essay on the effects of corruption

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• Topic 1. Contemporary issues relating to conditions conducive both to the spread of terrorism and the rule of law
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• Thematic Areas
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• 1. Introducing United Nations Standards & Norms on CPCJ vis-à-vis International Law
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• 1. Definition of Crime Prevention
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• 1a. Judicial Independence as Fundamental Value of Rule of Law & of Constitutionalism
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• Framing the Issue of Firearms
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• Smuggled Migrants & Other Categories of Migrants
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• Administrative Approach
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• Macro-Perspective in Addressing Smuggling of Migrants
• Human Security
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• Vulnerability
• Profile of Smugglers
• Role of Organized Criminal Groups
• Humanitarianism, Security and Migrant Smuggling
• Crime of Trafficking in Persons
• The Issue of Consent
• The Purpose of Exploitation
• The abuse of a position of vulnerability
• Indicators of Trafficking in Persons
• Distinction between Trafficking in Persons and Other Crimes
• Misconceptions Regarding Trafficking in Persons
• Root Causes
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• Demand Side Prevention Strategies
• Role of the Media
• Safe Migration Channels
• Crime Prevention Strategies
• Monitoring, Evaluating & Reporting on Effectiveness of Prevention
• Trafficked Persons as Victims
• Protection under the Protocol against Trafficking in Persons
• Broader International Framework
• State Responsibility for Trafficking in Persons
• Identification of Victims
• Principle of Non-Criminalization of Victims
• Criminal Justice Duties Imposed on States
• Role of the Criminal Justice System
• Current Low Levels of Prosecutions and Convictions
• Challenges to an Effective Criminal Justice Response
• Rights of Victims to Justice and Protection
• Potential Strategies to “Turn the Tide”
• State Cooperation with Civil Society
• Civil Society Actors
• The Private Sector
• Comparing SOM and TIP
• Differences and Commonalities
• Vulnerability and Continuum between SOM & TIP
• Labour Exploitation
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• Children on the Move
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• Protection in Practice
• Children Alleged as Having Committed Smuggling or Trafficking Offences
• Basic Terms - Gender and Gender Stereotypes
• International Legal Frameworks and Definitions of TIP and SOM
• Global Overview on TIP and SOM
• Gender and Migration
• Key Debates in the Scholarship on TIP and SOM
• Gender and TIP and SOM Offenders
• Responses to TIP and SOM
• Use of Technology to Facilitate TIP and SOM
• Technology Facilitating Trafficking in Persons
• Technology in Smuggling of Migrants
• Using Technology to Prevent and Combat TIP and SOM
• Privacy and Data Concerns
• Emerging Trends
• Demand and Consumption
• Supply and Demand
• Implications of Wildlife Trafficking
• Legal and Illegal Markets
• Perpetrators and their Networks
• Locations and Activities relating to Wildlife Trafficking
• Environmental Protection & Conservation
• CITES & the International Trade in Endangered Species
• Organized Crime & Corruption
• Animal Welfare
• Criminal Justice Actors and Agencies
• Criminalization of Wildlife Trafficking
• Challenges for Law Enforcement
• Investigation Measures and Detection Methods
• Prosecution and Judiciary
• Wild Flora as the Target of Illegal Trafficking
• Purposes for which Wild Flora is Illegally Targeted
• How is it Done and Who is Involved?
• Consequences of Harms to Wild Flora
• Terminology
• Background: Communities and conservation: A history of disenfranchisement
• Incentives for communities to get involved in illegal wildlife trafficking: the cost of conservation
• Incentives to participate in illegal wildlife, logging and fishing economies
• International and regional responses that fight wildlife trafficking while supporting IPLCs
• Mechanisms for incentivizing community conservation and reducing wildlife trafficking
• Critiques of community engagement
• Other challenges posed by wildlife trafficking that affect local populations
• Global Podcast Series
• Apr. 2021: Call for Expressions of Interest: Online training for academics from francophone Africa
• Feb. 2021: Series of Seminars for Universities of Central Asia
• Dec. 2020: UNODC and TISS Conference on Access to Justice to End Violence
• Nov. 2020: Expert Workshop for University Lecturers and Trainers from the Commonwealth of Independent States
• Oct. 2020: E4J Webinar Series: Youth Empowerment through Education for Justice
• Interview: How to use E4J's tool in teaching on TIP and SOM
• E4J-Open University Online Training-of-Trainers Course
• Teaching Integrity and Ethics Modules: Survey Results
• Grants Programmes
• E4J MUN Resource Guide
• Library of Resources
• Anti-Corruption

Module 1: What Is Corruption and Why Should We Care?

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University Module Series: Anti-Corruption

  This module is a resource for lecturers  

Effects of corruption.

The effects of corruption are wide-ranging. Some of these effects are fairly obvious, while others require explanation. They include:

Undermining the Sustainable Development Goals

Corruption hampers the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . The SDGs are comprehensive and their susceptibility to be undermined by corruption is unsurprising: it is entirely conceivable that "a better and more sustainable future for all" often runs counter to the interests of a few and can be derailed through many forms of corruption. Under conditions of diminished State capacity, nations fail to eradicate poverty, address hunger, secure good health care and high quality education for their citizens, guarantee gender equality and other human rights, reduce inequality, and so on. Of particular relevance is Goal 16 of the SDGs (or SDG 16), which is titled "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions" and aims to "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels". Given the strong causal link between corruption and institutions that are ineffective, unaccountable and exclusive, three targets of SDG 16 - namely 16.4, 16.5 and 16.6 - specifically call for reducing all forms of corruption, strengthening the recovery and return of stolen assets, and developing transparent institutions. At the same time, corruption limits the realization of all SDGs in many respects, as the vast sums that are lost to corruption could have been used to improve living standards by increasing access to housing, health, education and water. For example, the African Union estimates that 25% of Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) is lost to corruption (UNODC, 2015). Aidt (2010) examines the relationship between corruption and sustainable development and finds that there is a negative correlation between corruption and growth, and that corruption can put a country on an unsustainable path in which its capital base is eroded. In addition, the relationship between corruption and sustainable development has repeatedly been emphasized by resolutions adopted by the Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC. It thus requires the global community to see corruption as an obstacle to the realization of the SDGs and to step up anti-corruption efforts if we truly desire to achieve the SDGs. The appendix includes an SDG table that briefly explains how corruption relates to each of the 17 SDGs. For each SDG, the table also indicates which Modules of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption address the relationship between corruption and the specific SDG.

Economic loss and inefficiency

Although obtaining exact figures on the economic costs of corruption is difficult, a 2016 report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the cost of bribery alone to be between $1.5 to $2 trillion per year. This represents a total economic loss of approximately 2% of global GDP. And yet it does not take into account the economic cost of all other forms of corruption. Regarding fraud, money-laundering and tax evasion, for example, the thousands of leaked documents known as the Mossack Fonseca Papers (commonly referred to as the Panama Papers) exposed the vast economic implications of offshore entities for many nations and for economic inequality in general. Finally, beyond deadweight economic loss, there is economic inefficiency to consider. When jobs (or contracts) are given to people (or companies) who offer bribes or share a personal connection, this occurs to the detriment of competition. The result is that more qualified candidates and firms are turned down. The more widespread such practices are, the more inefficient the economy becomes. Corruption in developing countries may cause underdevelopment. This can occur when international economic and humanitarian initiatives are derailed as funds disbursed from loans and aid are embezzled or handed out to inferior contractors who have won their bids through corrupt means (kickbacks, bribery, nepotism, etc.). Furthermore, investment in physical capital and human capital is reduced as resources are diverted from their most beneficial use.

Poverty and inequality

Corruption is generally not the weapon of the weak. In Nigeria, an (in)famous bribery case, involving the international oil company Shell, deprived Nigerian people of over $1.1 billion as the money went to corrupt officials instead of to the national budget (Global Witness, 2017). Meanwhile, according to the World Bank (2019), more than 50% of the population of the oil-rich country live in extreme poverty. This example shows that as political and economic systems are enlisted in the service of corrupt actors, wealth is redistributed to the least needy sources. Mechanisms such as political representation and economic efficiency are both compromised by self-dealing and secret exchanges. Under conditions of corruption, funding for education, health care, poverty relief, and elections and political parties' operating expenses can become a source of personal enrichment for party officials, bureaucrats and contractors. Social programmes and the redistributive potential of political systems suffer accordingly. A key result of all the instances named above is a state of unequal opportunity in which advantages arise only for those within a corrupt network.

Personal loss, intimidation and inconvenience

When people experience corruption, it is rarely a positive experience. A bribe must be paid to receive medical attention, obtain a building permit, pick up a package, or enjoy phone services. A judge rules against a party, not based on the facts of the case, but because the opponent paid a bribe, knows a power broker, or comes from the same racial or ethnic background. A person is beaten, detained or subject to a higher fine because he or she refuses to pay a bribe solicited by a police officer. Retirement funds are lost to fraudsters or tied up in a money-laundering scheme. While the victims of corruption suffer personal loss, intimidation and inconvenience, those who perpetrate corrupt acts and schemes tend to experience personal gain, a sense of superiority and greater convenience - pending enforcement of the law, that is.

Public and private sector dysfunctionality

The cumulative effect of individual corrupt acts is dysfunctionality. Whether offered by the public or private sectors, the quality of goods and services decrease, and the process of obtaining them becomes more expensive, time consuming and unfair. If bribes can successfully be offered to police, doctors, and civil servants, then those who are most successful at extracting these funds get ahead to the detriment of more honest colleagues and competitors who may perform better on merit. Moreover, corporations lose the incentive to offer better services and products if they can undermine competitors through obtaining political favours. State-owned enterprises and industries are structured to enrich government officials instead of pursuing innovation and efficiencies. This can lead to the loss of intrinsic motivation within organizations. Workers and managers are demoralized. People begin to doubt the value of hard work and innovation.

Failures in infrastructure

When a bridge collapsed in Genoa in August 2018, killing at least 39 people, there were many possible causes to consider (NZHerald, 2018). Corruption was not the most obvious one, but subsequent investigations have found that a Mafia-controlled construction company appears to have used "weakened cement" in the building process. It is widely known that the construction industry is a valuable source of profits and a channel for money-laundering operations by the Mafia (additional information on organized crime can be found in the E4J University Module Series on Organized Crime ). Oversight and competition are both undermined in industries and firms plagued by organized corruption. Relatedly, a 2017 report by Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity blames corruption for the collapse of over 40 buildings during the September 2017 earthquake in Mexico City. Land-use and permit laws appear to have been bypassed, ostensibly through bribery, cronyism and influence trading, leading to the presence of fundamentally unsafe buildings around the capital.        

Rigged economic and political systems

What is described as dysfunctional above is actually functional and profitable for corrupt actors. Whether falling under the label of political cronyism, crony capitalism, political party cartels, oligarchy, plutocracy and even kleptocracy, widespread patterns of private and public corruption construct social systems that are rigged in the private interest. Citizens with strong ethical principles (and citizens who lack significant funds, connections, favours to dispense, "hard power" over others such as guns or private enforcers) lose representation, influence and power.

Impunity and partial justice

When corruption pervades the justice system, people can no longer count on prosecutors and judges to do their jobs. The powerful may escape justice. And citizens, especially those with few resources or few powerful allies, may be unfairly accused of crimes, deprived of due process, and wrongly imprisoned. Resources on preventing corruption and strengthening integrity in the judiciary are available on the website of the UNODC Global Judicial Integrity Network.

Rising illiberal populism

A 2017 TI report and several scholarly publications make the point that increasing authoritarianism is partly fuelled by corruption (see, e.g., this blog post from 2017 by Balisacan as well as the resources referenced in this TI paper ). In a nutshell, corruption increases inequality, decreases popular accountability and political responsiveness, and thus produces rising frustration and hardship among citizens, who are then more likely to accept (or even demand) hard-handed and illiberal tactics. Those tactics shift the blame for economic insecurity and political decline onto immigrants or other minority groups, and onto economic and political elites, who must, the theory goes, be dealt with swiftly and decisively. The rule of law and liberal values of tolerance and human dignity then become obstacles to needed change. For a more general discussion of values, see Module 2 of the E4J University Module Series on Integrity and Ethics.

Organized crime and terrorism

Nefarious elements in society thrive as proceeds can be laundered, funding disguised, and judicial officials and politicians corrupted through bribes (including gifts, favours and other benefits). Levels of violence, illegal drugs, prostitution, sexual slavery, kidnapping and intimidation rise accordingly. The causal arrow goes in both directions. Not only does organized crime cause corruption, but opportunities for corruption left open by a weak, negligent or incapable State can also lead to organized crime. For a further discussion about the corruption-organized crime nexus, see Module 11 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption and Module 4 of the E4J University Module Series on Organized Crime.

Diminished state capacity

Even if citizens were to adamantly demand that the problems listed above be addressed, corruption undermines the power of politics. For example, to the extent that bribery, trading in influence and state capture are widespread, political systems become incapable of addressing social problems whose resolution would threaten vested interests. Naturally, this is never acknowledged as such from within - state incapacity may manifest in a great many distracting and misleading ways, such as wedge issues, political party restructuring, the emergence of scandals and overwhelming outside issues that detract from structural problems, and so on. Under conditions of state capture, political arbitrage can be expected to occur in a highly strategic fashion. Issues will be played off against each other in order to frustrate systemic reforms. Moreover, as Della Porta and Vannucci (2005) argue, corruption compromises the ethos of public service and changes political culture so as to render meaningful, public-spirited reforms virtually unthinkable.

Increasing polarization and unrest

When corruption, in particular state capture, becomes the norm, this can lead to polarization among citizens: those in support of corrupt regimes (because of kickbacks and handouts) versus those opposed to them. In the presence of diametrically opposed groups in society, compromise and reasoned discussion diminish. Policy is judged not on the basis of ideology or a project's inherent merits, but on who the policy proponents are and what benefits competing networks can reap.

Climate change and damage to biodiversity

Corruption derails anti-climate change funding and initiatives, defeats forest conservation and sustainable forest management programmes, and fuels wildlife and fishery crimes (for more information, see the E4J University Module Series on Wildlife, Forest and Fisheries Crime). These and other adverse effects of corruption on climate change and the environment are underscored in a TI report from 2011 and additional TI publications . On a broader level, the book This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein (2014) details how state capture by monied interests has derailed legislative efforts to address climate change in the United States. Her analysis applies to many countries around the world, given the power of the fossil fuels and automotive industries over governments - elected and unelected - across the globe. The perilous impact of corruption on the fisheries sector is discussed in detail in the publication Rotten Fish (UNODC, 2019), while the report Authorized to Steal (CIEL, 2019) reveals how corruption enables criminal networks to illegally harvest timber in Peru.

