Governance LAWG 101 Corruption Governance Anticorruption What is corruption ? As simple as the questions my appear, there seems to be no clear and easy answer to this question. Corruption scholars tend to study corruption in developed countries or developing countries. Corruption, like many other forms of behaviour when placed under the scrutiny of the social science lens, proves to be an elusive and complex phenomenon: in fact, the more one examines it the more difficult it becomes to separate corruption from other forms of social exchange. However, corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries around the globe. History of Corruption • The phenomenon of corruption is an ancient phenomenon as old as human societies. It is a phenomenon that does not concern a specific society or a specific country or a specific people, but rather they all suffer from the negative aspects and effect of the spread of corruption, and its destructive effects on the individuals and society. History of Corruption • Corruption has existed since the ancient and persists in almost every country around the globe. • Corruption has existed and been a problem since the beginning of human history, but the concept of corruption has changed over the centuries and varies across cultures. History of Corruption • Corruption is as old as human history. The period of (3100–2700 BC) of ancient Egypt noted corruption in its judiciary system. Only after the 1980s economists have turned their interest to corruption. In the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s corruption was increasingly perceived to have a negative impact on economy, democracy , and the rule of law which led to the emergence of anti-corruption conventions on international scale such as The Anti-Bribery Convention by OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) was the first large scale convention targeting an aspect of corruption, when it came in 1999 into force, then under General Assembly resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003 United Nations Convention Against Corruption came into force in 2004. Corruption nowadays; • Corruption now transcends (cross) national boundaries with the ease of moving money instantly over the internet. • The Panama Papers revealed how powerful figures from all over the world have been able to avoid taxes by storing money in offshore bank accounts. International corporations such as Facebook, Google and Starbucks have been able to keep more of their money out of the hands of their governments through both the transferring of profits across the world and loopholes in national laws. Corruption nowadays; Despite various major reforms led by top international bodies, corruption still widely exists in various emerging countries and this phenomenon undermines their economic development. A weak institutional framework is often described as key factor in the spread of corruption. Corruption nowadays; • As the global economy expanded significantly during the 20th century, levels of corruption increased as well. It is difficult to estimate the global magnitude and extent of corruption since these activities are carried out in secret. • The World Bank estimates international bribery exceeds US$1.5 trillion annually, or 2% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and ten times more than total global aid funds. Other estimates are higher at 2-5% of global GDP. Corruption nowadays; The issue of corruption differs in terms of degree, scale, and the extent of the spread of corruption among individuals of one society to another. Corruption has become a way of life in numerous countries. In 2011, Transparency International (TI) reported that two-thirds of Bangladeshis and well over half of Indians had paid a bribe during the preceding 12 months. Corruption nowadays; In 2017, it further reported that globally one in four people had paid bribes in the previous 12 months to access a public service. Nearly 57% of people around the world felt their governments were doing badly to fight corruption. Only 30% thought their governments were doing well. Another Transparency International (TI) study in 2017 showed globally around one- third of people consider their presidents, prime ministers, national and local government officials, business executives, elected representatives and police officers corrupt Corruption; - Corruption impacts upon individuals, groups and organisations (including the state) in many different ways….. - Corruption limits trust, weakens democracy, restrain economic development and further limits inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis. - Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if we understand the way corruption works and the systems that enable it. Terminologies … Corruption Complex Individuals Society Impact Democracy Development Organisations Transparency
