World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, which measures "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians". Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree Transparency International ( TI) is a leading international Non-governmental organization addressing corruption High numbers (green) indicate relatively less corruption, whereas lower numbers (red) indicate relatively more corruption.

In broad terms, political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties.

All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption is an act usually implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient in ways not consistent with the duties of that person Extortion, outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person Unlawfully obtains either money property or services For the record label see Crony Records Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends especially by appointing them to positions of authority Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends based upon that relationship rather than on an objective evaluation of ability Meritocracy or suitability Patronage is the support encouragement privilege and often financial aid given by a person or an organization Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets usually financial in nature by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these organized crime activities. The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global Black market consisting of the cultivation manufacture distribution and sale of illegal Drugs Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial Transactions in order to conceal the Identity, source and/or destination of Money, Human trafficking is the recruitment transportation harbouring or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery forced labor (including bonded labor or debt bondage and servitude "Crime syndicate" redirects here For the DC Comics group of villains see Crime Syndicate. In some nations, corruption is so common that it is expected when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government officials. The end point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves". A kleptocracy (sometimes cleptocracy, occasionally kleptarchy) ( root klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) is a term applied to a

The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. Certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some countries, government officials have broad or poorly defined powers, and the line between what is legal and illegal can be difficult to draw.

Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (£494bn), and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty. ^[1]

Effects

Effects on politics, administration, and institutions

Detail from Corrupt Legislation (1896) by Elihu Vedder. Elihu Vedder (1836 &ndash 1923 was an American symbolist painter book illustrator and poet born in New York City. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D. The oldest of the three United States Library of Congress buildings the Thomas Jefferson Building was built between 1890 and 1897 C.

Corruption poses a serious development challenge. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the unfair provision of services. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office Accountability is a concept in Ethics with several meanings It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability enforcement responsibility, blameworthiness The rule of law, in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance. (See: Good governance)

Economic effects

Corruption also undermines economic development by generating considerable distortions and inefficiency. The terms Governance and good governance are increasingly being used in development literature In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. In Economics, the private sector is that part of the economy which is both run for private Profit and is not controlled by the State. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays. " Red tape " is a derisive term for excessive Regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents Openly removing costly and lengthy regulations are better than covertly allowing them to be bypassed by using bribes. Where corruption inflates the cost of business, it also distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from competition and thereby sustaining inefficient firms.

Corruption also generates economic distortions in the public sector by diverting public investment into capital projects where bribes and kickbacks are more plentiful. The public sector is the part of economic and administrative life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the Government, whether national Regional Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector projects to conceal or pave way for such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of government services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on government.

Economists argue that one of the factors behind the differing economic development in Africa and Asia is that in the former, corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction with the resulting financial capital moved overseas rather invested at home (hence the stereotypical, but often accurate, image of African dictators having Swiss bank accounts). Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants In Economics, rent seeking occurs when an individual organization or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic and/or legal environment rather than by trade and Financial capital is money used by Entrepreneurs and Businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services Banking in Switzerland is characterized by stability privacy and protection of clients' assets and information In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal ^[2] University of Massachusetts researchers estimated that from 1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 sub-Saharan countries totaled $187bn, exceeding those nations' external debts. The University of Massachusetts (officially nicknamed UMass) is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Capital flight, in Economics, occurs when Assets and/or Money rapidly flow out of a Country, due to an economic event that disturbs Investors Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries ^[3] (The results, expressed in retarded or suppressed development, have been modeled in theory by economist Mancur Olson. Mancur Lloyd Olson Jr ( 1932 - February 19, 1998) was a leading American economist and Social scientist who at the time ) In the case of Africa, one of the factors for this behavior was political instability, and the fact that new governments often confiscated previous government's corruptly-obtained assets. This encouraged officials to stash their wealth abroad, out of reach of any future expropriation. Expropriation refers to Confiscation of Private property with the stated purpose of establishing social equality. In contrast, corrupt administrations in Asia like Suharto's have often taken a cut on everything (requiring bribes), but otherwise provided more of the conditions for development, through infrastructure investment, law and order, etc. Suharto, also spelled Soeharto (June 8 1921 &ndash January 27 2008 was an Indonesian military leader and the second President of Indonesia, holding

Environmental and social effects

Corruption facilitates environmental destruction. Although even the corrupt countries may formally have legislation to protect the environment, it cannot be enforced if the officials can be easily bribed. The same applies to social rights such as worker protection, unionization and prevention of child labor. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour Violation of these laws and rights enables corrupt countries to gain an illegitimate economic advantage in the international market.

