Political Corruption and Countries Essay

Corruption is a word with many meanings and each of them depends on the specific social and political context in which it is used (Brown, 2006). Nowadays this phenomena is closely connected with political world and business sphere. In developing countries mainly economic field is attached by this problem. In the 1990s when those countries accepted official bribery and a huge misuse of public money the level of corruption has increased (Hwang, Jung & Lim, 2010). Lots of flaws that still exist in the system of those countries have caused this complicated problem. First of all, it is the selfishness and greediness of people. According to Johnson, corruption appears in a weak civil society (as cited in Causes of Corruption, 2001, para 3). It means that the lack of moral values and ethics is the main cause of corruption. A survey which was conducted in South Africa proves this fact, because 31 per cent of people pointed this reason as the most common one (as cited in Causes of corruption, 2001, para 6). Secondly, another factor that caused this problem is the lack of strict punishment. For instance, the author Schumpeter compares corruption with eruption and says that corrupt people do take bribes because it is in their purpose (Schumpeter, 2010). They keep getting money by illegal way because they always have the possibility to avoid serious punishment. Thirdly, corruption thrives when bad government makes it impossible to control. As, H. L. Mencken stated: â€Å"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods. † (Stossel, 2009, para 6). So, it is always important to choose the right person to be on the head of a country because he or she would have an enormous power. Otherwise, corruption would have the negative effects and consequences on the economic development. First of all, it would reduce the growth of business benefits in developing countries. In the presence of corruption, businessmen are aware of the fact that bribing is acceptable and obviously they would commit corrupt proceedings (Mauro, 1997). For example, those entrepreneurs would avoid regular tax paying. Secondly, this phenomenon contradicts with the democratic opportunities and lowers the competitive ability of the countries as well. It has been proved that corruption has a negative impact on investment and economic growth because it lowers the marginal productivity of capital (Hwang, Jung & Lim, 2010). As a result this factor breeds to the economic collapse in developing countries because the budget money has been stolen in huge amounts. Different types of researches, whether in the international or in local level have showed that the problem still stays as one of the raging topics. Firstly, over the past few years, some $10 billion worth of oil, cars, telecom equipment, and cigarettes has passed illegally through the Fujian port across from Taiwan (Robberts & Clifford, 2000). Secondly, one recent data estimated that there was a 1. 15 per cent decrease in economic growth in 40 countries because of the corruption effects (Hwang, Jung & Lim, 2010). From the examples of these studies it is seen that developing countries are suffering from the horrible affects of economic corruption. The population does not get any profit from a huge amount of natural resources that they own because all the investments are stolen by the local elites and corrupt officials (Craggs, 2005). Current measures of the government officials such as anti-corruption programs are not enough. The problem needs really effective and working solutions to be done in a short period of time. The first solution is that the government should encourage active public participation in anti-corruption plans. The major reason of the flourishing corrupt practices is the authority’s misconception about it. People give bribes and think that they are benefiting from it. There is not much consensus in their actions and most of them do not consider the consequences (as cited in Causes of corruption, 2001, para 11). But the problem such as corruption requires collective actions and the balanced burden of responsibilities (Ngozi, 2008). It would be much better if people stop taking bribes and risk to report about corrupt practices that they have witnessed. Obviously this measure would help to prevent the problem with the roots. There are several advantages that it could bring. Firstly, people would enjoy the benefits of a democratic society. They are likely to value the chance of participating in government’s anti-corrupt programs. By taking part in the government’s plans the authority will create serious attitude towards the problem as well (Limit corruption, 2006). Secondly, the power against corruption would become even stronger. The government alone faces lots of difficulties and troubles in the way of solving this problem (Schweiker & Trofimenko, 2009). There is not much help from the authority’s side. But cooperate actions would be really helpful in realization of anti-corruption programs. Thirdly, people would get a good knowledge of the real situation. The reason for such an arising conflict is that almost everyone is being convinced by propaganda and entertainment efforts of the media (Hinz, 2005). It has become very easy to change people’s viewpoint, they often tend to believe what is written in the newspapers and shown on TV screen. But instead of this, each of them would personally investigate the issue and report to the justice officials about the cases of corruption. However, this solution has one disadvantage as well. It definitely requires some period of time. It is impossible to immediately reformulate people’s attitude towards money. The majority of the human authority is involved in bribery because it has become a way of life and a form of economic survival for them (Hors, 2000). They have got used to it, so it would be hard to resolve the problem quickly. But combined job of the government and the authority would definitely bring positive effects in the future. Finally, cooperate actions of ordinary people with politicians would be beneficial in preventing negative affects of corruption on economic development of the countries. The second solution is that the government should use strict methods of punishment against people involved in corruption. For example, nowadays in the governmental field lots