Human rights violations

The observation that corrupt rulers tend to view civil liberties as obstacles to the consolidation of power can be traced back to many historical sources, including the collection of eighteenth century essays on corruption and tyranny known as Cato's Letters . Most recently of all, perhaps, the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) has noted significant connections between corruption and human rights violations. Not only do those who report and oppose corruption end up on the receiving end of assassinations and human rights violations of many kinds, but also corruption itself decreases State capacity to address violations of civil and political rights and to make the necessary provisions to guarantee such rights, including socioeconomic rights, which often require complex initiatives on the part of governments. OHCHR calls corruption "a structural obstacle to the enjoyment of human rights" and has detailed many intersections between these two areas. For a further discussion and academic references on the corruption-human rights nexus, see Module 7 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption.

Armed conflict and atrocity crimes

The diminished State capacity and development, brought about by corruption, can lead to insecurity and even armed conflict (see, e.g., World Bank, 2011; World Bank, 2017). Indeed, corruption has been recognized as a destabilizing factor and ultimately a "driver of conflict" (USIP, 2010, p. 7). Although the causal link between corruption and atrocity crimes (including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity) may be hard to prove, transitional justice mechanisms have identified corruption as a root cause of conflict and atrocity. See, for example the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (2004, chap. 2, para. 13) and the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Consolidated Final Report (2009, vol. II, pp. 16-17). In post-Arab Spring Tunisia, corruption was recognized as a root cause of the conflict even before the transitional justice mechanism operated. Thus, Tunisia's Law on Transitional Justice  from 2013 (see English translation here ) and the Truth and Dignity Commission (Instance vérité et dignité or IVD) that was created by the law were intended to establish accountability for the country's legacy of rampant corruption and human rights violations and to help reform the institutions that engaged in such crimes. Another relevant example is a 2018 report from the Open Society Justice Initiative, which offers evidence linking corruption to crimes against humanity in Mexico. For a further discussion and academic references about the corruption-conflict nexus, see Module 11 of the E4J University Module Series on Anti-Corruption.

Public frustration and cynicism

People lose trust in leaders, in social systems (public institutions) and sometimes even in society and ethics itself when they sense that corruption is widespread and corrupt actors are not being held accountable. When political non-accountability increases, such perceptions persist for protracted periods and political participation diminishes. Moreover, public frustration and the sense that corruption is widespread can in turn pave the way for citizens themselves to take part in corrupt transactions, as discussed in a blog post on the Taxi Driver Paradox . In other words, social norms could encourage corrupt behaviour as people tend to think that "if everybody is doing it, I might as well do it too." (Köbis, 2018). Failure to meet public expectations for zero-tolerance of corruption may have deleterious consequences for the legitimacy of State institutions and the very utility of formal norms that citizens and firms are expected to follow, possibly resulting in higher public tolerance of un-civic and free-riding behaviour.

The effects of corruption mentioned above can be categorized along the following lines: economic, political, moral or psychological, humanitarian, ecological, security-related, and so on. To help us gain a better understanding of corruption, the following section discusses some of the deeper meanings of corruption.

Next:   Deeper meanings of corruption

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5 Essays About Corruption

Internationally, there is no legal definition of corruption, but it includes bribery, illegal profit, abuse of power, embezzlement, and more. Corrupt activities are illegal, so they are discreet and done in secrecy. Depending on how deep the corruption goes, there may be many people aware of what’s going on, but they choose to do nothing because they’ve been bribed or they’re afraid of retaliation. Any system can become corrupt. Here are five essays that explore where corruption exists, its effects, and how it can be addressed.

Learn more about anti-corruption in a free course .

Corruption in Global Health: The Open Secret

Dr. Patricia J. Garcia The Lancet (2019)

In this published lecture, Dr. Garcia uses her experience as a researcher, public health worker, and Minister of Health to draw attention to corruption in health systems. She explores the extent of the problem, its origins, and what’s happening in the present day. Additional topics include ideas on how to address the problem and why players like policymakers and researchers need to think about corruption as a disease. Dr. Garcia states that corruption is one of the most significant barriers to global universal health coverage.

Dr. Garcia is the former Minister of Health of Peru and a leader in global health. She also works as a professor and researcher/trainer in global health, STI/HIV, HPV, medical informatics, and reproductive health. She’s the first Peruvian to be appointed as a member to the United States National Academy of Medicine

‘Are women leaders less corrupt? No, but they shake things up”

Stella Dawson Reuters (2012)

This piece takes a closer look at the idea that more women in power will mean less corruption. Reality is more complicated than that. Women are not less vulnerable to corruption in terms of their resistance to greed, but there is a link between more female politicians and less corruption. The reason appears to be that women are simply more likely to achieve more power in democratic, open systems that are less tolerant of corruption. A better gender balance also means more effective problem-solving. This piece goes on to give some examples of lower corruption in systems with more women and the complexities. While this particular essay is old, newer research still supports that more women in power is linked to better ethics and lower corruption levels into systems, though women are not inherently less corrupt.

Stella Dawson left Reuters in 2015, where she worked as a global editor for economics and markets. At the Thomson Reuters Foundation and 100Reporters, she headed a network of reporters focusing on corruption issues. Dawson has been featured as a commentator for BBC, CNB, C-Span, and public radio.

“Transparency isn’t the solution to corruption – here’s why”

David Riverios Garcia One Young World

Many believe that corruption can be solved with transparency, but in this piece, Garcia explains why that isn’t the case. He writes that governments have exploited new technology (like open data platforms and government-monitoring acts) to appear like they care about corruption, but, in Garcia’s words, “transparency means nothing without accountability.” Garcia focuses on corruption in Latin America, including Paraguay where Garcia is originally from. He describes his background as a young anti-corruption activist, what he’s learned, and what he considers the real solution to corruption.

At the time of this essay’s publication, David Riverios Garcia was an Open Young World Ambassador. He ran a large-scale anti-corruption campaign (reAccion Paraguay), stopping corruption among local high school authorities. He’s also worked on poverty relief and education reform. The Ministry of Education recognized him for his achievements and in 2009, he was selected by the US Department of State as one of 10 Paraguayan Youth Ambassadors.

“What the World Could Teach America About Policing”

Yasmeen Serhan The Atlantic (2020)

The American police system has faced significant challenges with public trust for decades. In 2020, those issues have erupted and the country is at a tipping point. Corruption is rampant through the system. What can be done? In this piece, the author gives examples of how other countries have managed reform. These reforms include first dismantling the existing system, then providing better training. Once that system is off the ground, there needs to be oversight. Looking at other places in the world that have successfully made radical changes is essential for real change in the United States.

Atlantic staff writer Yasmeen Serhan is based in London.

“$2.6 Trillion Is Lost to Corruption Every Year — And It Hurts the Poor the Most”

Joe McCarthy Global Citizen (2018)

This short piece is a good introduction to just how significant the effects of corruption are. Schools, hospitals, and other essential services suffer, while the poorest and most vulnerable society carry the heaviest burdens. Because of corruption, these services don’t get the funding they need. Cycles of corruption erode citizens’ trust in systems and powerful government entities. What can be done to end the cycle?

Joe McCarthy is a staff writer for Global Citizen. He writes about global events and environmental issues.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

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Corruption is a Global Problem for Development. To Fight It, We All Have a Role to Play

Oped published in French in La Tribune Afrique, June 13, 2023.

Oped by Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa and Mouhamadou Diagne, World Bank Vice President for Integrity.

Every day, we hear about the onslaught of crises facing the world—from climate change to conflict, inflation and debt, and the ongoing recovery from a years-long pandemic. Add to them the prospect of slow economic growth , and our efforts to overcome these challenges seem rife with obstacles. For developing countries, many with limited and already stretched resources, the confluence of crises will be especially difficult to navigate.

But if we are to achieve success over the challenges of our time, there is one scourge we cannot fail to confront: corruption.

The unfortunate truth is that corruption persists in all countries. It manifests in many ways—from petty bribes and kickbacks to grand theft of public resources. With advances in technology, corruption has increasingly become a transnational challenge without respect for borders, as money can now move more easily in and out of countries to hide illicit gains.

Corruption is also a fundamental problem for development.

Corruption harms the poor and vulnerable the most, increasing costs and reducing access to basic services, such as health, education, social programs, and even justice. It exacerbates inequality and reduces private sector investment to the detriment of markets, job opportunities, and economies. Corruption can also undermine a country’s response to emergencies, leading to unnecessary suffering and, at worst, death. Over time, corruption can undermine the trust and confidence that citizens have for their leaders and institutions, creating social friction and in some contexts increasing the risk of fragility, conflict, and violence.

To prevent these negative impacts, we must confront corruption with determined and deliberate action. For the World Bank Group, fighting corruption in development has been a long-standing commitment in our operational work. This commitment is reflected in our support for countries in building transparent, inclusive, and accountable institutions , but also through initiatives that go beyond developing countries to also include financial centers, take on the politics of corruption more openly than before, and harness new technologies to understand, address, and prevent corruption.  

Indeed, across western and central Africa in particular, it is one of the World Bank Group’s strategic priorities to emphasize issues of good governance, accountability, and transparency among our partner countries, with the aim of reducing corruption. We recognize that transparency in public affairs and the accountability of high-level officials are fundamental to the trust of citizens in their government and the effective delivery of public services. Working to rebuild and bolster trust between citizens and the state is critical today, especially in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence that make up half of the countries in this region alone.

Across Africa, World Bank Group support is helping countries face these challenges. Recent investments in the Republic of Congo , Ghana , and Morocco , for example, will support institutional governance reforms to improve the performance and transparency of service delivery. In Kenya, our support will further fiscal management reforms for greater transparency in public procurement , thereby reducing opportunities for corruption. Strengthening citizen-state engagement is key: In Burkina Faso, for example, a World Bank-funded project helped the national government improve citizen engagement and public sector accountability through the development of a digital tool to monitor the performance of municipal service delivery. 

The World Bank Group’s commitment to fighting corruption is also reflected in robust mechanisms across the institution that enhance the integrity of our operations. Our independent Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) works to detect, deter, and prevent fraud and corruption involving World Bank Group funds. Over two decades of INT’s work, the World Bank has sanctioned more than 1,100 firms and individuals, often imposing debarments that make them ineligible to participate in the projects and operations we finance. In addition, we have enforced more than 640 cross-debarments from other multilateral development banks, standing with our MDB partners to help keep corruption out of development projects everywhere. Nevertheless, we must remain vigilant to the risks of fraud and corruption that remain.

The World Bank Group also leverages its position as global convener to support anticorruption actors at all levels and from around the world. That is why we are pleased to have organized the next edition of the World Bank Group’s International Corruption Hunters Alliance (ICHA) to take place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on June 14-16, 2023.

The ICHA forum is an opportunity for front-line practitioners committed to fighting corruption as well as policy makers and representatives from the private sector and civil society, to come together to share knowledge, experience, and insights for confronting corruption. For the first time since its inception in 2010, we are hosting the ICHA forum in an African country. This reflects the reality that the negative impacts of corruption can be more devastating for developing countries, who face unique challenges and have fewer resources to overcome them. Yet, it also acknowledges that there is a wealth of anticorruption strengths, skills, and expertise from these countries that we must draw upon.

Together, we can affirm that through our collective action, we can advance the fight against corruption even in an era of crises.  

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Home > Books > Trade and Global Market

Corruption, Causes and Consequences

Submitted: 12 November 2017 Reviewed: 06 December 2017 Published: 21 February 2018

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.72953

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Corruption is a constant in the society and occurs in all civilizations; however, it has only been in the past 20 years that this phenomenon has begun being seriously explored. It has many different shapes as well as many various effects, both on the economy and the society at large. Among the most common causes of corruption are the political and economic environment, professional ethics and morality and, of course, habits, customs, tradition and demography. Its effects on the economy (and also on the wider society) are well researched, yet still not completely. Corruption thus inhibits economic growth and affects business operations, employment and investments. It also reduces tax revenue and the effectiveness of various financial assistance programs. The wider society is influenced by a high degree of corruption in terms of lowering of trust in the law and the rule of law, education and consequently the quality of life (access to infrastructure, health care). There also does not exist an unambiguous answer as to how to deal with corruption. Something that works in one country or in one region will not necessarily be successful in another. This chapter tries to answer at least a few questions about corruption and the causes for it, its consequences and how to deal with it successfully.

• economic growth
• rule of law

Author Information

Štefan šumah *.

• FKPV Celje, Slovenia

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The word corruption is derived from the Latin word “corruptus,” which means “corrupted” and, in legal terms, the abuse of a trusted position in one of the branches of power (executive, legislative and judicial) or in political or other organizations with the intention of obtaining material benefit which is not legally justified for itself or for others.

Corruption was referred to as a great sin already in the Bible: “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twist the words of the innocent.” However, the history of corruption is in fact related to the beginning of the creation of law and the state and was already in the antiquity considered an evil, which negatively affects the public administration and the functioning of the political system. The earliest records of corruption date back to the thirteenth century BC, to the time of the Assyrian civilization. From the found plates, written in cuneiform, the archeologists managed to discern how and who accepted bribes. Under the Roman law, the criminal offense of corruption was defined as giving, receiving or claiming benefits in order to influence an official in connection with his work. Due to the prevalence of corruption in the country, this law was supplemented by a new law, which predicted compensation for damage in double value of the damage, and the loss of political rights for the perpetrator of the corruptive act. However, this did not help alleviate corruption, especially due to the fact that corruption was most practiced by the members of the Senate and senior state officials, both in Rome itself and in the remote Roman provinces. The early Christian faith condemned corruption, yet corruption later also developed greatly in ecclesiastical structures, and achieved its peak with the selling of indulgences in the Middle Ages, all until the condemnation of the latter (as well as of other immoral acts of the clergy, with the Pope at the head) by Martin Luther. Apart from the condemnation of corruption, the Reformation also led to a break with until then dominant Catholic culture and the emergence of Protestant ethics.

As a child (he was a hostage at the Ravenna court), Attila 1 noticed a high level of corruption among the state officials of the Western Roman Empire and how they appropriated the state money (as a consequence, there was less money in the Treasury and therefore the taxes increased). He thus decided that if he would ever to rule, he would do so fairly and by oppressing the corruption in his own country. The early feudalism was familiar with various laws that punished the bribing of courts also with death. Later, when the developed feudalism again turned to the Roman law, a number of laws (Dušan’s Code, Mirror of the Swabians) discussed the abuse of position. Then, in late Feudalism, countries became virtually helpless in the fight against corruption, as illustrated by the case of France, which in 1716 established a special court in which should rule in cases of abuse of royal finances; however, these abuses (embezzlement, extortion, bribery, scams, etc.) were so extensive that the court was abolished and a general amnesty introduced in 1717 made some forms of corruption quite a tradition. The corruption was also widespread during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, where the victim of the accusation could make amends with money, which made the corruption, especially among the inquisitors, extensive.