As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has observed that "there is no such thing as an apolitical food problem. The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature Amartya Kumar Sen CH (Hon (অমর্ত্য কুমার সেন Ômorto Kumar Shen) (born 3 November 1933) is an Indian " While drought and other naturally occurring events may trigger famine conditions, it is government action or inaction that determines its severity, and often even whether or not a famine will occur. A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation Governments with strong tendencies towards kleptocracy can undermine food security even when harvests are good. A kleptocracy (sometimes cleptocracy, occasionally kleptarchy) ( root klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) is a term applied to a Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it The 20th century is full of many examples of governments undermining the food security of their own nations – sometimes intentionally. ^[4]

Types of abuse

Bribery

Main article: Bribery

Bribery requires two participants: one to give the bribe, and one to take it. Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption is an act usually implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient in ways not consistent with the duties of that person Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption is an act usually implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient in ways not consistent with the duties of that person In some countries the culture of corruption extends to every aspect of public life, making it extremely difficult for individuals to stay in business without resorting to bribes. Bribes may be demanded in order for an official to do something he is already paid to do. They may also be demanded in order to bypass laws and regulations. In some developing nations, up to half of the population have paid bribes during the past 12 months. ^[5]

Graft

Main article: Graft

While bribery includes an intent to influence or be influenced by another for personal gain, which is often difficult to prove, graft only requires that the official gains something of value, not part of his official pay, when doing his work. Large "gifts" qualify as graft, and most countries have laws against it. (For example, any gift over $200 value made to the President of the United States is considered to be a gift to the Office of the Presidency and not to the President himself. The outgoing President must buy it if he wants to take it with him. ) Another example of graft is a politician using his knowledge of zoning to purchase land which he knows is planned for development, before this is publicly known, and then selling it at a significant profit. Zoning is a term used in Urban planning for a system of land-use Regulation in various parts of the world including North America the United Kingdom This is comparable to insider trading in business. Insider trading is the trading of a Corporation 's Stock or other securities (e

Extortion and robbery

Main articles: Extortion and Robbery

While bribes may be demanded in order to do something, payment may also be demanded by corrupt officials who otherwise threaten to make illegitimate use of state force in order to inflict harm. Extortion, outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person Unlawfully obtains either money property or services Robbery is the Crime of seizing Property through Violence or Intimidation. This is similar to extortion by organized crime groups. Extortion, outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person Unlawfully obtains either money property or services "Crime syndicate" redirects here For the DC Comics group of villains see Crime Syndicate. Illegitimate use of state force can also be used for outright armed robbery. Robbery is the Crime of seizing Property through Violence or Intimidation. This mostly occurs in unstable states which lack proper control of the military and the police. Less open forms of corruption are preferred in more stable states.

Government officials, especially if involved in illegal activities, are also liable to extortion, both by senior corrupt officials or other criminals. These develop over time into complicated networks of corruption, where law enforcement merely serves as a way to discredit and destroy. The anti-corruption effort is not immune to corruption either: there are examples of cases where officials of an anti-corruption bureau have extorted sums from corrupt officials.

