Corruption: what is wrong with corruption?

• Date: 01 July 2012
• Author: Bowal, Peter

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.... Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow ...

--Abraham Lincoln

quoted in Jack London's The Iron Heel

The first sign of corruption in a society ... is that the end justifies the means.

--Georges Bernanos, "Why Freedom?" The Last Essays of Georges Bernanos (1888-1948)

Introduction

A friend from Eastern Europe recently wrote to lament what he called "the most expensive highway in the world" being built around his city at the cost of C$70 million per kilometer. He added, "In the Alps, where the tunnels need to be drilled through the mountains or in Florida, where the muddy land has to be drained and hardened, it costs half of that amount. In nearby Germany, where conditions are the same as here, a kilometer of highway costs only one-fifth of what it costs in my country."

"Moreover", he continued, "these most expensive highways need to be repaired shortly after construction because the contractors use inferior materials although they charge for the most expensive, high quality materials. Yet, the quality inspectors sign off on the road construction, confirming that the highways were built flawlessly according to specifications. Obviously, they have greasy palms."

At the moment we are writing this article, we hear reports of an insider ticket scandal with the London Olympic Games, fraudulent voting in the hard-fought Egyptian election, dirty money in Quebec construction projects, and a deep culture of bribery implicating Wal-Mart in Mexico. We are still recovering from a global economic and financial collapse that many claim was the product of corruption.

What is corruption and what harm does it cause?

Corruption Defined

Corruption has been around for as long as mankind. It has so many faces and variations that it is hard to define completely, though not hard to detect. It is impossible to quantify because it is concealed and illegal. Politicians, government bureaucrats and law enforcement officials may participate in it.

Corruption is the immoral abuse of power by someone for unauthorized personal gain. An example is insider trading. The gain is usually economic and usually private. Political corruption involves abuse of public office.

It is useful to point out how broad the concept of corruption may be defined. Every time someone lies or cheats, the result will not always be financial and personal. For example, a police officer might fabricate evidence to obtain a conviction, which yields neither a financial nor private gain. That officer is corrupting the judicial process, not economic relations. Likewise, corrupt political power holders may infringe basic human rights which often may lead to increasing poverty. Human rights violations corrupt the political and judicial processes. Corruption includes other behaviours of those in authority, such as bribery, rule-breaking, lying and making false statements, stealing, conflict of interest, embezzlement, violating confidentiality, selective enforcement of laws or rules, cheating, fraud, nepotism and other personal favours, which usually is attended by a reciprocal exchange that returns the favour.

Corruption is fundamentally immoral, involving deception, infringing a moral right to property, or violating the principle of impartiality. It is also usually illegal. Where it transpires in the economic sphere, there is some ultimate expectation and realization of financial gain. Where it is found in the social or political sphere, the vindication is not economic, but rather relates to status and power.

Not all immoral or illegal acts can be classified...