Throughout the history, many intellectuals dealt with corruption or theorized about it one way or another. Machiavelli 2 had a low opinion on republics, considering them even more corrupt than other regimes, and according to him, corruption leads to moral degradation, bad education and bad faith. On the other hand, however, the great philosopher, diplomat and lawyer Sir Francis Bacon 3 was known both for receiving bribes and taking them. When he reached the highest judicial position in England, he was caught in as many as 28 cases of accepting a bribe and defended himself before the parliament by saying that he usually accepted a bribe from both parties involved and that the dirty money therefore did not affect his decisions. The parliament did not accept these arguments and sent him to the jail where he spent only a few days as he was able to bribe the judge.

Thus, although the corruption has been occurring in society ever since, it has only been given more attention in the recent period—the researches on the phenomenon and its negative impacts have become more common after 1995, when countries and international institutions began to be aware of this problem. The attitude of the public toward corruption was, until then, neutral. In 1998, Kaufmann and Gray [ 1 ] found that:

Bribery is widespread, especially in the developing and transition countries; there are, however, significant differences between and within regions.

Bribery increases transaction costs and creates insecurity in the economy.

Bribery usually leads to ineffective economic results, in the long term impedes foreign and domestic investments, reallocates talents due to income and distorts sectorial priorities and technology choices (for example, it creates incentives for contracting major defense projects or unnecessary infrastructure projects, but does not encourage investments in rural specialist health clinics or in preventive health care). This pushes companies into the “underground” (outside the formal sector), weakens the state’s ability to increase revenue and leads to ever-increasing tax rates (as too little tax is taken), which is levied on less and less taxpayers, consequently diminishing the state’s ability to provide enough public goods, including the rule of law.

Bribery is unfair, as it imposes a regressive tax, which heavily burdens in particular commercial and service activities performed by small businesses.

Corruption destroys the legitimacy of the state.

Many other researchers and institutions (the World Bank Institute—WBI, the European Commission, the United Nations, the EBRD) have investigated corruption and its impact on macroeconomic and microeconomic indicators through various forms of corruption, as well as its connection with local customs and habits, and how it affects the everyday lives of people. Most studies are therefore mainly the analyses of the effects of corruption on various economic indicators, such as GDP growth, investments, employment, tax revenues and foreign investments [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], or the study of various forms of corruption in relation to politics and the economic environment [ 6 ], the research of its social condition and various manifestations [ 7 , 8 ]. Dobovšek [ 9 ] agrees with the negative effects, i.e. high economic, political and social costs, and adds that corruption is not a weakness of people but of institutions (supervisory and other), as they should be the ones to obstruct the greed and temptation of individuals within them.

2. Causes of corruption

Although corruption differs from country to country, it is possible to identify some of the key common driving forces that generate it. What is common to all countries, which are among the most corrupt, has been identified by Svensson [ 10 ]; all of them are developing countries or countries in transition,

with rare exceptions, low-income countries,

most countries have a closed economy,

the influence of religion is visible (Protestant countries have far the lowest level of corruption),

low media freedom and

a relatively low level of education.

Regardless of the above, corruption cannot be assessed unambiguously, since there is never only one phenomenon that is responsible for the occurrence and the development of it; corruption always arises from an array of several, interrelated factors, which can differ considerably from one another. Among the most commonly mentioned factors that influence the development of corruption are: political and economic environment, professional ethics and legislation, as well as purely ethnological factors, such as customs, habits and traditions.

2.1. Political and economic environment

The phenomenon of corruption is strongly influenced by the political and economic environment. The more is the economic activity in the country regulated and limited, the higher the authority and the power of officials in decision making and the greater the possibility of corruption, since individuals are willing to pay or offer payment in order to avoid restrictions. A great potential for corruption is especially there where the officials are under the regulation given the opportunity to decide on the basis of discretion.

The level of corruption is also affected by the monetary policy. Goel and Nelson [ 11 ] in their research found a strong link between monetary policy and corruptive activity in the States. The States that have a well-regulated financial sector, not a lot of informal economy or black market are also less corrupt than those where the opposite is true. They also find that there is less corruption in the countries with higher economic and political freedom.

Dimant [ 12 ] puts it well in his claim that the level of efficiency of public administration determines the extent to which corruption can find fertile soil and sprout. Such efficiency is determined by the quality of the regulations and permits, since ineffective and unclear regulations help to increase the level of corruption in at least two different ways:

The artificially created monopoly of power that enables civil servants to obtain bribes is based on their superior position and embedded in the system.

On the other hand, however, ineffective and unclear regulations cause inhibition and therefore encourage natural persons to pay bribes in order to speed up the bureaucratic procedure.

Corruption is also strongly influenced by the low salaries of public administration employees (state officials), who are therefore trying to improve their financial position by receiving bribes, and consequently, the socio-economic situation of the government officials also affects the phenomenon of corruption. This is demonstrated also by Allen et al. [ 13 ] in their study where they find that corruption arises because agencies, institutions and the government can no longer control corruption effectively due to underpaid officials, which is a problem especially in the developing countries, where they do not have the sufficient tax revenue to properly reward the local officials. However, low wages are not the only cause of corruption; the poor state of the public administration, which is a consequence of political “overcrowding” 4 of officials, due to which loyalty usually prevails over professional standards, also strongly affects the corruption. As an important factor influencing corruption, some authors also indicate satisfaction with the work done by officials—the more they are dissatisfied with their work or place of work, the higher the degree of corruption, which is confirmed by Sardžoska and Tang [ 14 ] in their studies. The mentioned authors find that the private sector has higher ethical values, in particular those that affect satisfaction with work, than the public sector and is therefore less unethical (especially regarding thefts and corruption). Indirectly, Svenson [ 10 ] also affirms this and states that in principle, the salary level of civil servants affects the receipt of a bribe (the higher it is, the smaller the chance that the person will act corruptly). However, he continues on that a higher salary also strengthens the negotiating power of the official, which leads to higher bribes and he also states that, on the basis of existing research, it is very difficult to determine whether a higher salary causes less corruption, which means that the level of salary is not a decisive factor, but merely one of many.

The economy is unfortunately largely dependent on politics and often reflects the rule of law; various options for eliminating competition are exploited, and bribery is just one of the possible weapons in the struggle to gain a job. At the same time is the mentality of the economy sometimes: “The cost of a bribe is only a substantial business cost, an integral part of the contract,” or “Even if we stop the bribery, our rivals will not, so we must bribe in order to remain competitive, “or” bribery and misleading behaviour are not really crimes, they are just part of the old business practice. They are part of the game and everyone does it.” On the other hand is the point sometimes simply the “lubricating” of the bureaucratic wheel by the private sector to do certain things faster or easier.

The political influence of corruption is also manifested through the proverb: examples are attractive! If the top of the politics (government, parties and leading politicians) is corrupt, then corruption shows at all levels, and this evil at the same time spreads among the ordinary population, as nobody trusts the institutions or the rule of law. Johnston [ 15 ] thus points out useful thinking in terms of two types of equilibrium—the balance between the openness and the autonomy of the institutions and elites it leads and the balance between political and economic power and opportunities for cooperation. Ideally, the institutions should be open to influences and feedback from different sources, yet at the same time sufficiently independent to effectively carry out their work. Where the openness and independence of the institutions are in balance, the officials are accessible, but not excessively exposed to private influences; if they can make authoritative decisions, while not using their power to arbitrate, the corruption is relatively low. But where the official power is poorly institutionalized, too exposed to private influence, and the officials’ independence is reflected in excessive exploitation of their power—they can do as they please—the possibility for extreme corruption is again high.

2.2. Professional ethics and legislation

Lack of professional ethics and deficient laws regulating corruption as a criminal offense, and the prosecution and sanctioning of it are also an important cause for the emergence and spread of corruption. A great influence comes also from the ineffective sanctioning of corruption, which only increases the possibility of continuing the corruptive actions of those involved, creating at the same time a strong likelihood that others will join in the corruption due to this inefficient sanctioning.

The sole lack of professional ethics is a particular issue, as the administration requires different amounts of time to develop or change its ethics and professional standards, which is well known in transition countries (in some, ethics and professional standards changed overnight and approached the equivalents in the developed democracies, and in some, they remained the same as in socialism). It is precisely in the transition countries that the “softer” acts of corruption are often considered to be acceptable and justifiable. Therefore, due to lack of professional ethics in some countries that otherwise manage illegal corruption well, there is nevertheless a widespread form of legal corruption.

Corruption also generates a lack of transparency and a lack of control by supervisory institutions. Therefore, where there is insufficient legal basis or sufficient political will to control, which enables a non-transparent functioning of both politics and the economy, corruption flourishes. Corruption is also affected by the extensive, non-transparent or incomplete legislation, where laws can be interpreted in different ways (for the benefit of the one who pays).

2.3. Habits, customs, tradition and demography

Different countries have different attitudes to corruption. In Europe alone, we can find two extremes; from completely corruption intolerant North to the warm South, where corruption is an almost normal, socially acceptable phenomenon. Or the difference between countries with a democratic past, which traditionally prosecute corruption, and former socialist countries, where the corruption in the state apparatus was a part of folklore tradition. Then, there are also different customs; in some cases, a “thank you” in the form of a gift for a service (for which this person has already been paid with a salary) is an expression of courtesy, and elsewhere it is considered corruption. Everything is only a matter of ethics and morality; however, they can be very different in different areas and different countries.

Some forms of corruption also relate to an informal form of social security, where the family or the immediate community takes care of its members. Such forms of informal social security prevail in less developed countries, where there is no legal regulation of formal social security and in the countries of Southern Europe where the influence of the broader family (patriarchate 5 ) is still very strong, like for example in Italy, Greece, Albania, Bosnia, etc. These countries are known for nepotism, cronyism and patronage, since the family as well as the wider community provide social security. The family or community takes care of their members, who, in return, must be loyal and in a way also repay the benefits they receive from it. The same is true of faith. While the southern, predominantly Catholic, very hierarchically organized part of Europe, encourages the cult of the family (also joint and several community) and several liability, the northern, mainly Protestant part, emphasizes individualism and individual responsibility (which means less forms of corruption). The corruption also prospers better in countries where Islam and Orthodoxy are the main religion. The influence of the dominant religion in the country is thus important.

The influence of majority Protestantism has been tested several times and has proven to be an important factor for the low level of corruption in a country. However, the relationship between Protestantism and good governance is probably rooted more in history than in today’s practice. Today, there are many nominally Protestant countries that are de facto secular, while also many non-Protestant countries fight effectively against corruption. Thus, the influence of Protestantism appears to emerge from its egalitarian ethos, which could indirectly function as a support to the general orientation toward ethical universalism, literacy and the promotion of individualism. Its role is therefore important, as it at certain stages of the development explains why the first countries that were well managed were predominantly Protestant. This does not mean that other religious traditions are incompatible with good governance, but only that they have not succeeded in compiling this particular array of factors at the right moment [ 16 ].

Similarly, the research by North et al. [ 17 ] showed that, according to the authors, the least corrupt countries or those countries where the rule of law is the strongest were predominantly Protestant in 1900 and those who are most corrupt were predominantly Orthodox in the same year. The results of their research have shown that there is a link between religion and corruption on one hand, and respect for the rule of law on the other, but not that the link is causative. The questions therefore arise: Why do some religions respect the rule of law more than others and control corruption? Do the characteristics of a particular religion themselves lead to the results? Are there any differences in religious doctrines, practices or cultures that lead to such results? Are there other links that are not rooted in the religious culture, but are related to religious affiliation?

A study titled Perception of corruption by authors Melgar et al. [ 18 ] tried to find out which groups of people are more likely to pay for corruption. They found that those who think that there is a lot of corruption also perceive it so and are consequently more willing to pay for it (as they think or expect the society to function that way). By using a wide and very heterogeneous set of data and econometrics, it has been shown that the social status and personal characteristics also play an important role in the shaping of corruption perception at the micro level. While divorced women, unemployed persons, persons working in the private sector or the self-employed are considered to be in positive correlation with the perception of corruption (corruption is perceived more and they are more willing to pay bribes), the opposite applies to married persons, full-time employees, people who frequently attend religious ceremonies and people with at least secondary education (they perceive less corruption and are also unwilling to pay). According to the classification of countries, they find that it can be proved that all African and Asian countries are in the upper half of the table, and the same applies to the former socialist countries and most of the East Asian countries. People living in these countries perceive more corruption than others. On the contrary, most European countries and some of the former English colonies show lower perceptions than the average (there are also exceptions) and rank in the lower half, the same as half of the richest countries. They also added that the geographical classification of countries has been strongly correlated with the corruption perception index (CPI), which shows that individual characteristics and social conditions are specific factors that influence the perception of corruption. However, they have also found that better economic results reduce the perception of corruption, while the macroeconomic instability and income inequalities have precisely the opposite effect. With Mahič [ 19 ], we also found a similar influence on the perception of corruption; in the economic crisis (high unemployment and low purchasing power), the perception of corruption is rising.

A very important factor that affects corruption is also demographics. A number of studies have shown that patriarchal society is more prone to corruption. This is confirmed by several researches that actually explore to what extent are men women corrupt. Several earlier, especially econometric contributions to the debate on who is more corrupt, men or women, argued that there is a link between a higher representation of women in government and lower levels of corruption. An influential study of 150 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia by the World Bank [ 20 ] confirmed this and concluded that women are more reliable and less prone to corruption. The subsequent findings were later reinforced by further research. Rivas [ 21 ] also affirms this in his research and notes that, according to the results of the survey, the conclusion could be that women are less corrupt than men and that the increase in the number of women on the labor market and in politics would help fight corruption. Lee and Guven [ 22 ] in the survey: Engaging in corruption—the influence of cultural values and the contagion effects at the micro-level also raised the question of whether men are more corrupt than women. The findings of the research support the thesis that women are less susceptible to corruption than men, especially in cultures that require men to be ambitious, competitive and materially successful, as these factors significantly contribute to unethical behavior. This was surprisingly well shown also in practice [ 23 ] when, due to gender equality, the Peruvian government a decade ago decided to involve more women in the police units. When the 2,500 female police officers were joined as traffic police officers, something unexpected happened; bribery was drastically reduced, and people welcomed the female police officers on the streets.

3. The impact of corruption on the economy

In 1997, Tanzi and Davoodi [ 2 ] conducted a systematic study of the impact of corruption on public finances. Several important findings came to light:

Corruption increases the volume of public investments (at the expense of private investments), as there are many options that allow for public expenditure manipulation and are carried out by high-level officials so as to get bribes (which means that more general government expenditures or a large budget offer more opportunities for corruption).

Corruption redirects the composition of public expenditure from the expenditure necessary for basic functioning and maintenance to expenditure on new equipment.

Corruption tends to pull away the composition of public expenditure from the necessary fixed assets for health and education, as there is less chance of getting commissions than from other, perhaps unnecessary projects.

Corruption reduces the effectiveness of public investments and the infrastructure of a country.

Corruption can reduce tax revenues by compromising the ability of the state administration to collect taxes and fees, although the net effect depends on how the nominal tax and other regulatory burdens were selected by the officials, exposed to corruption.

