Corruption in Former Soviet Countries Essay

"I believe in one thing only, the power of human will" said Stalin once. He certainly did have cause to believe in the power of a human's will as he experienced it in himself firsthand, having had extraordinary willpower and perseverance (He didn't call himself "Man of Steel" for nothing, folks), rising up from the lowly station of alcoholic's son in Georgia to one of the biggest monsters in human history, supposedly killing more than Hitler. Exactly how did he do this? Why? And how did his corruption reach such extents as to do all this for power?

Political machines were one of the main sources of corruption. Political machines were extremely powerful organizations linked to political parties - these machines controlled local government cities. A “political boss” controlled jobs and services by offering bribes in return for political votes. A spoils system rose from this in which political supporters were given jobs and favors for support, however, often times the people given these political jobs were not qualified for them. Moreover, “Big Business” was yet another form of corruption.

There are few nation-states that one could point to as being truly “corruption-free” (Denmark hosts the most corruption-free gov’t according to Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index). However, this is a trait that holds back the growth of the whole of society, weakening the disadvantaged and emboldening the powerful. As Transparency International goes on to state:

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

Over the past decade (from 2004 to 2014), political corruption in Russia government is gradually uncovered by some global medias and organizations. Such tendency not only repainted the entire landscape of Russia government, but also raised public awareness on the significance of preventing a greater deterioration of this political phenomenon worldwide. This report aims to prove such political phenomenon is unethical through the comparison with code of conduct, and to provide tangible measures and solutions. The result suggests that high-level of corruption in the Russian government is one of the factors of inflation. It is also found that corruption will lead to social issues. Most importantly, such political behavior is unethical regarding the code of conduct. In order to achieve a revolutionary change in the Russia government, therefore, a redefinition of legislation and a recreation of domestic press are indispensible.

The Russian state has been characterized by its strong heritage of powerful, autocratic leadership. This domination by small ruling elite has been seen throughout Russia's history and has transferred into its economic history. Throughout the Russian czarist period, to the legacy of seventy years of communism; Russia has been a country marked by strong central state planning, a strict command economy and an overall weak market infrastructure (Goldman, 2003). Self-interest, manipulation and corruption have all been present in the Russian economy, and have greatly helped the few as opposed to the many. To this day, Russia still struggles with creating a competitive and fair market.

Its been estimated that the markets corruption has almost exceeded 260 million in 2006. Russian police institutions are far more centralized than the U.S. police, which could mean that Russians' views of the police are closely associated with their views of other federal government institutions rather than their personal experiences Corruption (Feifer, 2003). Russia corruption started around the 18th century when the government official would perform Kormlenie corruption, which means authority receiving fees, goods, and services from interested areas (Marenin, 1997). Since 1715 accepting a bribe in Russia was considered a crime. Official started to abuse this power and started to receive fixed salaries. At that time Peter the Great had increased so many fixed salaries that irregularity and bribes where out of control especially for official. Even official of lower rank were able to get these fix’s salaries. By 1922 bribery was considered a counter- revolutionary activity was a criminal code punishable by death.

The negative economic impacts of corruption have grown rapidly, and major international organizations have claimed that corruption hinders economic growth (world bank 2006). Although there are claims that corruption is harmful to economic growth, economists have not really agreed with the argument from a theoretical point of view. Theoretical studies suggest that corruption may counteract government failure and promote economic growth in the short run, given externally determined suboptimal bureaucratic rules and regulations. As government failure is itself a function of corruption, however, corruption should have

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

Corruption during the 1990’s increased and expanded with the developments of the Russian Mafia. “Many Russians believed that the unbridled pursuit of individual interests during the 1990s gave rise to

Ahmad N. (2002). Corruption and Government Regulations : An Empirical Analysis. The Bangladesh Development Studies , Vol. 28, No. 4 pp. 29-51.

4] State Capture by Business – direct payment of bribes to govt officials by businesses. Where it is intended to ‘buy’ an influence on regulation, we refer to it a “state capture.”

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).

While corruption is said to generate inefficiency and retard growth in a country (Ackerman, 1997), China manages to deliver astronomical economic growth amidst rampant corruption (Li, Peng, 2001). To explain China’s puzzle, the essay first focuses on the causes of corruption and why it has yet to be eradicated, and then analyzes its economic impact in the short and long run.

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”.