Corruption And Its Effects On Society

Political corruption is a major problem in the US today. It involves almost all levels of government and affects people from all walks of life. Public office is a noble post and citizens put their trust in government officials to carry out their constitutional duties for the benefit of the citizenry. The problem comes in where both elected and unelected officials perform their duties with the goal of personal gain in full view of the law. The ethical and moral wrongs of corruption are unjustifiable in any context.

Throughout history positions of power and wealth have been plagued by corruption, does this power cause people to be corrupt? Or is the power and wealth earned through immoral and corrupt practices? In order to find these answers, one must define what they feel is corrupt, for most corruption is the act of being dishonest or immoral with the motive of personal gains of money or power. There are numerous accounts of politicians, military leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, and millionaires, all earning or using their power and wealth in an immoral and corrupt manner. Whether money is used for personal gain, used to corrupt others, or the wealth was earned by corrupt ways, it seems that the accumulation of wealth is constantly accompanied by corruption.

Someone who is abusing the power that is given to him or her defines corruption, however, the word in its self is more than a simple idea; it is an intricate network. Since people’s views about ethical and moral behavior affect the way corruption is examined, the word has a slightly different meaning to each person. Additionally, misconduct across various societies is viewed differently due to social and cultural borders. The criminal justice system has had many instances where corruption had affected the outcome of a case and has inserted itself into the legal process.

Without doubt, corruption has permeated the African society and anyone who can say that corruption in Africa has not become alarming is either a fool, a crook or else does not live in this continent. In the words of Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General, ‘corruption undermines economic performance, weakens democratic institutions and the rule of law, disrupts social order and destroys public trust, thus allowing organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish…And it is always the public good that suffers. Corruption is an impediment to political, economic and social development as it hinders administrative development and performance, it impairs economic efficiency, and leads to brain drain, as well as it discourage foreign investments. Corruption also reduces the productivity of public investment and of the county’s infrastructure through misallocation of talent and other resources, reduces government revenue due to tax evasion

First, it is important to define what corruption is. The term, “corruption” covers a broad range of human actions,

Corruption can take many forms and can be found in many countries, but mainly in the emerging ones. The main form of corruption is the bribery in the form of payments demanded by the government or ministry officials in exchange for a favor (granting a service, awarding a business).Corruption affects all the businesses that interfere with the government, but studies have shown that certain industries are more exposed to it. These industries are construction, airline manufacturing, power plants, and oil and gas production.

The corruptin is the abusive and inefficient use of resources by trusted powers for private gain. Corruption is not committed to the rule of law, justice, human rights and the integrity of public service, and it hurts every one who's life, livelihood, or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.Some times it's devastating impact is more visible . The governance ,transparency ,and fighting corruption is so important to sustaine economic growth.

Throughout the history of mankind there has been one thing that has always been around. And that thing is power. From the time of cavemen there were alphas, B.C. there were rulers, and now we have monarchs, prime ministers, and dictators. And with these owners of power came an inevitable con. And that con is corruption.

Why is it that people in power are more susceptible to corruption than others? The people you trust the most, can end up being profoundly immoral. “Corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority”

Corruption is a lot more prevalent because lack of accountability and regulation in this country. If money that the government receives is going in their pockets rather than being spent on the people who need it, on their education, health and so on, then the consequences are obvious that many people don't pay taxes because they don't trust the government to spend it on the common people, they think they are corrupt and the money would just disappear and so this creates a vicious circle. People don't see the government doing anything to help them, so they think it's a waste of time to pay taxes. The government doesn't get any money from taxes and so can't do anything to help

Corruption is merely any form of dishonesty or unethical misconduct from a per-son or an authority and the misapplication of power for private gain. Corruption is both a national and regional concern that has gained a great deal of attention due to its cata-strophic consequences. Nevertheless, corruption is not a newly born phenomenon, from ancient Greece to modern Japan it is tremendously inflexible to uncover a generation in history that did not confront any kind of corruption, especially now at the time of intense globalization, when companies have abundant opportunities of investment and trade than ever before. It is undeniable that countries and companies are becoming interde-pendent on one another, which highlights that any form of corruption,

Corruption can do many things. It can lead to unstable lifestyles, pollute minds and bring on the downfall of just about anything or anyone. One of the best examples would be from the story, Dorian gray by Oscar Wilde. This story showed a young Dorian living his innocent life, only to be surrounded and influenced by the corrupt society around him and would ultimately lead to his demise. It is not easy to define corruption as a whole. But to narrow it down, corruption is mainly associated with bribery and it takes many forms. Corruption has been a part of human society since the earliest times. Fraud, embezzlement, theft, bribes are all great examples. Corruption has progressively increased and is now just about everywhere in our society, the evil nature of it will only lead to failure and collapse.

It would be convenient to start this research paper by stating that corruption is a challenge mainly for businesses in developing countries and that it is unrelated to the current affliction of the economy in the United States. It would also be convenient to claim corruption has declined in America as a result of awareness raising campaigns and the numerous anti-corruption laws. But none of those aforementioned statements would be true. Corruption is not the exception, but rather the rule in today’s business practices. In 2004, Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and former director at the World Bank, calculated an index of "legally corrupt" manifestations which is defined as the extent of undue influence

Political corruption has existed throughout the ages. It believed to be most prominent in positions of power, because of the role money plays in getting people power. However, over the centuries, corruption has changed so much so as to not match a particular definition of corruption, perpetually growing deceptively harder to find (Ebbe).

Corruption is a complex political, social, and economic anomaly that negatively affects developing and developed countries. It weakens democratic institutions, holds economic development, widening the rich-poor gap and certainly leads to governmental instability. The World Bank definition of corruption states that “…the abuse of public office for private gain”.