of doubtful situations occur. Politicians spend a huge amount of money, nearly 70 percent of their budget, on TV and Internet advertising campaigns (Hinz, 2005). But after the elections most of those popular individuals forget about their promises to improve the economy. As a result, corruption creates uncertainty, such as a big regime collapse, which indeed seriously lowers a country’s economic efficiency (Hwang, Jung & Lim, 2010). Also nowadays ordinary people also have got used to solve their small problems by giving bribes. For instance, people have to pay even for an ordinary process such obtaining civil documents (Hors, 2000). In any case, regardless of their social status and power each of those persons deserves cruel punishment. They must get a prison sentence and realize the seriousness of the problem. The usage of different methods of strict punishment has several advantages. Firstly, people would be afraid of committing corrupt proceedings. The set of strong rules and regulations will definitely keep them in disciplined way. For example, in Russia the recent law against corruption has made it possible to reduce corruption factors and make its effects less harmful for business field (Business in Russia, 2009). Secondly, every person would be equal in front of the law face. It means that no one would be able to avoid the court. Even the influential people will have to accept the given punishment. The case with Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the former head of the Kazatomprom can be a bright sample. At the first time he was under the police investigation, but then Mr. Dzhakishev was arrested because the facts about his corrupt experiences have been proved (Lillis, 2009). However, this kind of solution has one disadvantage. It needs quite big amount of money. Proper and correct investigations of those cases definitely require professional judges. The government would have to pay really good salaries for all of them. Low payment is one of the main reasons to extract bribes from citizens (Causes of corruption, 2001). Only high salaries could help to prevent such practices. But cruel methods of punishments are indeed likely to stop people from committing corrupt proceedings. Overall, individuals would be aware about the consequences that might happen because of their illegal acts. The third solution against corruption is that the government officials should take some active anti-corruption initiatives. Unfortunately the phenomenon called corruption has always been connected with the politics. The author Stossel (2009) states that, in fact, â€Å"being in a big government means being involved in big corruptionâ€Å"(para 2). Nowadays every $100US million of stolen money in developing countries could fund ammunition for 4 million children, or approximately 250 thousand water connections for households, or 50-100 million treatments for malaria (Ngozi, 2008). But politicians do not seem to care and make any serious efforts in combating this significant problem. They are definitely the head of the country and everything takes its root from their actions. Those individuals should serve as the real representatives of justice and fight global anti-corrupt actions. This possible solution has several advantages. Firstly, people would not show aggressive behaviour. For instance, one recent data proved the fact that global political efforts impact positively on organizational legitimacy and strategic decision making (Rodriguez, Uhlenbruck & Eden, 2005). The reason is that big conflicts between public and the government can be easily solved in cooperating societies. Secondly, this measure would bring global economic progress to the countries. Unfortunately, nowadays in developing nations leaders consider themselves as commanders and think only about their personal interests. They have forgotten that such a serious problem as corruption requires actions in international level. Leaders should become faithful and hardworking persons in order to build useful relations with other countries in the world. For example, last year U. S. and world leaders have made a meeting to combat global corruption and operate policies against it, reports Transparency International (Fight against Corruption, 2009). Thirdly, there would be real control and discipline in the society. According to the recent United Nations report, detailing pervasive corruption in Afghanistan, the Afghan government is often â€Å"unable to deliver basic services, such as security, food or shelter, or protect communities from lawlessness. † (Vlasic & Noell, 2010). While, EU countries has created the project in order to improve all aspects of governance in its member states (Romer, 2010). Developing countries should also make such steps to fight corrupt experiences. However, this measure could bring one disadvantage. Obviously, it would need some period of time. It is really impossible to reformulate whole political system immediately. Every year in developing countries alone, political officials receive bribes up to several billion dollars. Overall, in order to change this existing reality, the government officials of developing countries must make some cooperate efforts. In conclusion, it seems that developing countries are facing all the present economic difficulties because of the corruption. This phenomenon has indeed become one of the most significant problems in modern society. Combination of serious and workable solutions must be done in order to prevent its negative impact. Mainly government must encourage people’s participation in anti-corruption programs. Then political officials have to take active measures like meetings in international level. Also those individuals who have broken the law and committed illegal acts must be punished strictly. After all, if the governments of developing countries do all these efforts, the level of corruption in economic field would decline. References Brown, A. (2006). What are We Trying to Measure? Reviewing the Basics of Corruption Definition. Measuring Corruption. Retrieved on November 07, from: http://books. google. com/books? hl=ru&lr=&id=k06/ Business in Russia (2009). Interfax : Russia & CIS Business Law Weekly. Retrieved on November 07, from: http://proquest. umi. com/ Causes and Conditions of Corruption (2001). Corruption in South Africa, Results of an Expert