The influence of corruption on the economy was studied by the same authors [ 3 ] through several factors:

Through the impact of corruption on businesses : The impact of corruption on a business is largely depend on the size of the company. Large companies are better protected in an environment that is prone to corruption, they avoid taxes more easily and their size protects them from petty corruption, while they are often also politically protected, which is why the survival of small (especially start-up companies) and middle-sized companies, regardless of their importance for the growth of the economy and the development, is much more difficult than the survival of large companies.

Through the impact of corruption on investments : Corruption affects (a) total investments, (b) the size and form of investments by foreign direct investors, (c) the size of public investments and (d) the quality of investment decisions and investment projects.

Through the influence of corruption on the allocation of talents : Indirectly, corruption has a negative impact on economic growth through the allocation of talents, since gifted and prospective students are driven, due to the influence of the environment and the situation in the country, for example, to study law rather than engineering, which would add value to the country.

Through the impact of corruption on public spending : Corruption has a negative impact on public spending and has an especially strong impact on education and health. There are also indications of the correlation between corruption and military expenditure, which means that high level of corruption reduces economic growth due to high military expenditure.

Through the impact of corruption on taxes : Because of corruption, less taxes are levied than would otherwise be, as some of the taxes end up in the pockets of corrupt tax officials. There are also frequent tax relieves in the corrupt countries, selective taxes and various progressive taxes; in short, there is much less money than the country could have, and so corruption, through the country’s financial deficit, also affects the economic growth; and conclude the findings on the negative impact (both indirect and direct) of corruption on economic growth.

Smarzynska and Wei [ 5 ] came to similar conclusions regarding the effects of corruption on the size and composition of investments. Corrupt countries are less attractive for investors, and if they do opt for an investment, due to non-transparent bureaucracy, they often enter the market with a joint venture, as they usually understand or control matters of the home country better. The local partner can also help foreign companies with the acquisition of local licenses and permits or can otherwise negotiate with the bureaucratic labyrinths at lower costs. Generally inclined (as investors) to the joint venture in the corrupt countries are especially the US investors; however, even investors from those European countries, which are among the highest ranked on the CPI, quickly adapt to local conditions.

Corruption for various reasons also affects the following:

Employment, because the job does not go to the most suitable or qualified person, but the one who is ready to pay for it or in any other way return the favor.

Also affects total investments [ 24 ].

The size and composition of foreign investments and the size of public investments.

The effectiveness of investment decisions and projects. In the presence of corruption, the investments are smaller, as entrepreneurs are aware that they will have to bribe the officials or even give them a profit share for a successful implementation of a business. Due to these increased costs, the entrepreneurs are not interested in investing.

Wei [ 25 ] even made a projection which predicted that in the case of reduction in corruption in Bangladesh to the level of corruption in Singapore, the growth rate of GDP per capita would increase by 1.8% per year between 1960 and 1985 (assuming that the actual average annual growth rate was 4% per year), and the average per capita income could have been more than 50% higher, whereas the Philippines could, if its level of corruption was reduced to that of Singapore (if everything remained unchanged), have raised their investments in relation to GDP by as much as 6.6%, which means a significant increase in the investments. At the same time, he notes that in order to reduce the corruption to the level of Singapore in the countries that he compared (India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico and Ghana), the State should raise the salaries of officials by 400—900%. He therefore asks himself whether this would even be possible. However, he notes that in the event of a large increase in salaries, a new form of corruption would likely arise when everyone would be prepared to pay a bribe for a well-paid official job.

Corruption often reduces the effectiveness of various financial assistance programs (both state and international), as money is “lost somewhere along the way” and does not reach those that need it or for whom it is intended, as the financial benefits, deriving from corruption, are not taxable because they are hidden. The state is thus also losing part of the income from the taxes due to corruption, while the public spending, resulting from corruption (or narrow private interests) leads to negative effects on the budget.

The European Commission in its report found that corruption is costing the European economy about 120 billion a year, and according to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malstotröm, the corruption in Europe is most present in public procurement, financing of political parties and health care [ 26 ].

The United Nations estimate that the cost of corruption in Afghanistan amounted to about $ 3.9 billion in 2012. According to Transparency International, the former leader of Indonesia, Suharto, embezzled between $ 15 and $ 35 billion, whereas the embezzlements of Mobutu in Zaire, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Abacha in Nigeria are estimated to amount to $ 5 billion [ 27 ]. However, the World Bank survey shows that $ 1 billion in bribes, both in rich and developing countries, is paid annually [ 28 ], which means that even the developed countries are not immune to corruption (but in a different form) and that the political corruption is especially present in large infrastructure projects. Bađun [ 29 ] on the example of Croatia gives conclusions, which are valid for all post-communist countries.

Impact on enterprises: A survey conducted by the EBRD and the World Bank shows that bribes paid in smaller companies account for 5% of their annual profits and in medium-sized companies 4% of their annual profits. However, both are, compared to large companies, where bribes comprise less than 3%, in a much worse position, which shows how bribes are causing problems or are putting these smaller companies into a subordinate position compared to the large ones, which in turn leads to the collapse of these.

Also interesting is the study of the Shadow Economy in Highly Developed OECD Countries where Schneider and Buehn [ 30 ] also find the link between the low quality of institutions that are the holders of the rule of law (or degree of corruption) and the shadow economy, and therefore, the weaker the “law” is, the higher the degree of corruption and of shadow economy. In the study Corruption and the Shadow Economy [ 31 ], the same authors explore the relationship between the degree of corruption and the emergence of the shadow economy, and their findings are that the high level of shadow economy and the high degree of corruption are strongly linked to one another. One of the hypotheses in this survey (which has been confirmed) is also: the higher the degree of corruption, the lower the economic development measured by GDP per capita. The authors detected a positive correlation; corruption thus affects the economic development.

However, the extended practice of finding annuity outside the logic of the market and competition can therefore lead to a (neo) liberal conclusion that the root of the existence of corruption is in the very existence of the state—especially in excessive, selective and deforming state interventions and subsidies that create fertile soil for the development of corruption. The truth is that the devastating combination consists of widespread state intervention and subsidies in the simultaneous absence of a strong institutional framework and detailed rules of the game, including the control of public finances and effective anti-trust legislation and legal practices. On the other hand, however, there is no clear evidence that private monopolies are more effective and less corrupt than the public ones and that privatization, especially long-lasting, gradual and non-transparent one (so-called gradualism), reduces positive developmental and social effects, including the reduction of corruption [ 32 ]. Yet market deregulation, legal and judicial reform and transparent management of public procurement would significantly reduce corruption in many developing countries (as well as in transition countries), at which point the government should play an important role in the shaping of the anti-corruption policy. There should be a strong strengthening of the public procurement institution. The law is admittedly strict about the public procurement, but one of the main reasons for public procurement problems is the lack of a skilled workforce, and public procurement is thus still the breeding ground of corruption. There also exists a proverb “poverty is a curse,” which applies largely to all developing countries, as these are the countries that are most affected by poverty. Poverty destroys all ethical and moral values.

One of the important aspects of the damage to the global economy is also the failure to respect copyright and intellectual property. The more corrupt countries are also inclined to lower respect for the aforementioned, and the economic damage amounts to billions of dollars. Cavazos-Cepeda et al. [ 33 ] found that reforms, legal, fiscal and intellectual incentives to respect copyright and intellectual property patents encourage the society to make itself more innovative and economically more effective; however, they underline the importance of human capital and investment in people as one of the most important factors for reducing the level of corruption in the country.

There are also theories that corruption can act as the lubricant of the economic wheel and at least in some cases has a positive impact on the economic growth. The empirical analysis done by Dreher and Gassebner [ 34 ] on a sample of 43 countries between 2003 and 2005 shows that corruption is even useful, but with some reservations. In particular, they investigated the short-term effects of corruption and found, for example, that in countries where corruption is widespread, more new entrepreneurs enter the market (corruption in the public sector is expected to promote private entrepreneurial activity). They are, however, not necessarily to succeed, as there is a high likelihood that they will go bankrupt due to the rigid regulations that block the activity and because of which bribes are needed. They do acknowledge, on the other hand, that most authors who have been doing research for a longer period of time admit the harmfulness of corruption both for society and the economy. Something similar show the data for some Asian countries, where, unlike their findings (short-term benefit), the high degree of corruption coincides with the long-term economic growth.

Svendson [ 10 ] also notes that, in light of the theoretical literature and various research studies, notwithstanding that these show the negative impact of corruption on the economic growth, but this cannot be said for sure, since there are difficulties in measuring corruption, and at the same time, the question arises whether the econometric models that were made are good enough to capture all the important variables. He also states that corruption appears in many forms and that there is no reason to assume that all types of corruption are equally harmful to the economic growth.

Recent empirical researches also attest to that; while many countries have suffered, as a characteristic consequence of corruption, the decline in economic growth, other countries have had economic growth (in some cases a very positive one) despite corruption. The latter is also to be expected, since corruption has many manifestations and it would be surprising if all types of corrupt practices had the same effect on economic performance. Analyses show that one of the reasons for this is the extent to which the perpetrators of corrupt practices—in this case the bureaucrats—coordinate their behavior. In the absence of an organized corruption network, each bureaucrat collects bribes for himself, while ignoring the negative impact of others’ demands for them. In the presence of such a network, the collective bureaucracy reduces the total value of the bribe, which results in lower bribe payments and higher innovation, and the economic growth is consequently higher in the latter case than in the former case. The interesting question is not so much why is the degree of corruption in poor countries higher than in the rich ones, but rather why the nature of corruption differs between countries. The extent to which corruption is organized is just one aspect of this, but there are other aspects. For example, it is common practice in some countries to pay ex post (as a share of profit, for example) instead of ex ante (in advance, as a bribe) to officials or politicians, so it is assumed that the effects on the economy will be different. The precise reason why corruption should take on one form and not the other is an important issue which has been largely ignored and which could have to do with cultural, social and political reasons, as well as economic circumstances [ 35 ].

In the fight against corruption, a remarkable role was also played by the debt crisis. The die Welt newspaper [ 36 ] mentions the study of the Hertie School of Governance, which shows that Italy, Spain and Portugal have made great strides in the fight against bribery and corruption of their civil servants due to lack of money, which enabled a significantly more transparent and “pure” practice for the award of public procurement. The crisis is supposed to dry up monetary resources and thus reduce the chances of corruption. Also, the crisis has changed the perception of the society, and bad business practices, which were acceptable before the crisis, are acceptable no longer. However, the fight against corruption is often similar to the fight against windmills. The case of India shows how corruption is changing, getting new dimensions, not only in scope, but also in methods. Just as the population in India is growing, so is corruption, and there are always new ways how to cheat both the state and the society. The perception of corruption is increasing year after year. Despite all the anti-corruption moves and anti-corruption initiatives, people do not hesitate to offer or accept a bribe. The bribers are becoming innovative, they adapt to the situation and the innovation of companies in paying bribes and hiding them is also visible. However, just as elsewhere in the world, the negative effects of corruption are the same; it reduces foreign direct and domestic investments, increases inequality and poverty, raises the number of freeloaders (renters, free-riders) in the economy, distorts and exploits public investments and reduces public revenues.

4. Discussion

Corruption is, in fact, a multidirectional process. On one hand, the provider benefits, on the other the recipient, and both are aware of the deed that remains hidden. The third link in the chain is everyone else, the victims. Although not every act of corruption is yet a criminal offense, it is, however, unethical and detrimental to the economic and political development of a society. Usually, there are persons involved with political, economic and decision-making power, and as the philosopher Karl Popper wrote in his book, The Open Society and its Enemies , that the greatest problem is not the question of who should give orders, but how to control the one who gives them. How to organize the political and social institutions in order to prevent the weak and incompetent rulers from doing too much harm? However, as there is no general and unmistakable way of preventing the tyranny or corruptions of the heavyweights, the price of freedom is eternal alertness [ 37 ]. Greediness, ambition, rapacity and immorality have been known to the human society ever since the emergence of civilization and use every tool available to them: kinship, common past, school contacts, common interests, friendship and, of course, political as well as religious ties.

In a study by Šumah et al. [ 38 ], we did an analysis of countries, taking into account their ranking on the Corruption Perception Index published every year by Transparency International, and identified the main factors affecting the level of corruption in a particular group of countries, or rather, we tried to find similarities and differences between individual groups of countries in terms of what affects the level of corruption in these groups. We have established a basic model of three factors (risk, benefit and consciousness) that was created on the basis of the merger of several known, scientifically proven factors that cause or reduce corruption or affect its level in the individual country. According to this degree of corruption, we have identified five groups, classified the countries and analyzed their common characteristics. The findings were as follows:

Corruption is linked to the level of GDP (the higher the GDP, the lower the rate of corruption).

Corruption is related to the level of education (the higher the average level of education, the lower the level of corruption).

Corruption is strongly linked to the geographical location. The highest level is in Asia (mainly in Central Asia), Africa (North and Central Africa) and South America (according to the Transparency International map).

Corruption is strongly linked to the country’s prevailing religion.

Corruption is linked to freedom in the country (personal freedom, freedom of speech, economic freedom, etc.), with respect to the rule of law in a country and inefficiency of public administration, which is often also locally limited or is inherently corrupt.

The lower the country is ranked, the more dominant is the patriarchal society.

Many researchers are still involved in corruption. The findings show that there is a link between corruption and its negative effects, but from most of the studies it is not possible to determine what the cause is and what the consequence. Whether is the level of corruption lower due to high GDP, or is it vice versa, cannot be directly identified, since the corruption depends on economic indicators, while at the same time affecting them [ 39 ]. It is also very difficult to claim that the average low level of education is due to corruption or, conversely, that corruption is a result of low education. Similarly goes for the rule of law and (in)efficiency of public administration. This interdependence will surely continue to be the subject of numerous researches in the future, for the only way to be successful in the fight against corruption is if we know the causes and begin to eliminate them.

Nevertheless, there remains something that needs to be emphasized. Almost all of the studies ignore the fact that the top of the most corrupt countries consists of countries with one of the various forms of armed conflict (civil war, intertribal conflicts, inter-religious wars or some other form of aggression), which means that peace in the country is a prerequisite for a successful fight against corruption. The least corrupt countries are countries that have a lasting peace on their territory (most since the Second World War or even longer), which is confirmed by the above fact. Peace is therefore one of the prerequisites for a successful fight against corruption.

The answer to the question of how to deal with corruption is not unambiguous; some countries have achieved great success in dealing with it in a relatively short time (Singapore, Estonia and Georgia) and some have been struggling for a long time (the most famous example is Italy). The first condition is in any case to ensure freedom (personal freedom, economic freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc.) and democracy, and then education and awareness of people. However, at this point, it is not about introducing the Western type democracy, as our culture knows it, for it has often proven that, especially with the help of the army, more harm than benefit was caused. It is necessary to start using good practices of countries that are similar to each other (religion, habits, tradition, ethics and morality) and that have common history.

