Outline + Examples
I. Definition(s)
II. Types
III. Causes
IV. Effects
V. Remedies
I. Definition
a) Jürgen Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action,
http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/zcorjus.html
Colonization of social relations in which two or more actors undertake an exchange relation by way of a successful transfer of the steering-media of money or power, thereby sidestepping the legally prescribed procedure to regulate the relation. Two types of corruption are identified: monetary and bureaucratic corruption. In monetary corruption the exchange relation is carried out by way of a transfer of money, and in bureaucratic corruption by way of a transfer of power. Both types of corruption can circumvent regulations spelled out by legitimate or systemic law. Corruption of social relations regulated by legitimate law involves an transformation from communicative action over into strategic action. Corruption of social relations regulated by systemic law intensifies action-coordinating mechanisms aimed at monetary or bureaucratic success.
b) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/corruption/
An act x performed by an agent A is an act of institutional corruption if and only if:
1. x has an effect, E1, of undermining, or contributing to the undermining of, some institutional process and/or purpose of some institution, I, and/or an effect, Ec, of contributing to the despoiling of the moral character of some role occupant of I, agent B, qua role occupant of I;
2. At least one of (a) or (b) is true:
a. A is a role occupant of I, and in performing x, A intended or foresaw E1 and/or Ec, or A should have foreseen E1 and/or Ec;
b. There is a role occupant of I, agent B, and B could have avoided Ec, if B had chosen to do so.
c) CPI
http://www.transparency.org/
The CPI focuses on corruption in the public sector and defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain. The surveys used in compiling the CPI ask questions relating to the misuse of public power for private benefit. These include for example: bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds or questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts, thereby encompassing both the administrative and political aspects of corruption.
The causes and effects of corruption, and how to combat corruption, are issues that are increasingly on the national and international agendas of politicians and other policymakers. For example, the World Bank has relatively recently come around to the view that economic development is closely linked to corruption reduction.
Implicit in much of the literature on corruption is the view that corruption is essentially a legal offence and essentially a legal offence in the economic sphere.
It also reflects the preponderance of proposed economic solutions to the problem of corruption. After all, if corruption is essentially an economic phenomenon, is it not plausible that the remedies for corruption will be economic ones?
But many acts of corruption are not unlawful.
This is because corruption is not at bottom simply a matter of law; rather it is fundamentally a matter of morality.
Economic corruption is an important form of corruption; however, it is not the only form of corruption.
III. Causes
What motivates corruption?
Economic Gain, Power, Sexual Gratification, Psyche to Defy Rules, and Lack of Psychological Incentives for developing a Moral Structure that caters to the means of achieving your “Objectives” (i.e. When the End Justifies Means and Means do not influence your decision making and the End dominates the same).
Nothing corrupts like corruption. People’s speech copies what they hear. That’s a basic law of linguistics.
Why is it difficult to control corruption?
It cannot be classified easily. It is inherent in our moral structure that cannot be monitored externally without laws. Laws themselves are inadequate because they fail to counter all forms of corruption and also because of implementation issues.
The primary cause of failure of Law is that whenever a law or a policy is framed including human elements as guardians of the policy at some stage or another or in some capacity, we automatically introduce loopholes by inviting those human agents to corrupt the system.
Moreover, it is a vicious cycle. These laws not only fail to combat corruption effectively but also stoke them by challenging them to find different avenues of propagation and by spanning alternative economic activities (obviously illegal).Such activities then come with a premium by the virtue of being illegal and encourage their self propagation by the virtue of their lucrativeness. Say for example, while abortion is banned in India, the rate of abortion in India is more than countries in which abortion is illegal.
Links/Topics
1. Policy Making- Cost of Corruption (Climate Change)
2. FDI-Corruption in India and the Hidden Economy, by Dilip K. Bhattacharyya and
Susmita Ghose © 1998
Economic and Political Weekly
3.COMBATING CORRUPTION IN INDIA, The Role of Civil Society,
By SUNIL SONDHI, Reader in Political Science, University of Delhi
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN019103.pdf
4.http://www.oecd.org/
5.http://www.nobribe.org/
6.http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/anti-corruption.html
7. Corruption Index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_Map_Index_of_perception_of_corruption_2009.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/faq/corruption_faq
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_India
P.S. The Blog shall be updated and edited from time to time.