Patronage

Main article: Patronage

Patronage refers to favoring supporters, for example with government employment. Patronage is the support encouragement privilege and often financial aid given by a person or an organization Patronage is the support encouragement privilege and often financial aid given by a person or an organization This may be legitimate, as when a newly elected government changes the top officials in the administration in order to effectively implement its policy. It can be seen as corruption if this means that incompetent persons, as a payment for supporting the regime, are selected before more able ones. In nondemocracies many government officials are often selected for loyalty rather than ability. They may be almost exclusively selected from a particular group (for example, Sunni Arabs in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the nomenklatura in the Soviet Union, or the Junkers in Imperial Germany) that support the regime in return for such favors. Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( Arabic: ar صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي --> April 28 1937 &ndash December 30 The nomenklatura were a small elite subset of the general population in the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Junkers (English pronunciation ə German pronunciation kɐ were the Landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from 1871 to 1918 when it was a semi- Constitutional monarchy: beginning with the Unification

Nepotism and cronyism

Main articles: Nepotism and Cronyism

Favoring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism) is a form of illegitimate private gain. Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends based upon that relationship rather than on an objective evaluation of ability Meritocracy or suitability For the record label see Crony Records Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends especially by appointing them to positions of authority Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends based upon that relationship rather than on an objective evaluation of ability Meritocracy or suitability For the record label see Crony Records Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends especially by appointing them to positions of authority This may be combined with bribery, for example demanding that a business should employ a relative of an official controlling regulations affecting the business. The most extreme example is when the entire state is inherited, as in North Korea or Syria. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية

Nepotism is widely accepted and expected in many cultures.

Embezzlement

Main article: Embezzlement

Embezzlement is outright theft of entrusted funds. Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets usually financial in nature by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets usually financial in nature by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted It is a misappropriation of property.

Kickbacks

A kickback is an official's share of misappropriated funds allocated from his or her organization to an organization involved in corrupt bidding. For example, suppose that a politician is in charge of choosing how to spend some public funds. He can give a contract to a company that isn't the best bidder, or allocate more than they deserve. A general contractor is a group or individual that Contracts with another organization or individual (the owner for the Construction or Renovation In this case, the company benefits, and in exchange for betraying the public, the official receives a kickback payment, which is a portion of the sum the company received. This sum itself may be all or a portion of the difference between the actual (inflated) payment to the company and the (lower) market-based price that would have been paid had the bidding been competitive. Kickbacks are not limited to government officials; any situation in which people are entrusted to spend funds that do not belong to them are susceptible to this kind of corruption. (See: Bid rigging, Bidding, Anti-competitive practices)

Involvement in organized crime

An illustrative example of official involvement in organized crime can be found from 1920s and 1930s Shanghai, where Huang Jinrong was a police chief in the French concession, while simultaneously being a gang boss and co-operating with Du Yuesheng, the local gang ringleader. Bid rigging is an illegal agreement between two or more competitors Anti-competitive practices are Business or Government practices that prevent and/or reduce Competition in a Market (see Restraint of trade Shanghai ( 上[[wikt 海|海]] is the largest city in China in terms of population and one of the largest urban areas in the world with over 20 million Du Yuesheng, commonly known as "Big-Eared Du" (1887-1951 was a Gangster who spent most of his life in Shanghai, China. The Green Gang ( was a criminal organization that operated in Shanghai in the early 20th century The relationship kept the flow of profits from the gang's gambling dens, prostitution, and protection rackets undisturbed.

Conditions favorable for corruption

Some argue that the following conditions are favorable for corruption:

• Information deficits
  • Lack of government transparency.
  • Lacking freedom of information legislation. The Indian Right to Information Act 2005 has "already engendered mass movements in the country that is bringing the lethargic, often corrupt bureaucracy to its knees and changing power equations completely. The Right to Information Act 2005 (Act No 22/2005 is a law enacted by the Parliament of India giving citizens of India access to records of the Central Government "^[6]
  • Contempt for or negligence of exercising freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press
  • Weak accounting practices, including lack of timely financial management. Accountancy or accounting is the measurement statement or provision of assurance about financial information primarily used by Lenders managers,
  • Lack of measurement of corruption. For example, using regular surveys of households and businesses in order to quantify the degree of perception of corruption in different parts of a nation or in different government institutions may increase awareness of corruption and create pressure to combat it. This will also enable an evaluation of the officials who are fighting corruption and the methods used.
  • Tax havens which tax their own citizens and companies but not those from other nations and refuse to disclose information necessary for foreign taxation. A tax haven is a place where certain Taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all This enables large scale political corruption in the foreign nations. ^[7]
• Lacking control over and accountability of the government. Accountability is a concept in Ethics with several meanings It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability enforcement responsibility, blameworthiness
  • Democracy absent or dysfunctional. See illiberal democracy. An illiberal democracy is a governing system in which although fairly free elections take place citizens are cut off from real power due to the lack of Civil liberties.
  • Lacking civic society and non-governmental organizations which monitor the government. Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning Society as opposed to the force-backed
  • An individual voter may have a rational ignorance regarding politics, especially in nationwide elections, since each vote has little weight. Rational ignorance is a term most often found in Economics particularly Public choice theory, but also used in other disciplines which study Rationality
  • Weak rule of law. The rule of law, in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law
  • Weak legal profession. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person
  • Weak judicial independence. Judicial independence is the doctrine that decisions of the Judiciary should be impartial and not subject to influence from the other branches of government or from private or
  • Lacking protection of whistleblowers. This is an article about a term For the 2008 RTÉ drama see Whistleblower (TV series.
  • Lack of benchmarking, that is continual detailed evaluation of procedures and comparison to others who do similar things, in the same government or others, in particular comparison to those who do the best work. Benchmarking is the process of comparing the cost time or quality of what one organization does against what another organization does The Peruvian organization Ciudadanos al Dia has started to measure and compare transparency, costs, and efficiency in different government departments in Peru. It annually awards the best practices which has received widespread media attention. This has created competition among government agencies in order to improve. ^[8]
• Opportunities and incentives
  • Individual officials routinely handle cash, instead of handling payments by giro or on a separate cash desk — illegitimate withdrawals from supervised bank accounts are much more difficult to conceal. A giro is a method of Payment. It is the opposite of a Cheque, which is given to a payee who deposits it in a Bank.
  • Public funds are centralized rather than distributed. For example, if $1,000 is embezzled from local agency that has $2,000 funds, it easier to notice than from national agency with $2,000,000 funds. See the principle of subsidiarity. Subsidiarity is an Organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest lowest or least centralized competent authority
  • Large, unsupervised public investments.
  • Sale of state-owned property and privatization.
  • Poorly-paid government officials.
  • Government licenses needed to conduct business, e. g. , import licenses, encourage bribing and kickbacks. An import license is a document issued by a national government authorizing the importation of certain goods into its territory
  • Long-time work in the same position may create relationships inside and outside the government which encourage and help conceal corruption and favoritism. Rotating government officials to different positions and geographic areas may help prevent this.
  • Costly political campaigns, with expenses exceeding normal sources of political funding. A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group
  • Less interaction with officials reduces the opportunities for corruption. For example, using the Internet for sending in required information, like applications and tax forms, and then processing this with automated computer systems. This may also speed up the processing and reduce unintentional human errors. See e-Government. e-Government (from electronic Government, also known as e-gov, digital government, online government or in a certain context
  • A windfall from exporting abundant natural resources may encourage corruption. ^[9] (See Resource curse)
• Social conditions
  • Self-interested closed cliques and "old boy networks". The resource curse (also the paradox of plenty) refers to the Paradox that countries and regions with an abundance of Natural resources specifically point-source An old boy network, or society, can refer to social and business connections among former pupils of top male-only Private schools This can apply to
  • Family-, and clan-centered social structure, with a tradition of nepotism being acceptable. Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends based upon that relationship rather than on an objective evaluation of ability Meritocracy or suitability
  • A gift economy, such as the Chinese guanxi or the Soviet blat system, emerges in a Communist centrally planned economy. A gift economy is a Social theory in which goods and services are given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future Quid pro quo. Guānxi describes the basic dynamic in the complex nature of personalized networks of influence and social relationships and is a central concept in Chinese Blat (блат blat) is a term which appeared in the Soviet Union to denote the use of informal agreements prestation exchangements of services connections A planned economy or directed economy is an Economic system in which the Government or Workers' councils manages the Economy.
  • In societies where personal integrity is rated as less important than other characteristics (by contrast, in societies such as 18th and 19th century England, 20th century Japan and post-war western Germany, where society showed almost obsessive regard for "honor" and personal integrity, corruption was less frequently seen)
  • Lacking literacy and education among the population. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency