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• 39. Manzin M, Bavec C, Čurin S. Resiliency to corruption-structural model of causalities and consequences. Journal of Criminal Investigation and Criminology/Ljubljana. 2012; 63 :4
• Attila (406–453) was the great ruler of the Huns, who, as the first, united all the Huns and conquered a considerable part of Europe and Asia. He is also known as the Whip of God.
• The Renaissance political theorist (1469–1527) who was for more than a decade engaged in diplomatic and state affairs in Florence. Modern political philosophy and political science consider him the founder of the realistic approach to the theory of politics.
• An English philosopher, writer, judge and politician (1561–1626). He rejected Aristotle’s view and philosophy and sought to gain the reputation of the experimental science.
• Overcrowding in this context implies replenishment of posts in public administration with members of one party.
• Patriarchate is a social arrangement in which all authority is held by male representatives of the families that make up the community. The right to name, social and political status, as well as the possession and authority over family members is automatically transferred from the father to the firstborn or to the nearest male relative.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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2 (page 18) p. 18 Why corruption is a problem

• Published: April 2015
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Corruption impacts upon individuals, groups, and organizations in numerous ways. ‘Why corruption is a problem’ considers the negative effects of corruption in terms of social, environmental, economic, politico-legal, security-related, and international implications, using examples from around the world. The impact of particular acts of corruption is often on several areas simultaneously. Some well-regarded analysts have argued that corruption can sometimes be beneficial, but there is widespread agreement that even if corruption may, in some specific situations, be beneficial, this is only ever short term; eventually, the costs of corruption invariably outweigh the benefits.

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Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — Corruption — Corruption: Causes, Effects, And Ways To Prevent

Corruption: Causes, Effects, and Ways to Prevent

• Categories: Corruption

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Words: 1931 |

10 min read

Published: Dec 3, 2020

Words: 1931 | Pages: 4 | 10 min read

Works Cited

• Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2019). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. UNESCO Publishing.
• Gupta, K., & Batra, A. (2015). Corruption and economic growth: A global perspective. International Journal of Development Research, 5(5), 4363-4367.
• Jain, A. K. (2001). Corruption: A review. Journal of Economic Surveys, 15(1), 71-121.
• Klitgaard, R. (1988). Controlling corruption. University of California Press.
• Kwantes, C. T., Boglarsky, C. A., & Pancer, S. M. (2006). The effect of culture on unethical conduct. Social Science Journal, 43(2), 295-300.
• Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. (2016). Rasuah: Apa itu Rasuah? [Corruption: What is Corruption?]. https://www.sprm.gov.my/ms/pengetahuan-am/rasuah
• Mungiu-Pippidi, A. (2015). The quest for good governance: How societies develop control of corruption. Cambridge University Press.
• 15 effects of corruption. (2019). University of Kent. https://www.kent.ac.uk/integrityoffice/policies-and-procedures/bribery-and-corruption/preventing-corruption/15-effects-of-corruption
• 5 ways to reduce corruption and places where it exists. (2016). The Star Online. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/09/12/five-ways-to-reduce-corruption-and-places-where-it-exists/
• Transparency International. (n.d.). Corruption perceptions index.

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Social impacts of corruption upon community resilience and poverty

James lewis.

1 Datum International, South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Corruption at all levels of all societies is a behavioural consequence of power and greed. With no rulebook, corruption is covert, opportunistic, repetitive and powerful, reliant upon dominance, fear and unspoken codes: a significant component of the ‘quiet violence’. Descriptions of financial corruption in China, Italy and Africa lead into a discussion of ‘grand’, ‘political’ and ‘petty’ corruption. Social consequences are given emphasis but elude analysis; those in Bangladesh and the Philippines are considered against prerequisites for resilience. People most dependent upon self-reliance are most prone to its erosion by exploitation, ubiquitous impediments to prerequisites of resilience – latent abilities to ‘accommodate and recover’ and to ‘change in order to survive’. Rarely spoken of to those it does not dominate, for long-term effectiveness, sustainability and reliability, eradication of corrupt practices should be prerequisite to initiatives for climate change, poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction and resilience.

Résumé

Corruption , existing at all levels of all societies in varying degrees, is a behavioural consequence of power and greed in contexts of inadequate governance. With no published rulebook or formula with which to comply, corruption is covert, repetitively opportunistic and powerfully reliant upon dominance and fear within unwritten and unspoken codes. It is therefore an understatement that, consequently, corrupt practices do not readily lend themselves to scientific analysis. Instead, investigation of its consequences amongst the poor has to be necessarily ad hoc and gathered from relatively few published sources which have become available over time. For the purposes of this assessment of its social impacts upon resilience and poverty, extracts have been gathered of its variety of methods and pervasive consequences; as with corruption itself, its procedures are evasive and do not readily lend themselves to formal research.

Literature on the social impacts of corruption is limited, a definitive analysis of corruption and its social consequences being not, as yet, a practicable undertaking. This short contribution reflects some preliminary investigation of the social impacts of corrupt practices upon the poorer sectors of societies, where and when accessible literature has ensued.

Corrupt practices amongst high level political, commercial and industrial dealings, rightly receiving media attention, may become the commencement of long-term trickle-down consequences for the poor which, at society’s lower levels, are unlikely to attract either scientific or media notice. Whilst the scale of corruption on China, Italy and Africa here receive mention, the impacts of corruption upon the poor of these and other societies in Africa, Bangladesh and the Philippines, for example, reveal social consequences which are here examined and considered against required prerequisites for resilience. Those societies and communities most reliant upon their own resilience to crises of any kind are also the most prone to its erosion by consequences of opportunistic control and exploitation.

An introductory section outlines descriptions of how corruption and its effects are contrary to basic needs for resilience, focussing on erosion of personal capacities and abilities; its significance to poverty and development within less-developed countries being indicated. Detailed analysis of social prerequisites for resilience is described with reference to internationally adopted definitions as a basis for discussion of their interpretation and comparison, both historic and recent. Some worldwide corrupt practices and attitudes to them are described in contexts of resilience theory, its reality and its consequences. Discussion of economic and social consequences of corruption is based upon Transparency International definitions and their shortcomings. Conclusions highlight a relationship between corruption, poverty and their impacts of natural hazards and causes of disasters. Depletion of national incomes by corruption relates to causes of poverty and the need for removal of corrupt practices at all social levels. Improved quality of life may then permit emergence of required prerequisites for resilience.

Introduction

Investigated and published more often as a financial issue (e.g. Drury et al. 2006 ; Klein 2007 ; Transparency International 2016a , 2016b ; Zucman 2015 ), corruption in its various guises imposes wide-ranging social consequences, especially when established long-term to the extent of having become ‘normal’ and when its networks, influences and consequences reach community and domestic contexts.

Corruption is a cause of low development (Zucman 2015 :34–55) and exacerbates poverty where poverty prevails; corruption, therefore, needs to be included amongst causes of the consequences of poverty, such as debt, incapacity, mental despair and despondency (Ray 1986 ). Within influences as powerful as poverty, corrupt practices, in many forms and over long periods of time, may affect all and every exchange or transaction at every level of society, imposing additional insidious and negative influences upon the emergence of resilience. With little or no hard evidence for outsiders and rarely spoken of to those it does not dominate, in its numerous forms, the invisible, outwardly imperceptible practices of corruption are a cause of debilitating, pervasive and penetrating impacts upon day to day behaviours, ways of life and of well-being (Chabal & Daloz 1999 ; Hartmann & Boyce 1990 ; Hoogvelt 1976 ; Lewis 2008b , 2011b , 2011c ; Ray 1986 ).

Whatever resource and effort may be introduced for its purpose, resilience may be impeded, or may not materialise, where indigenous systems of control prevail and where social capacities are consequently inadequate.

Prevailing incapacities may have been caused by a variety of circumstances, such as: long-term political repression (Lewis 2013a ), ill-considered occupation or re-occupation of hazardous and damaged locations (Lewis 2013b ), direct experiences of catastrophe, deaths, injury, shock or other consequences, or long-term poverty of a degree to so seriously deplete initiative and well-being as to induce physical and mental inertia (Symons 1839 ). Poverty is commonly assumed to be because of a country being poor whilst, in reality, poverty exists in most societies (Lewis & Lewis 2014 ). Any or all of these consequences may have been, or may yet be, experienced over long periods of time, separately or simultaneously, repeatedly or continuously.

For the emergence and organisation of resilience in any context, prerequisites of individual capacity and ability (United Nations: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction [UN/ISDR] 2009 ) are identified as being necessary. Without capacity and without individual qualities ‘to reduce negative consequences’ of disasters and for application to ‘long-term strategies for societal change’ (UN/ISDR 2009 ), it is difficult to envisage how community and organisational resilience could gestate, emerge or formulate. In any context and at any level, if individuals are not resilient then how would community resilience come to prevail?

Many less developed countries are internally perceived as most corrupt (Transparency International 2016b ) and some of the most corrupt are amongst those most vulnerable to natural hazards; Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines, for example. For the 20-year period 1996–2015, almost half of all deaths because of all natural hazards occurred in low-income countries (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters [CRED]/United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction [UNISDR] 2016a ). In contexts such as these, it is pertinent to ask: how much is a country’s apparent poverty because of corruption in governance and commercial mismanagement, and how many basic components of resilience, such as well-being, capacity and ability could have, indeed should have, been induced and supported in the name of indigenous normal good governance and social development?

Social prerequisites for resilience

Resilience has been defined as:

The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions. (UN/ISDR 2009 :n.p.)

A definition which may be read either as an assumption that ability exists or as a caution that it may not (Lewis 2013a ).

Resilience theory originated in ‘late 20th century American cities’ (Davoudi et al. 2017 ), in which ‘radical self-sufficiency’, autonomy and ‘self-dependence’ are facts of life for all but the poorest (Lewis 2013a ). What is not known is what kind of ‘community or society’, or what personal, local and national resources, were assumed as the basis of its definition.

Nonetheless, requirements for resilience have come to assume a universal capability of people to absorb stress and to transform and adapt to managing risks. In short, to deal with crises and disasters, people’s capacity being dependent upon demographic, social, cultural, economic and political factors which may vary. Resilient societies are expected to be able to overcome the impact upon them of natural hazards ‘either through maintaining their pre-disaster social fabric, or through accepting marginal or larger change in order to survive’ (UN/ISDR 2009 :n.p.). Required is the capacity to adapt ability in the creation of capability for recovery (Wisner 2016 ). Thus, the concept of resilience is linked to the concept of change (Manyena 2006 ) which may be technological, economic, behavioural, social, cultural (Gaillard 2007 ) or political (Lewis 2013a ), but in conditions of pervasive poverty, there may not be the ability to ‘accommodate and recover’, or for ‘maintenance of social fabric’; least of all the ability, capacity and capability to ‘change in order to survive’ and ‘in a timely and efficient manner’ (UN/ISDR 2009 :n.p.).

The UN/ISDR definition goes further in recognising that resilience ‘is determined by the degree to which the community has the necessary resources and is capable of organising itself both prior to and during times of need’ (UN/ISDR 2009 :n.p.). Consequently, ‘resilience’, once a characteristic of individuals, has come to be widely applied to preventive motivations as well as to post-disaster contexts, and to being relevant to drought, flood, climate, infrastructure, industrial complexes, businesses, cities, communities and administrations and governments and their politically stated objectives (e.g. Resilience-Scan 2016 ). Poverty and resilience cannot be assumed to go together (Boubacar et al. 2017 ); moreover, in realities of the aftermath of any catastrophe, whether or not in conditions of prevailing poverty, is it not more than likely that ‘ability’ may be severely depleted or may not exist at all (Lewis 2013a )? Resilience theory is said to risk becoming ‘another carrier of neoliberal ideologies, politics and practices with negative implications for social justice and democracy’ (Davoudi et al. 2017 :n.p.).

External initiatives applied as preliminaries towards achievement of community resilience over time, for example, by the improvement of living conditions, healthcare and education as described in detail from Bangladesh (Ahmed et al. 2016 ), may assist contexts of socially comprehensive resilience in the short-term. Focus, however, on localised and current conditions may obscure suspected but hidden causes of those conditions and the consequent need for their cessation and prevention; they may be direct or indirect consequences of questionable influences or of corrupt governance nationally and locally (Lewis & Kelman 2012 ).

Notwithstanding inculcation prior to crises to achieve the social capacity resilience requires, capacity may be annihilated or severely depleted in ensuing catastrophe and its aftermath. Despondency, not resilience, may become the reality, expressing not ability but inert disability. Resilience may theoretically pre-exist as a basic human quality but cannot be assumed to prevail regardless of realities of physical, mental and psychological incapacities, especially in contexts of poverty.

Present in any society at any time (Lewis & Lewis 2014 ), an early analysis of poverty in Scotland, France, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland (Symons 1839 :147–148) realised that poverty has ‘… the same effect on the mind that drunkenness has upon the body’ and that poverty was:

… a main instrument in the debasement of mankind … It is not only the parent of ignorance, but it is the greater barrier to enlightenment. When a man’s whole faculties are strained to the utmost from sunrise to sunset to procure a miserable subsistence, he has neither the leisure, aptitude nor desire for information … (pp. 147–148)

It could be assumed from this description that the sufferer would not have had capacity for resilience.

Fifty-three years later, Friedrich Engels ( [1892] 2009 ) wrote of England:

Everything that the proletarian can do to improve his position is but a drop in the ocean compared with the floods of varying chances to which he is exposed, over which he has not the slightest control. He is the passive subject of all possible combinations of circumstances … (p. 144)

It may be impractical to assume resilience where, for example, many populations are striven by conflict and warfare, millions of people are on the move as refugees and migrants, where millions more are in abject poverty and more directly where people are immediate and longer-term victims of catastrophe. Peace and stability may have been achieved in the aftermath of similar experiences but populations may have been left in fear of recurrence, a fear not conducive to the emergence of ability (Lewis 2013a ; Lewis, Kelman & Lewis 2011e ) and a condition which may last for many years.

Whilst communities may be, or may become resilient, they may continue to be vulnerable and at high risk (Sudmeier-Rieux 2014 ), continuingly prevalent causes of their vulnerability (Lewis & Kelman 2010 ) having been bypassed and disregarded by priorities for achieving resilience. Whereas destruction and damage are described in terms of physical impacts, these may transfer as mental, emotional, social and economic impacts upon individuals and communities. For some time, primary resources of resilience, such as capabilities of creativity, energy and leadership, may therefore be scarce commodities. Resilience anywhere will be dependent upon conditions that prevailed before disaster as well as those created by it and upon programmes for development responsive to potential contingencies of environmental hazards and disasters (Lewis 2013b ). Prescribed characteristics of resilience rarely refer to preceding contexts (e.g. Twigg 2007 ), some least positive contexts being described by Lewis and Kelman ( 2012 ).

