people died in the disaster that struck the island nation. 0owever

the other thirteen more powerful earth4uakes only killed a combined total of "67,))) 8%asow,

#)""9. This is only about half of the lives that were taken in 0aiti. /any people might consider

this a terrible tragedy and attribute the deaths to high population density or the suddenness of the

earth4uake. Though these might be contributing reasons, there is another culprit. /ost people


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who assumed it was these things would most probably be shocked to learn that this disaster was

caused by cutting corners in the city planning and failing to adhere to construction laws. The true

culprit essentially, was corruption. The only reason so many people died in 0aiti was because of

bribery of builders and inspectors. In 0aiti, most houses and buildings are built by paying off the

necessary officials and building without paying any heed to the building codes. This caused

about 6): of all buildings in the country to collapse or be severely damaged. In contrast, only

four months before the 0aiti earth4uake disaster, in eptember #));, an


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politicians and officers in the military bent the rules and gave themselves flats in the new

comple at lower prices than they would normally sell for. They essentially took the houses in

prime location for themselves. /edia coverage on the 0ousing scandal grew in #)") when many

began to 4uestion how certain politicians gained housing in the comple. The scandal grew out

of hand as it was revealed that the politicians took the flats for themselves. In the end it led to the

resignation of the Chief /inister Ashok Chavan. This is just one eample of the many cases of

embe==lement cases that occur every year not only in India, but all over the world. In fact, there

are many cases of embe==lement in politics in the +nited tates. ven though embe==lement is a

problem in many countries, it is just one type of corruption that is a little part of a large problem.

In history many people have taken power by force and through the use of military coercion.

2ne perfect eample of this is -apoleon Bonaparte, who overthrew the *rench @irectory in "5;;

and took control. This event in history is known as the coup of "< Brumaire, which is -apoleon1s

coup d1tat by which he took control of the country 8%ilde #)"#9. 0owever, these days it isn1t

so easy to just sei=e power of countries, especially in democratic countries such as the +nited

tates where power is divided amongst many people and branches of government. ven so, some

people have come close to doing just that in +.. history. The most famous eample of political

corruption in the +nited tates is easily the %atergate candal in ";5# 8%atergate candal

#)"#9. Then President, 'ichard -ion, had people break into the -ational @emocratic

head4uarters in order to tarnish the reputation of the democratic candidates that were going to

run against him in the coming election by taping conversations and spying. By doing this he was

hoping to ensure his position as the President. -ion1s unethical practices led to a downward

spiral of his reputation 8%atergate candal #)"#9. After almost two years of numerous trials,

cover ups, and litigation the shamed president resigned from the presidency. %hat is remarkable


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about all of these eamples of corruption in history is the sheer scope of the possible

circumstances that each eample plays itself out in. *rom the millions of commoners left dead or

homelessness in 0aiti due to the corruption and greed of thoughtless city builders to the high

ranking bureaucrats left jobless because of a political scandal. Corruption is a serious issue not

just on ethical or criminal grounds, serious as they may be, but more so on the grounds that it

does so much damage to civilians and innocent members of society. It is because of this damage

that many civilian and non?governmental organi=ations against corruption have come up.

It is important to fight corruption wherever or whichever country it presents in. It ruins the

lives of the people that live in that nation and causes billions of dollars in losses for the

government and, by etension, the people of that country. /any nations have taken the initiative

to fight back against corruption and one such country is India. India has a widespread corruption

problem infecting all levels of government from law enforcement officers to airport security

officers to high ranking politicians, but India has also made many great efforts towards reducing

corruption. isan Baburao 0a=are, commonly known as Anna 0a=are, is an Indian social activist

and reformist who believes in transparency of government and the outlawing of corruption. 0is

anti?corruption movements garnered lots of support and media attention. 0a=are is a prime

eample of how corruption can be dealt with effectively to show results. In ";;" 0a=are began a

movement called People1s /ovement against Corruption in his hometown of 'alegaon iddhi

8-@TD #)""9. By using nonviolent methods of protest like hunger strikes he was able to

procure a school, electricity, and development schemes for the farmers in the impoverished town.

A prime eample of a successful activist against corruption, 0a=are uses nonviolent means to

fight for his cause, but not all associations use the same approach. /any other countries have

tried to tackle this problem by setting up certain watchdog agencies in order to watch for


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corruption. *or eample, the Council of urope developed The Eroup of tates against

Corruption, otherwise known as E'C2. E'C2 was founded through an agreement between

"5 uropean countries in ";;; and later grew to include other countries around the world.

E'C2Fs main goal is to conduct evaluations of its member states and epose any corruption

that takes place. It then takes further steps to ensure that the country in 4uestion does whatever it

can to solve the problem. It is important for such agencies to eist in the world because it is the

only way for corruption to end before it hits an etreme level. Corruption has hit such etremes

in certain countries in Africa. According to some estimates, the enyan government could be

losing as much as G billion +.. dollars a year due to corruption in their country 8/wachiro,

#)")9. In fact, according to the -E2, Transparency International, enya is ranked as the "7G th

least corrupt country out of a total of "


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The most important thing we can do is come up with solutions as the problems present

themselves. The best way to do this is to prevent the conditions favorable for corruption from

happening. This can be done by preventing information deficits in order to keep the public

informed about the activities of public servants. This can be achieved by encouraging

investigative reporting by news agencies. In fact, this is a proven method. President -ion1s

%atergate scandal was revealed to the public mainly due to the investigative reporting of Bob

%oodward and Carl Bernstein for the newspaper The Washington Post. Another solution would

be to increase the control there is over the government. This can be done in numerous ways such

as having -E21s to monitor the government, such as E'C2. 2ne of the best ways to reduce

corruption is to remove the politicians1 incentives to embe==le funds and accept kickbacks. In an

article from The Economist, the political leader with the highest pay with respect to their

respective country1s E@P per person is one from enya 8Headers of the *ee %orld, #)")98*igure

&9. This is epected because enya has one of the highest corruption rates and the average

income of the people isn1t very much. It makes sense then to assume that most of the money

made by politicians in enya is black money made from corrupt kickbacks and political

embe==lement of funds. It is conceivable to think that if politicians made more money they

wouldn1t be so inclined to take the risk of accepting bribes thereby decreasing corruption in

countries. Another fi which is easy to do is to rotate government officials regularly from their

posts otherwise a government official who ranks highly will be tempted to use his or her power

to help others get jobs. In other words officials who spend too long in a certain position will

develop more relationships within the government and eventually lead to favoritism, cronyism,

and nepotism 8%asow #)""9. 2ne country that sets a good eample of this is *rance. In the

*rench government, government officials in certain high ranking offices are re4uired to rotate


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every few years. It is unsurprising that *rance is ranked as the #7 thleast corrupt country out of

the total "


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'eferences(%orks Cited

Corruption Perceptions Inde. #)"". 'etrieved from http$((cpi.transparency.org(cpi#)""(results(

conomist -ewspaper Himited, Headers of the *ee %orldJ The Economist, 3uly 7th, #)"),

http$((www.economist.com(node("67#7#G) 8accessed /ay "7th#)"#9

/wachiro, evin enya Corruption costs Eovernment @early,JBBC, @ecember & #)"),

http$((www.bbc.co.uk(news(world?africa?"";"&


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Tables(*igures(Photographs

Table"#igre $

Corrption Perceptions %nde& '($$ ) Part $

Table"#igre '

Corrption Perceptions %nde& '($$* Part '


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Table"#igre +

The Ratio of a Political Leaders Pay to their Countrys GDP Per Person

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