Size of public sector

It is a controversial issue whether the size of the public sector per se results in corruption. Extensive and diverse public spending is, in itself, inherently at risk of cronyism, kickbacks and embezzlement. Complicated regulations and arbitrary, unsupervised official conduct exacerbate the problem. This is one argument for privatization and deregulation. Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of business from the Public sector (government to the Private sector (business Deregulation, a term which gained widespread currency in the period 1970-2000 can be seen as a process by which governments remove reduce or simplify Restrictions on Business Opponents of privatization see the argument as ideological. The argument that corruption necessarily follows from the opportunity is weakened by the existence of countries with low to non-existent corruption but large public sectors, like the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe called the Nordic region, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, ^[10] However, these countries score high on the Ease of Doing Business Index, due to good and often simple regulations, and have rule of law firmly established. The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. The rule of law, in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law Therefore, due to their lack of corruption in the first place, they can run large public sectors without inducing political corruption.

Privatization, as in the sale of government-owned property, is particularly at the risk of cronyism. Privatizations in Russia and Latin America were accompanied by large scale corruption during the sale of the state owned companies. Those with political connections unfairly gained large wealth, which has discredited privatization in these regions. While media have reported widely the grand corruption that accompanied the sales, studies have argued that in addition to increased operating efficiency, daily petty corruption is, or would be, larger without privatization, and that corruption is more prevalent in non-privatized sectors. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that extralegal and unofficial activities are more prevalent in countries that privatized less. ^[11]

In the European Union, the principle of subsidiarity is applied: a government service should be provided by the lowest, most local authority that can competently provide it. An effect is that distribution of funds into multiple instances discourages embezzlement, because even small sums missing will be noticed. In contrast, in a centralized authority, even minute proportions of public funds can be large sums of money.

Governmental corruption

If the highest echelons of the governments also take advantage from corruption or embezzlement from the state's treasury, it is sometimes referred with the neologism kleptocracy. A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been Members of the government can take advantage of the natural resources (e. Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified ( natural) form g. , diamonds and oil in a few prominent cases) or state-owned productive industries. A number of corrupt governments have enriched themselves via foreign aid, which is often spent on showy buildings and armaments.

A corrupt dictatorship typically results in many years of general hardship and suffering for the vast majority of citizens as civil society and the rule of law disintegrate. A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning Society as opposed to the force-backed The rule of law, in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law In addition, corrupt dictators routinely ignore economic and social problems in their quest to amass ever more wealth and power. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions

The classic case of a corrupt, exploitive dictator often given is the regime of Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which he renamed Zaire) from 1965 to 1997. Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga ( October 14, 1930 September 7, 1997) known commonly as Mobutu, or Mobutu The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to The Republic of Zaire (pronunciation; République du Zaïre was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between October 27, 1971 It is said that usage of the term kleptocracy gained popularity largely in response to a need to accurately describe Mobutu's regime. Another classic case is Nigeria, espeicially under the rule of General Sani Abacha who was de facto president of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal General Sani Abacha ( Kano, 20 September 1943 &ndash Abuja, 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military leader and politician He is reputed to have stolen some US$3-4 billion. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been He and his relatives are often mentioned in Nigerian 419 letter scams claiming to offer vast fortunes for "help" in laundering his stolen "fortunes", which in reality turn out not to exist. An advance-fee fraud is a Confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a very much larger gain ^[12] More than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999. ^[13]

More recently, articles in various financial periodicals, most notably Forbes magazine, have pointed to Fidel Castro, General Secretary of the Republic of Cuba since 1959, of likely being the beneficiary of up to $900 million, based on "his control" of state-owned companies. Forbes is an American Publishing and media company Its flagship publication Forbes magazine is published bi-weekly Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13 1926 is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from December 1959 to December 1976 and then president until The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la ^[14] Opponents of his regime claim that he has used money amassed through weapons sales, narcotics, international loans and confiscation of private property to enrich himself and his political cronies who hold his dictatorship together, and that the $900 million published by Forbes is merely a portion of his assets, although that needs to be proven. Forbes is an American Publishing and media company Its flagship publication Forbes magazine is published bi-weekly ^[15]