Resilience may not, therefore, emerge ‘on demand’, commensurately comparable with the origins of catastrophe from whatever source. This would require a different kind of resilience, not on-the-spot reactions to chaos but one that recognises resilience as a long-term process more compatibly aware of political, social and economic causative processes of inequality, vulnerability and poverty (e.g. Lewis 2013a ), of which the social, as well as economic, consequences of corruption and its associated practices are a significant cause.

But stable, equable, fair and considerate communities and their regional and national administrations are a rarity; poverty, expressed according to a country’s median income, exists virtually in all countries as, in its varying degrees and practices, does corruption (Transparency International 2016b ). Where politicians appear to be in power to facilitate their own incomes and lax administrative systems facilitate them to do so, corruption becomes a cause of poverty, a major impediment to equality and the ‘worm-in-the-bud’ of resilience.

Some economic and social consequences of corruption

Corruption, as ‘the abuse of entrusted power for private gain’, has been classified as ‘grand’, ‘political’ and ‘petty’, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector of governance in which it occurs (Transparency International 2016a ). International scales of corruption, reviewed annually, are based upon internal perceptions of corruption as it is indigenously observed and experienced, a methodology by which it is not possible to compare one perception with another or to know how they were arrived at. This means that whilst corrupt behaviours of politicians or large corporations are reported by the media, they may or may not influence those perceptions upon which international comparisons are based. The international definitions and comparisons by Transparency International are nevertheless a principal comparative scale of corruption and its definitions.

Most corrupt practices operate on, or create, a hierarchical scale of trading, a system that ensures that costs to top-level payers of bribes may be expected to be reimbursed by the receipt of bribes from others, those lower on the scale being recipients of backhanders to them for favours given. Payments would be expected and reimbursed similarly downwards to scales of petty corruption. That socially lowest payers have no-one upon which to claim is how millions of people find themselves in endless poverty – beholden and indebted victims for further exploitation by those richer and more powerful, at whatever level, than themselves. The poor become poorer to the advantage of the rich and poverty and inequality are perpetuated. Realities of corrupt practices upon those already in poverty cannot simply be classed as ‘petty’.

Of Africa, Chabal and Daloz ( 1999 ) argue in support of corruption being ‘the norm … constituting a substantial resource’ (Chabal & Daloz:xxi), taking the view that there has always existed a wide range of activities, inclusive of corruption, which, although illicit from a strictly constitutional or legal point of view, have been regarded as legitimate by the bulk of population (Chabal & Daloz:79). They emphasise however that corruption affects all social strata ‘from billionaires to the lowliest functionary’. Consequently, dichotomy between ‘high’ and ‘low’ or ‘small-’ and ‘large-’ scale corruption is not a determinant factor; neither are differences between financial malpractice, illegal commissions, small graft, open abuse of power, and petty pilfering. Nor do these authors believe some forms of corruption are more reprehensible than others, all forms of corruption being part of an interconnected whole (Chabal & Daloz:98).

Others (e.g. Hoogvelt 1976 ) see corruption as ‘the only means of integrating marginal groups into a disjointed social system’ (Hoogvelt 1976 :132) but where that is the case, corruption should not be allowed to be a licence for social injustice by forcefully keeping in power undeserving elites (Hoogvelt 1976 :137).

Grand corruption in governments’ higher echelons (Transparency International 2016a ), necessarily filters down, with its consequences, throughout all functions of all societies. Politicians and commercial operators, privately and corruptly, are known to have siphoned collectively enormous amounts of money, much of it from development funding, often from their own disaster-prone countries and very often into private bank accounts in the countries that were the origin of the aid (Ndikumana & Boyce 2011 ).

Known as ‘illicit financial flows’ and merged with corruption because of their secrecy, tax evasion and avoidance, and with sources possibly related to more strictly defined corruption, dishonest transactions on a huge scale (Zucman 2015 :34–55) have emerged as evidence of why some countries have remained ‘less-developed’. Money, illicitly taken from external funding intended for development purposes, is a likely cause of reduced domestic investment in basic needs of housing, sanitation, health and education, an explanation of why poverty has prevailed as the principal cause of vulnerability (Lewis 2015 ) and its associated disaster losses and social incapacities, and why such issues have not been matters of development priority by some national governments and indigenous organisations.

A report from the Philippines (Rey 2016 ) concludes that, from 1960 to 2011, approximately $410.5 billion left that country in ‘illicit financial flows’; a figure stated as being 154 times the national budget for health, 52 times that for social protection, 39 times that for education and 25 times that for infrastructure for the same period.

The overall cost to developing countries between 2000 and 2008, of corruption and trade mispricing (trade as a vehicle of monetary transfer), was approximately $6.5 trillion (Kar & Curcio 2011 ), a subsequent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report indicating that $197bn, a significant share, had accrued from those countries categorised as least developed (UNDP 2011 ). A more recent report describes illicit financial flows from eight countries, including Bangladesh and Nepal, as a symptom of poor governance and dysfunctional regulation, and having the following consequences:

• undermining of domestic resource mobilisation by eroding the tax base
• causing greater dependency on official development assistance
• reducing domestic investment and slowing poverty reduction efforts and worsening of inequality (UNDP 2014 ).

Illicit financial flows from developing countries worldwide in 2013 totalled $1.1 trillion, a figure greater than the combined total of foreign direct investment and net official development assistance received by those economies in that year. As examples, illicit financial flows between 2004 and 2013 from Bangladesh totalled $5588 million, from Nepal $567m, and from the Philippines $9025m (Kar & Spanjers 2015 ).

Political corruption is the manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth (Transparency International 2016a ).

An investigation in Bangladesh of self-reported compliance with corporate governance, examined enforcement documents of the Securities and Exchange Commission against actual corporate governance compliance from 2007 to 2011 (Nurunnabi, Hossain & Al-Mosa 2016 ). The authors observe that corruption and lack of enforcement in Bangladesh induced falsification of formal financial reporting under both democratic and military governments (2007–2008). The extent of falsification of information is stated as a cause of alarm for both local and international policy-makers and local and international investors. One thousand one hundred and ninety-four Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement documents were evaluated and 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted.

In 2007, the government of China had more than 1200 laws, rules and directives against corruption, but implementation was ineffective. With only a 3% likelihood of a corrupt official being sent to jail, corruption was a low-risk high-return activity. Even low-level officials had the opportunity to amass an illicit fortune of tens of millions of yuan. The secretary to the Chinese Communist Party in Janwei county of Sechuan province acquired 34 million yuan (£3 467 952/$5 096 000) and the colleague of another Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary, his city’s anti-corruption chief, collected bribes worth more than 30 million yuan (£346 794 000/$4 497 000; Lewis 2008b ).

Corruption in China is concentrated in those sectors with extensive state involvement, such as infrastructure projects and government procurement, the consequent increased costs of which, during a 10-year period, were estimated as 10% of spending (ending in 2005). Such a depletion of funds contributed to environmental degradation, social instability and inadequate health care, housing and education:

To estimate roughly the direct costs of corruption, we can suppose that ten per cent of government spending, contracts, and transactions is used as kickbacks and bribes or is simply stolen. (Lewis 2008b :n.p.; Pei 2007 :n.p.)

In relative terms, developing countries are the most affected by volumes of wealth held abroad, calculated for 2014 as 30% for those of Africa (Zucman 2015 :53). But between 1970 and 2008, an examination of capital sent from 33 African countries concluded that over that 38-year period, ‘capital flight’ amounted to $735bn, a sum roughly equal to 80% of the combined GDP of those countries during that time. The period of this study indicated that the sum involved was ‘not a transitory product of unusual circumstances but rather an outcome of persistent underlying causes’ (Ndikumana & Boyce 2011 :46). An earlier study by the same authors concluded that this sum was ‘from assets belonging to a narrow, relatively wealthy stratum of populations while, in consequence, public external debts are born by the people through their governments’ (Ndikumana & Boyce 2008 quoted in Shaxson 2011 :158). Similar procedures making use of offshore tax-havens have operated on behalf of the rich and at the cost of the poor within many countries (Shaxson 2011 ). Overall, by its hierarchy of bribery and graft, corruption for the benefit of the few means continued and exacerbated poverty for the many and simultaneous breakdown or malfunction of hospitals, clinics and health care (Ndikumana & Boyce 2011 :74–83, cited in Lewis 2015 ). Corrupt practices are widespread within entire commercial sectors of some countries, and are known to have been causes of serious inadequacies such as building failure (Ambraseys & Bilham 2011 ; Lewis 2005 , 2008a , 2008b ).

Political elites of some developing countries are known to accumulate capital because of the fragility of their position and constant threat to their political survival (Hoogvelt 1976 :137); partly for that reason, large sums are transferred to safer European accounts or to the many global ‘tax-havens’ (Shaxson 2011 ).

In a large scale public works contract in Italy, endemic collusion between levels of administration, elected officials, bureaucrats and private contractors made it obvious that for such abuse of public office for personal gain to persist countrywide, elected officials are necessarily and regularly involved. Extensive and persistent corruption in any sector, could not be regarded as a phenomenon isolated from its broader political context; a political environment of corruption involves a non-benevolent principal rather than being a benign bureaucratic or institutional slippage from a benevolent one (Golden & Picci 2005 ).

Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens, when seeking to access basic goods or services in hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies (Transparency International 2016a ). These corrupt practices are rarely spoken of and expectations of bribes are rarely applicable to anyone not known to the locality. Without long-term presence and discrete research (e.g. Hartmann & Boyce 1990 ; Ray 1986 ), assured evidence of ‘petty’ corruption remains obscure.

In 2013, a Philippines national survey (Office of the Ombudsman 2014 ) indicated fewer families to have given bribes or ‘grease money’ in 2013 than in 2010. The survey found that more people in ‘the lower income stratum’ were more likely to pay bribes or ‘grease money’ despite ‘their lower financial capacity’, assumed by the report as to ensure government social services essential to them were made available.

Of West Africa, Hoogvelt ( 1976 ), believes corruption affects everyone:

patients offering bribes to nurses in hospital to persuade them to pass on a bed-pan; traffic offenders bribing police officers to waive the fine; tax collectors adding their personal increment to inland revenue extractions; councillors awarding contracts to firms in which they (or their kin) have a financial stake; educational officers giving government scholarships to their cousins; and political candidates buying the votes of entire electoral districts. (pp. 128–129)

Hoogvelt adds that corruption at the law enforcement level, involving lower echelons of civil and public services, is where contact between administrations and the public are most frequent and where, therefore, the greatest volume of corruption occurs – though the amount of damage done and money involved may well be greater at higher levels (Hoogvelt 1976 :130).

Corruption retains society’s levels in place, corrupt behaviours at lower social levels being a microcosm of those at upper levels. Where larger landowners control most land of their district, consequences at lower levels impact upon minor landholders, share croppers and labourers who own little or no land (Hartmann & Boyce 1990 :7); a system that ensures those at each social level will remain at that level, the rich as well as the poor, and the poor will remain beholden to, and controlled by, the rich.

An exception from Bangladesh illustrates the generality: Mahmud was a poor student living in Johir Ali’s house and tutoring his children in exchange for a room and board. After Mahmud graduated from secondary school, Johir Ali is said to have paid a 500 taka bribe to secure him a job as a tahsildar , a government land-tax officer who records the amount of land which tenants held on lease. Tenants were often in arrears with their rent payments and at risk of dispossession, providing Mahmud opportunities to help himself by helping others with their payments. Mahmud charged a fee for his services, but since it was less than the going price of land, most tenants were happy to comply. During his years as a tax officer, Mahmud accumulated considerable capital, which he invested in land and later left his government job to take up the management of his sizeable holdings (Hartmann & Boyce 1990 :55).

Every service demands a kickback or backhander additional to any legal payment that may be required. Larger landholders in line for development aid, such as for the drilling of wells, will buy up numbers of offers to which they may be eligible to sell on to lesser landholders either as wells or as water from wells in their ownership. Larger land owners control lesser landholders and smaller crop growers. From development aid, the poor get temporary employment (e.g. from the use of water), the rich reaping repeated capital gains from the installation of a well (Hartmann & Boyce 1990 :257, 262, 272, 274).

As a consequence of ‘tremendous power’ wielded in Bangladesh by the rural rich, ubiquitous corruption pervades every sector at every level and is stated as being a principal hindrance to the achievement of self-reliance by the rural poor. Wealthy landowners, physicians, shopkeepers, chairmen or members of the union parishad (local government), have long-lasting connections and alliances with government in the capital, officials of all ranks, lawyers, judges and powerful politicians. Sustained by bribes, gifts, marriage and birth, these alliances, enable the rural rich to safeguard their narrow self-interest, ‘committing crimes if necessary and getting away’ (Ray 1986 :24–25).

A study in flash flood prone north-eastern Bangladesh (Choudhury & Haque 2016 ) identifies social power structures, imposed by local political and commercial elites, as serving to diminish local adaptive capacities and consequently as an impediment upon resilience. Petty corruption, in the form of bribery referred to in the study, emerges as an understated but consistent component of impositions upon those in poverty; expressed as the eponymous quotation: ‘We are more scared of power elites than the floods’.

Reports of occasional local optimism (e.g. Hossain 2016 ) need to be set against realities of corruption at all relevant levels and scales (Transparency International 2016b ) and of its social consequences.

Contexts of poverty may be created by corrupt practices at higher levels of government and commercial management (Transparency International 2016a ; UNDP 2014 ), exacerbated and perpetuated by social systems imposed upon people and their communities for purposes of domination and exploitation to facilitate ‘petty’ corrupt practices (Choudhury & Haque 2016 ; Hartmann & Boyce 1990 ; Ray 1986 ).

Contexts of poverty are known to be amongst the most vulnerable and the most disaster-prone (Lewis & Kelman 2012 ). Of countries lowest on the internally perceived international corruption scale (Transparency International 2016b ), several are amongst the poorest developing countries (Ambraseys & Bilham 2011 ). Of the 168 countries on the scale, Myanmar is 147th, Bangladesh is 139th, Nepal is 130th and the Philippines is 95th; of low-income and lower middle-income countries (CRED/UNISDR 2016b ), Myanmar is 147th and Pakistan is 117th. Whilst consistent correlation between corruption and disaster impacts is unlikely, disaster mortality is highest in Haiti, at 158th amongst the lowest on the corruption scale and highest for disaster mortality.

In these and numerous other countries, poverty persists for large numbers of people caused to be at risk by pernicious political, commercial and social realities which result from discrimination and displacement, impoverishment by others’ self-seeking expenditure, denial of access to resources, and corrupt siphoning of public money that may be otherwise spent to the public good (Lewis & Kelman 2012 ); sub-cultures working to favour the few but in opposition to the interests of the many (Lewis 2015 ).

As a perpetrator and perpetuator of poverty and inequality (Alexander 2016 ; Lewis 2011a ; Lewis & Kelman 2012 ), by its various guises and their consequences, corruption is a ubiquitous impediment of abilities to ‘accommodate and recover’, and ‘change in order to survive’, the basic functions of resilience (UN/ISDR 2009 ).