Whistleblowers

More details are found about whistleblowers in the world here and about whistleblowers in India here

Campaign contributions

In the political arena, it is difficult to prove corruption. This is an article about a term For the 2008 RTÉ drama see Whistleblower (TV series. Corruption is widespread in India. India is ranked 72 out of a 179 countries in Transparency International 's Corruption Perceptions Index For this reason, there are often unproved rumors about many politicians, sometimes part of a smear campaign. A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a Metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with

Politicians are placed in apparently compromising positions because of their need to solicit financial contributions for their campaign finance. Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns. If they then appear to be acting in the interests of those parties that funded them, this gives rise to talk of political corruption. Supporters may argue that this is coincidental. Cynics wonder why these organizations fund politicians at all, if they get nothing for their money.

Laws regulating campaign finance in the United States require that all contributions and their use should be publicly disclosed. Campaign finance in the United States is the financing of electoral campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. Many companies, especially larger ones, fund both the Democratic and Republican parties. Certain countries, such as France, ban altogether the corporate funding of political parties. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Because of the possible circumvention of this ban with respect to the funding of political campaigns, France also imposes maximum spending caps on campaigning; candidates that have exceeded those limits, or that have handed misleading accounting reports, risk having their candidacy ruled invalid, or even be prevented from running in future elections. In addition, the government funds political parties according to their successes in elections. In some countries, political parties are run solely off subscriptions (membership fees). The subscription business model is a Business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service

Even legal measures such as these have been argued to be legalized corruption, in that they often favor the political status quo. Minor parties and independents often argue that efforts to rein in the influence of contributions do little more than protect the major parties with guaranteed public funding while constraining the possibility of private funding by outsiders. In these instances, officials are legally taking money from the public coffers for their election campaigns to guarantee that they will continue to hold their influential and often well-paid positions.

Measuring corruption

Measuring corruption statistically is not a straightforward matter, since the participants are generally not forthcoming about it. Transparency International, a leading anti-corruption NGO, provides three measures, updated annually: a Corruption Perceptions Index (based on experts' opinions of how corrupt different countries are); a Global Corruption Barometer (based on a survey of general public attitudes toward and experience of corruption); and a Bribe Payers Survey, looking at the willingness of foreign firms to pay bribes. Transparency International ( TI) is a leading international Non-governmental organization addressing corruption Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree

The World Bank collects a range of data on corruption, including a set of indicators of governance and institutional quality. Moreover, one of the six dimensions of governance measured by the Worldwide Governance Indicators is Control of Corruption, which is defined as "the extent to which power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and grand forms of corruption, as well as 'capture' of the state by elites and private interests. Based on a long-standing research program of the World Bank, the Kaufmann -Kraay-Mastruzzi Worldwide Governance Indicators capture six key dimensions "^[16] Based on this definition the Worldwide Governance Indicators project has developed aggregate measurements for the level of control of corruption in more than 200 countries.

The ten countries perceived to be least corrupt, according to the 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index, are Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, Iceland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Norway. Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Singapore "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional

According to the same survey, the nine countries perceived to be most corrupt are Somalia, Myanmar, Iraq, Haiti, Uzbekistan, Tonga, Sudan, Chad, and Afghanistan. Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly The Kingdom of Tonga is an Archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean comprising 169 islands 36 of them inhabited stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 miles Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. Chad (Tchad تشاد Tshād) officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a Landlocked country in Central Africa. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت,

In the U. S. , the top five most corrupt states are Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, and Ohio, according to a 2007 study by Corporate Crime Reporter (based on U.S. Department of Justice data on public convictions). The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States The Commonwealth of Kentucky ( is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Alabama (formally the State of Alabama;) is a State located in the southern region of the United States of America. Ohio ( is a Midwestern state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region, Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads For animal rights group see Justice Department (JD The United States Department of Justice ( DOJ) is a Cabinet department ^[17]