Further, where aspects of national income are diverted to private accounts and payments of bribes are set against declared company profits, the basis upon which national tax incomes are formed is reduced. Income which could have been spent for the benefit of society at large is depleted on such a scale that housing, education, sanitation, nutrition and healthcare (Ndikumana & Boyce 2011 ), for example, are threatened or rendered inadequate (Lewis 2011a ). Corrupt behaviours leading to depletion of national and local incomes are an explanation for why works for basic community development are perceived as necessary for preliminary projects to precede projected inputs for sustainability and resilience (e.g. Ahmed et al. 2016 ).

Until corrupt practices are traced and stopped, it may not be realistic to expect villagers in long-term poverty to turn to new activities merely by advising them to do so: ‘After all, decades of abject poverty has instilled in them a deep fear that trying anything new may be disastrous’ (Ray 1986 :4). Traditionally ingrained corrupt practices may seem inseparable from social norms, the introduction of new practices being seemingly ‘next to impossible’, however essential they may be for longer-term social development to succeed.

Only ‘rugged common sense’ enables the poor to survive decades of exploitation by a ruling urban elite. Famished villagers cannot work towards change to the system by which they are oppressed unless they have achieved a minimum of nutrition and physical strength, ill health being inextricably linked to illiteracy, malnutrition, superstition, unemployment and agricultural backwardness (Ray 1986 :vii–viii, 3–4) – a close comparison with statements made by Symons ( 1839 ) with reference to Edinburgh and European capitals.

Corruption is not only a financial issue; corruption creates social systems compliant to its practices and influences entire societies and the social relationships they contain. In these circumstances and where systemic corruption persists, attempts to induce and to inculcate resilience to hazards and crises, if successful in any short-term, may be unlikely to succeed in any longer-term.

The start of any programme for rural resilience has to be the depletion of those ‘traditionally ingrained corrupt practices’. If famished villagers who have not achieved a minimum of nutrition and physical strength, cannot work towards change to the system by which they are oppressed, then externally applied programmes for purposes of creating resilience are unlikely to succeed in any longer-term. Corruption and its consequences will make any kind of social development programme unsustainable and community resilience is unlikely until individual resilience amongst individuals is itself sustainable (Lewis 2015 ).

Repeatedly, necessary injections of programmes and projects for sustainability and resilience might suggest their temporary presence to be due not to unavailable financial resources but to indigenous illicit misappropriations of financial capital. Corruption denies and impedes personal and community empowerment for change, the basic requirement for disaster risk reduction (Von Meding & Forino 2016 ). How much less vulnerable, and how much more resilient would populations be, without social impediments and financial draining at all levels imposed by corruption in any and all its guises?

Development programmes of wider inclusivity are emerging from responses to climate change and its consequences (Ahmed et al. 2016 ; Kelman et al. 2016 ; Lewis 1999 ). Adjustments for this wider inclusivity could be made to go further and to incorporate measures for annihilation and prevention of corrupt practices which, with poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction and resilience, would be an inclusivity serving to ensure improved long-term developmental effectiveness, sustainability and reliability.

Social consequences of corruption have been examined and considered and found to be negatively influenced against the required prerequisites for resilience. A question that remains is not ‘can resilience exist in contexts of corruption?’ but rather, ‘would the inducement of resilience be less necessary in non-corrupt contexts?’

Acknowledgements

Competing interests.

The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.

How to cite this article: Lewis, J., 2017, ‘Social impacts of corruption upon community resilience and poverty’, Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies 9(1), a391. https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v9i1.391

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• How does corruption affects society and what are its effects?

• March 26, 2023

Introduction

Corruption is a term we often hear in today’s society, yet its impact on our daily lives can be profound. Corruption takes many forms, from petty bribery to large-scale embezzlement, and affects people everywhere. But what exactly is corruption, and how does it affect society? In this blog post, we’ll explore the insidious effects of corruption on individuals, communities, and even entire nations. So buckle up, grab a coffee (or beverage), and dive into this important topic!

What is Corruption?

A common definition of corruption is the misuse of authority for personal benefit. Many behaviors, including extortion, vote-buying, fraud, cronyism, and nepotism, can be used to demonstrate it.

In a corrupt society, government officials and those in positions of power are more likely to use their authority for personal gain rather than for the public good. This can lead to widespread mistrust of government and institutions and a declining rule of law.

Corruption also hurts economic development. When businesses have to pay bribes to get things done, it raises the cost of doing business and makes it harder for honest companies to compete. Corruption can also discourage foreign investment and hinder economic growth.

Finally, corruption undermines social cohesion and trust. When people believe the system is rigged in favor of the powerful and corrupt, they are less likely to participate in civic life or cooperate. This can lead to further social and political instability.

The Different Types of Corruption

• Bribery:  This is the act of giving or receiving money, goods, or services in exchange for influence or favor.
• Embezzlement:  This is the act of misusing or stealing funds entrusted to you.
• Cronyism:  This is the act of favoring friends and family members in business dealings or appointments to government positions.
• Nepotism:  This is the act of giving preferential treatment to relatives in business or government dealings.
• Graft:  This is using one’s work for personal gains, such as by taking kickbacks or bribes.
• Receiving cash  or other perks for gaining preferential treatment or professional services is known as a kickback.
• Money laundering  is shifting funds from unlawful operations into legal ventures or investments to conceal their source.
• Fraud  is the intentional deception of another person to acquire an advantage or illegal profit.

The Effects of Corruption on Society

Corruption is a major problem in many societies. It can have several negative effects on society, including:

– undermining the rule of law and the legitimacy of government;

– creating an environment where crime and bribery flourish;

– discouraging foreign investment and damaging economic growth;

– eroding public trust in institutions and fuelling social unrest.

The Causes of Corruption

Corruption has many causes, but some of the most common include bribery, cronyism, nepotism, and patronage. Corrosion can also occur when there is a lack of transparency or accountability in an organization or government.

Bribery occurs when someone offers money or other gifts in exchange for favors or influence. This is often done to gain an advantage over competitors or to obtain special treatment.

Cronyism is when people in positions of power award contracts or jobs to their friends or relatives, regardless of whether they are qualified for the post. Nepotism is similar to cronyism but refers specifically to favoritism based on family relationships.

Patronage occurs when people in power give jobs or other benefits to supporters or members of their political party. This can be done to maintain party members’ loyalty or reward those who have helped the politician get elected.

Lack of transparency can allow corruption to flourish because it makes it difficult for the public to know what their elected officials do with their tax dollars. Accountability is also essential to prevent corrosion. Organizations and governments accountable to their constituents are less likely to engage in corrupt practices.

How to Prevent Corruption

There are several ways to prevent corruption. Some of the most effective methods include:

• Strengthening institutions and increasing transparency: This can be done by improving governance structures and making information more readily available to the public. Additionally, enhancing accountability mechanisms can ensure that those who engage in corrupt activities are held accountable for their actions.
• Reducing opportunities for corruption: This can be done by simplifying regulations and procedures and increasing competition in providing goods and services.
• Improving public sector integrity includes establishing clear codes of conduct for public officials, strengthening anti-corruption laws and their enforcement, and creating independent oversight bodies to monitor compliance with ethical standards.
• Engaging citizens in the fight against corruption: It is important to create an environment in which citizens are encouraged to report instances of corruption and where they feel confident that their reports will be acted upon appropriately. Education campaigns can also raise awareness of corruption’s negative effects and promote integrity among members of the public.

In conclusion, corruption has a wide-reaching and negative impact on society. It causes economic losses to individuals and companies, damages democratic processes, and creates greater social inequalities. By reducing corruption and encouraging transparency in all public life, governments can generate fairer societies with more equitable outcomes for their citizens. This is essential to build a better future for us all.

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Essay on Corruption for Students and Children

500+ words essay on corruption.

Essay on Corruption – Corruption refers to a form of criminal activity or dishonesty. It refers to an evil act by an individual or a group. Most noteworthy, this act compromises the rights and privileges of others. Furthermore, Corruption primarily includes activities like bribery or embezzlement. However, Corruption can take place in many ways. Most probably, people in positions of authority are susceptible to Corruption. Corruption certainly reflects greedy and selfish behavior.

Methods of Corruption

First of all, Bribery is the most common method of Corruption. Bribery involves the improper use of favours and gifts in exchange for personal gain. Furthermore, the types of favours are diverse. Above all, the favours include money, gifts, company shares, sexual favours, employment , entertainment, and political benefits. Also, personal gain can be – giving preferential treatment and overlooking crime.

Embezzlement refers to the act of withholding assets for the purpose of theft. Furthermore, it takes place by one or more individuals who were entrusted with these assets. Above all, embezzlement is a type of financial fraud.

The graft is a global form of Corruption. Most noteworthy, it refers to the illegal use of a politician’s authority for personal gain. Furthermore, a popular way for the graft is misdirecting public funds for the benefit of politicians .

Extortion is another major method of Corruption. It means to obtain property, money or services illegally. Above all, this obtainment takes place by coercing individuals or organizations. Hence, Extortion is quite similar to blackmail.

Favouritism and nepotism is quite an old form of Corruption still in usage. This refers to a person favouring one’s own relatives and friends to jobs. This is certainly a very unfair practice. This is because many deserving candidates fail to get jobs.

Abuse of discretion is another method of Corruption. Here, a person misuses one’s power and authority. An example can be a judge unjustly dismissing a criminal’s case.

Finally, influence peddling is the last method here. This refers to illegally using one’s influence with the government or other authorized individuals. Furthermore, it takes place in order to obtain preferential treatment or favour.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Ways of Stopping Corruption

One important way of preventing Corruption is to give a better salary in a government job. Many government employees receive pretty low salaries. Therefore, they resort to bribery to meet their expenses. So, government employees should receive higher salaries. Consequently, high salaries would reduce their motivation and resolve to engage in bribery.

Tough laws are very important for stopping Corruption. Above all, strict punishments need to be meted out to guilty individuals. Furthermore, there should be an efficient and quick implementation of strict laws.

Applying cameras in workplaces is an excellent way to prevent corruption. Above all, many individuals would refrain from indulging in Corruption due to fear of being caught. Furthermore, these individuals would have otherwise engaged in Corruption.

The government must make sure to keep inflation low. Due to the rise in prices, many people feel their incomes to be too low. Consequently, this increases Corruption among the masses. Businessmen raise prices to sell their stock of goods at higher prices. Furthermore, the politician supports them due to the benefits they receive.

To sum it up, Corruption is a great evil of society. This evil should be quickly eliminated from society. Corruption is the poison that has penetrated the minds of many individuals these days. Hopefully, with consistent political and social efforts, we can get rid of Corruption.

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Essay on Effects of Corruption

Students are often asked to write an essay on Effects of Corruption in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Effects of Corruption

Introduction.

Corruption is an unethical act, where people use power for personal gain. It’s a serious problem that affects societies globally.

Impact on Economy

Corruption hampers economic growth. When public funds are misused, infrastructure and public services suffer, leading to poor quality of life.

Social Effects

Corruption undermines trust in institutions. It creates a society where dishonesty is rewarded, affecting moral values.

Political Consequences

Corruption erodes democratic principles. It can lead to political instability and discourage citizens from participating in democratic processes.

In conclusion, corruption negatively impacts the economy, society, and politics. It’s essential to fight it for a better world.

250 Words Essay on Effects of Corruption

Corruption, a pervasive and long-standing issue, is a complex phenomenon with adverse socio-economic effects. It undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development, and contributes to governmental instability.

Economic Impact of Corruption

Corruption plays a destructive role in economic development. It hinders the growth of a country by discouraging foreign and domestic investment. Misallocation of resources is another economic effect of corruption, as it leads to inefficient economic outcomes. The fiscal implications are also significant as corruption reduces tax revenues and increases public spending.

Corruption erodes political stability and undermines the rule of law. It leads to a lack of trust in public institutions, which can result in social unrest and political instability. Furthermore, it distorts political decision-making processes, favoring those willing to pay bribes over those who are not.

Social Implications

Corruption also has severe social implications. It exacerbates income inequalities and widens the socio-economic gap. Moreover, it impairs the provision of public services, affecting education, healthcare, and infrastructure, which disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable.

In conclusion, the effects of corruption are multifaceted and far-reaching, affecting all aspects of society. It is a deterrent to economic, political, and social progress. To mitigate these effects, it is essential to foster a culture of transparency and accountability, promote good governance, and implement stringent anti-corruption measures.

500 Words Essay on Effects of Corruption

Corruption, a deeply ingrained social malaise, is a complex phenomenon with ramifications extending across political, economic, and social spheres. It is a systemic issue that undermines the fundamental principles of fairness, justice, and the rule of law, impeding societal development and progress.

Political Consequences of Corruption

Corruption has profound implications for the political fabric of a society. It erodes public trust in government institutions and officials, leading to political instability and social unrest. When public office is seen as a means of personal enrichment, the democratic process is compromised, and the legitimacy of the government is called into question. Consequently, corruption can fuel populist movements and political extremism, further destabilizing the political landscape.

On the economic front, corruption acts as a significant deterrent to growth and development. It creates inefficiencies in the allocation of resources, as decisions are influenced by bribery and favoritism, rather than economic rationale. Corruption can deter foreign investments, as it increases the cost and risk of doing business. This lack of investment can stifle innovation, impede infrastructure development, and hinder economic progress. Furthermore, corruption exacerbates income inequality and poverty by diverting public funds away from essential services like education, healthcare, and social welfare.

Social Ramifications of Corruption

The social consequences of corruption are equally damaging. It undermines the social contract between the government and its citizens, leading to disillusionment and apathy. Corruption can also perpetuate social inequality by creating a culture of impunity where the wealthy and powerful are above the law. This culture erodes social cohesion and can lead to increased crime rates and social unrest.

Corruption and Environment

Corruption also has a detrimental impact on the environment. It can lead to the illegal exploitation of natural resources, poor enforcement of environmental regulations, and inadequate responses to environmental crises. This can result in irreversible environmental damage, affecting the health and livelihoods of present and future generations.

In conclusion, the effects of corruption are far-reaching and multifaceted, permeating all aspects of society. It undermines democratic processes, hampers economic development, exacerbates social inequality, and contributes to environmental degradation. Addressing corruption requires a comprehensive approach that includes strengthening institutional integrity, promoting transparency and accountability, and fostering a culture of ethics and integrity. Only through such concerted efforts can we hope to curb the pervasive influence of corruption and create a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable society.

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The Effects of Corruption in Politics on Economics Essay

Political corruption is a known issue in the modern world, and it significantly affects multiple areas of governmental functioning. It is characterized by government officials using their power to create illegitimate private gain. The vast majority of countries face the corruption issue to a certain extent, which minimizes the prospects for growth and development. Corruption causes instability and uncertainty and affects capital flow by discouraging capital investments. The economic sector is one of the main fields being influenced by political bribery. Corruption in politics negatively affects economic growth by decreasing foreign investments, undermining the function of specific economic sectors, and lack thereof demonstrates a positive effect on a country’s development.

Corruption in politics is proven to be a major flaw of a country on a higher level, and it affects, first of all, the country’s international position. The presence of corruption in a country can reduce its authority on a global scale. With the growing demand for transparency from a government affected by political corruption, methods of influence are created, such as decreasing international investment. As the assets from the foreign countries become limited, sustainable development and economic growth are no longer ensured, and the poverty levels are rising (Cieslik and Goczek 330). This factor is essential for developing countries that rely the economic stability heavily on international investments.

In addition, developing countries show a higher level of corruption due to poor management and lack of regulation. Therefore, a corrupted political system discourages foreign investors and forms low-growth tendencies.

The decrease in international investments is followed by the undermining function of specific economic sectors. In assessing the most problematic economic sectors, it becomes apparent that some areas of production are not functioning well with poor regulation. For instance, the alcohol industry has always been the subject of law, and it has been debated as to how it may be reduced. However, when the reduction was implemented during the prohibition of alcohol in the US, government officials allegedly started profiting off of it in order to ensure self-gain (Bullok 250).

Therefore, the inequality was reinforced, and the economics suffered significantly, as one of the largest industries halted its production. Another example of political corruption affecting the economic sector is the lack of regulation in industries that are beneficial for people. There is an example of human organ sales that could be useful if legalized and well-regulated (Bullok 301). As people of power have the opportunity to change the system for the better but refuse to change it, there appears a possibility that personal gain is involved in a situation.

Although political corruption is a global issue and most countries suffer from it, studies show that governmental systems where corruption is not present demonstrate positive effects on economics. According to Cieslik and Goczek, the absence of corruption was found to significantly impact the growth rate in developed countries (329). The governments that remain not corrupted are more likely to gain investments from the outside of the country. International investors tend to finance the countries with lower corruption risk; therefore, countries with steady functioning tend to be richer than those without it. Both local and foreign investments are directly involved in the country’s economic system, which proves that the level of investments in the country is connected to the well-being of the community. Therefore, uncorrupted and transparent countries are prone to international financing; consequently, human resources, economic growth, and development are ensured.

However, there is a critique existing that not all countries where bribery is present follow the same pattern. Moreover, the studies on the effects of political corruption show mostly perceptions with the lack of the objective bribery prevalence. In other words, corruption may not be measured by specific numbers, and therefore, the aspects researched in the studies do not imply relatedness to real bribery. When focusing on the lack of investments from other countries that may poorly affect the economics, the way people see corruption is more important than objective measures. The importance of perception lies within the fact of investment decisions being made considering the corruption on the surface in the first place rather than the numbers. Therefore, in investment research, it is acceptable to consider subjective measures of corruption.

In conclusion, corruption in politics or any other sphere is a severe issue limiting economic growth, productivity, and foreign investments. Moreover, corruption in government is associated with inequality between government officials and ordinary citizens, which is proved historically. Corrupted countries do not attract foreign investors due to their unreliability and therefore tend to be less financed than the transparent developed countries. Developed countries report a low level of corruption and tend to be more reliable and financed from the outside. High corruption levels demonstrate the inability of a country to regulate economic sectors that are beneficial for the community. In contrast, the absence of corruption indicates the ensured economic growth and prosperity. Therefore, to control and improve economic growth, it is crucial to eliminate corruption in politics.

Works Cited

Bullock, Richard Harvey, et al. The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. 5th ed., W. W. Norton, 2019.

Cieslik, Andrzej, and Lukasz Goczek. “Control of Corruption, International Investment, and Economic Growth–Evidence from Panel Data.” World Development , vol. 103, no. 1, 2018, pp. 323-335.

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1. IvyPanda . "The Effects of Corruption in Politics on Economics." November 2, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-effects-of-corruption-in-politics-on-economics/.

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Essay on Corruption: 100 Words, 200 Words

• Updated on  
• Apr 3, 2024

Corruption is an act of bribery that involves taking gifts and favours in exchange for some gain in terms of services and acceptance. In easy words, corruption means the misuse of power and any positions for personal and financial gain. Whether it’s a public official accepting bribes, a company engaging in fraudulent practices, or a student cheating on an exam, corruption takes various forms. This blog sheds light on the term corruption and the effects of corruption and lists down essay on corruption in 100 and 200 words. 

Table of Contents

• 1 What is corruption?
• 2 Effects on Corruption
• 3 Essay On Corruption in 100 Words
• 4 Essay On Corruption in 200 Words

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What is corruption?

Corruption in simple words means betraying the people and misusing the nominal power that is assigned to any individual. It is the misuse of public property or money for selfish reasons. It is only related to Government or public funds. Every country and every company, whether Public or private, faces some corruption in one form or the other. Corruption deteriorates the mind and thought process of the people of the country. Every developing nation faces corruption as its enemy. It gives rise to inequality, injustice, illegality, and inconsistency at all levels of the administration. Corruption can be in the form of money, gift, etc. In any form, the person taking bribe is equally guilty.

Effects on Corruption

Here are some effects of corruption on individuals and society:

• When people in power are corrupt, people lose trust in them. People start doubting their decisions and intentions for everyone. People can also revolt against them and take any action.
• Corruption can make life unfair. Instead of the most deserving person getting a job or a chance, it might go to someone who paid a bribe. 
• Corruption slows down a country’s progress. Money that should be used to build roads, and schools and also the living conditions get worse. This means the country doesn’t become better and people’s lives stay hard.
• Corruption can block opportunities for many people. If anyone needs a job, education or any healthcare facility and is not able to afford to pay bribes, their opportunities get lost.

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Essay On Corruption in 100 Words

Corruption is when people misuse power for their gain. It’s like cheating the system. Corruption hurts a lot of people. Corruption makes people lose interest and trust in leaders. 

Money meant for schools, hospitals, and roads gets stolen. Jobs might go to those who pay bribes, not the deserving. This may seem unfair to a lot of people. 

Corruption slows down progress and makes life tough. We must stop corruption by being honest and also taking a stand against it. When we fight corruption, we make our world a better place for everyone.

Essay On Corruption in 200 Words

Corruption is a big problem that hurts everyone. It happens when people in power misuse their authority for personal gain. To a lot of people, it may seem unfair. 

The first cause can be that corruption breaks trust. People start doubting if their leaders are working for them personally or for themselves. It also makes them feel upset and also feel disappointed.

Second, corruption wastes money. Money that should help schools, hospitals, and roads ends up in the wrong hands. It means that people who do not get the things that they need for their betterment of life.

Corruption also creates unfairness. People who deserve opportunities might not get them if they can’t pay bribes. It also makes the life of people tough and lose a lot of opportunities. It can also impact the progress of the country and weaken the strong pillars of the country.

To fight corruption, the candidates need to be honest and take steps to stand against it. People can demand transparency and fairness in the country to make the issue sustainable. With the contribution of people, they can create a world where people in power are working for everyone not just for themselves. 

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Some of the adverse effects of corruption in today’s society are lost trust, lost opportunities, and slows down the country’s progress.

The negative emotions related to corruption are anxiety, anger and disappointment.

To write a short essay on corruption, make sure to include the effects of corruption and all the aspects of the term.

Hence, we hope that this blog has assisted you in comprehending what an essay on Corruption must include. If you are struggling with your career choices and need expert guidance, our Leverage Edu mentors are here to guide you at any point of your academic and professional journey thus ensuring that you take informed steps towards your dream career.

Simran Popli

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The effects of corruption in the Educational Sector

This work examines the corruption and the need to choose integrity in the Nigerian Educational System. It identifies corruption as an obstacle to the set objectives of the sector in the attainment of the nation’s desire for manpower and national development especially in this period of global competition. It also stressed the various links through which corruption is perpetuated in the educational sector with its impact and consequences. The work makes recommendations on some measures to check the corrupt practices giving that the phenomenon of corruption in the Nigeria educational system remains one of the greatest obstacles to the nation’s aspirations and realization towards human capacity building for national development.

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The effect of corruption in the Educational Sector

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This work examines the corruption and the need to choose integrity in the Nigerian Educational System. It identifies corruption as an obstacle to the set objectives of the sector in the attainment of the nation’s desire for manpower and national development especially in this period of global competition. It also stressed the various links through which corruption is perpetuated in the educational sector with its impact and consequences. The work makes recommendation on some measures to check the corrupt practices giving that the phenomenon of corruption in the Nigeria educational system remains one of the greatest obstacles to the nation’s aspirations and realization towards human capacity building for national development.

CORRUPTION AND THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN ITS PREVENTION IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

The paper reviews the critical roles tertiary education plays in preventing corrupt generally in the school system. The paper also pointed out some of the effects of corruption in the society, establishes role of education in preventing corruption via teaching values education and social pedagogy in curbing corruption. Creating and maintaining transparent regulatory systems, strengthening management capacities for greater accountability and enhancing ownership of the management process can help build an environment, which is favorable to educational systems free from corruption. Education is passport would help a person to gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their relationship with others and collective social life for the benefit of entire society. It is proposed that tertiary education should teach teachers to encourage and facilitate the incorporation of ethics issues within their classes; and appreciate the opportunity to shape professional identities, which set the boundaries of future acceptable behaviour. Also, creative and effective educational innovations are needed whose purpose is not to achieve sterile learning but to establish healthy attitudes, perceptions and convictions in society, communities, states and the nation at large.

A Journal of Public and International Law, Department of Public Law Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria

MUHAMMAD LAWAL

This paper examines the role of education and educational institutions in combating graft in Nigeria. Using a survey method of research. that is. A descriptive study that uses sample data of an investigation to document, describe and explain phenomenon being investigated. The paper assessed the extent of awareness of the incidence of corruption and anti-corruption education among the staff and students of educational institutions; types of corruption practices prevalent in educational institutions which include examination malpractices, favoritism nepotism, embezzlement/mismanagement of resources, bribery/extortion. corruption in appointments and the admission process. god fatherisml undue influence, sexual harassment/indecent dressing, and lateness to class; how accessible are the staff and students to adoption of anti-corruption education; the constraints to the adoptions of anti-corruption education in tertiary institutions in Nigeria; the role of education in combating corruption in Nigeria; and strategies to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. The findings revealed that there is corruption or incidence of corrupt practices in educational institutions; although the subjects of corruption are discussed in some courses being taught in educational institutions. majority of the respondents did not have access to specific anti-corruption education. This revelation is a serious indictment on our collective resolve to combat the scourge of corruption in Nigeria, given the fact that most of those that were said to be involved in public and private sector corruption in Nigeria are those that have passed through the four walls of the universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education among other institutions of higher learning: some even have a Ph.D. The paper recommended the introduction and teaching of compulsory anti-corruption education at all levels and tiers of education in Nigeria: this, in addition to our collective resolve to say no to corruption in whatever ramifications. The fight against corruption must be all-embracing and innovative to adequately respond to the emergent perspectives of corrupt practices in Nigeria. Key words: Corruption, Education, Educational Institutions. Anti-Corruption Education.

Akinola Babatunde

Corruption is a major problem hindering the development of education in Nigeria. Corruption has penetrated the entire educational system. This paper purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of corruption on the educational administration in Nigeria. Data from secondary sources were used to provide empirical backing for the various points raised in the paper. The paper concludes that reduction of funds for school administration, inadequacy of professional teachers, infrastructural facilities, ineffective school supervision, poor staff development, poor achievement of educational objectives, poor quality education, examination malpractices, ineffective educational planning and poor implementation of educational programme are the effects of corruption on the educational administration in Nigeria. In order to address these problems of corruption in the educational administration, the government should fully involve the public in the administration of education in term of funding p...

Muhammad Tamim

East African Journal of Educational Research and Policy

atanda ademola

The role of tertiary institution in the development of a nation is very crucial. Apart from provision of high manpower required to drive economy and technological development, production of future leaders that would drive affair of the nation is one of the mandates of this level of education. However, the paper observed that the menace of corruption does not spare Nigerian educational system including tertiary institutions. Thus, the paper enumerated the goals of tertiary education which include contribution to national development through high manpower training; provision of accessible and affordable equality learning opportunities in formal and informal education in response to the needs and interests of all Nigerians; provision of high quality career counselling and lifelong learning programmes that prepare students with knowledge and skills for self-reliance and the world of work among others.. It discussed concepts of corruption, its manifestations in Nigeria's tertiary institutions which include irregularities in examination matters, sexual abuse, stealing, lack of accountability among others. In addition, the causes of corruption as well as its effects on the achievement of tertiary education goals were discussed. Therefore, the paper discussed management measures or tips to alleviate corrupt practices in tertiary institutions. These are introduction

Godspower Onwudiwe

Nigeria is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Since it regained democratic status in 1999, successive governments have made several attempts to ameliorate corruption. One such attempt is the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in 2000. This study examined the manner in which the ICPC conceptualises corruption, including its forms and consequences. It also examined what measures it proposes to combat corruption. The ICPC’s approach to corruption is evaluated in relation to the way corruption is understood in scholarly literature, especially within the education sector. The rationale for the study is that the potential effectiveness of anti-corruption activities is based, in part, on the appropriacy of the understanding of corruption that informs such activities. To carry out this study, the annual reports of the ICPC for the period from 2009 to 2013 were analysed. These documents describe all the acti...

Chiedozie Kelvin Chukwuma

This paper examined the corruption and challenges militating against educational delivery in Nigeria with respect to the leadership and management of education. Education is the building block necessary for development. Development in any nation is a function of education. Through education, great and future leaders are produced. But it is regrettable that our educational delivery is in dismalness, hence, the presenting of this paper in order to highlight the major corruptions and challenges thwarting educational delivery in the country. This paper further assessed the leadership and management of education and provided possible remedies where there are loopholes. Some of the loopholes include: diversion of educational resources, deviations from the goals of education, poor funding by government, employment of incompetent personnel, outright embezzlement of educational funds etc. suggested recommendations include: active government involvement in education, reviewing the goals of education, employment of educational personnel based on eligibility and proficiencies, training and retraining of all education managers and provision of funds for the sector.

IOSR Journals

This study was undertaken to extract from staff and students in tertiary institutions strategies that they considered important in providing solution to corruption in their institutions; they had in an earlier study revealed several corrupt practices and their adverse effects on higher education in Delta State of Nigeria. A validated open-ended questionnaire which was used at the secondary school level with success was adopted in this investigation. It was administered on the randomly chosen respondent (staff and students) from the University and all the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in Delta State. Available information indicated that good exemplary leadership tops their opinions. It was also opined that good leadership and a display of excellent behaviour and hard work should be adequately rewarded. Enlightenment of staff and students on the evils of corruption, through monitoring and supervision processes by auditors and anti-corruption committees were also suggested. Severe punishment, possibly by imprisonment, dismissal and forfeiture of acquired assets to Government, were also proposed.

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