See also

Forms or aspects of corruption

• Crony capitalism

Good governance

• Comitology
• Due diligence
• Electoral fraud

Theoretical aspects

• Conflict of interest
• Principal-agent problem
• Rent seeking

Anti-corruption authorities and measures

• GEMAP
• Independent Commission Against Corruption
• Inter-American Convention Against Corruption
• United Nations Convention against Corruption

Examples of corruption

• Corruption in Ghana
• Corruption in Mumbai
• Corruption scandals in the Paris region
• Hired Truck Program
• Illegal logging
• Oil-for-Food Programme
• PMU 18 scandal
• Political scandals of the United States
• Political sleaze (UK politics)
• Sponsorship scandal
• Tangentopoli
• Fiddling expenses (UK MP's and European MEP's)

Corruption in fiction

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• Henry Adams's novel Democracy (1880)
• Carl Hiaasen's novel Sick Puppy (1999)
• Much of the Batman comic book series
• The Ghost in the Shell Anime films and series
• Training Day (2001 film)
• American Gangster (2007 film)

References

Further reading

• Alexandra Wrage (2007) Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments and Security
• Axel Dreher, Christos Kotsogiannis, Steve McCorriston (2004), Corruption Around the World: Evidence from a Structural Model. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses
• Kimberly Ann Elliott, ed, Corruption and the Global Economy (1997)
• Edward L. Glaeser and Claudia Goldin, eds, Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History U. of Chicago Press, 2006. 386 pp. ISBN 0-226-29957-0.
• Arnold J. Heidenheimer, Michael Johnston and Victor T. LeVine (eds), Political Corruption: A Handbook (1989) 1017 pages.
• Michael Johnston. Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy (2005)
• Johann Graf Lambsdorff (2007), The Institutional Economics of Corruption and Reform: Theory, Evidence and Policy Cambridge University Press

External links

News

• IPS Inter Press Service - News on corruption from around the world
• Development Gateway

International organizations and research

• Anti-Corruption Resource Centre (U4) - Online research reports and extensive resources on anti-corruption in a development context.
• Corruption and Emergency Relief (ODI) - Online research reports and extensive resources on corruption risks in a humanitarian context from the Overseas Development Institute. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI is the United Kingdom 's leading independent Think tank on International development and humanitarian issues
• C2 Principles - a framework developed by researchers of Wharton School to reduce global corruption.
• United Nations Convention against Corruption at Law-Ref.org - fully indexed and crosslinked with other documents
• OECD: Corruption
• World Bank anti-corruption page

• The World Bank's Private Sector Development Blog on Corruption

• World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators Worldwide ratings of country performances on six governance dimensions from 1996 to present.
• Corruption Literature Review World Bank Literature Review.
• UN Office on Drugs and Crime - Has sub-section dealing with corruption worldwide.
• The Development Gateway's virtual library and online community on anti-corruption and good governance
• Transparency International
  • Tools against corruption
  • Global Corruption Report
• UNICORN: A Global Trade Union Anti-corruption Network, based at Cardiff University
• Internet Center For Corruption Research
• Global Integrity Report - Extensive analysis of openness and accountability of governments by Global Integrity, which grew out of the Center for Public Integrity. Cardiff University (Prifysgol Caerdydd is a leading University located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom Global Integrity is an independent nonprofit organization tracking governance and corruption trends around the world using local teams of researchers and journalists to monitor openness The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern
• Tool to analyze anti-corruption and institutional reform
• Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center - an academic research center devoted to studying transnational crime and corruption
• BRIBEline - report bribe demands securely and anonymously
• TRACE - a non-profit membership organization providing anti-bribery compliance tools
• Business Anti-Corruption Portal Country and sectorspecific information on corruption
• Anti-corruption Gateway
• Corruption and Tax Revenue Generating Capacity Draft Paper (IMF)

Regional and national organisations and research

• Corner House: UK and anti-corruption
• Latin Business Chronicle: Latin American Corruption
• Chicago Crime Commission Public Corruption Hotline
• Judicial Watch
• The Sam Adams Alliance