Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted with a position ofauthority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption may involve many activities which includebribery andembezzlement, and it may also involve practices which are legal in many countries. Political corruption occurs when an office-holder or othergovernmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption is most common in kleptocracies, oligarchies, narco-states, and mafia states.
The more corrupt a society, the more numerous its laws.
Edward Abbey, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990).
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost alwaysbad men, even when they exercise influence and notauthority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
Lord Acton, in a letter toMandell Creighton, (5 April 1887), published inHistorical Essays and Studies (1907).
Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast asPetrarch for the revival of therepublic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.
The furnace of affliction produces refinement in states as well as individuals. And the newGovernments we are assuming in every part will require a purification from our vices, and an augmentation of our virtues, or they will be no blessings. The people will have unbounded power, and the people are extremely addicted to corruption and venality, as well as the great. But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.
John Adams "Letter to Abigail Adams" (3 July 1776)
We have now, it Seems a National Bible Society, to propagateKing James's Bible, through all Nations. Would it not be better to apply these pious Subscriptions, to purifyChristendom from the Corruptions ofChristianity; than to propagate those Corruptions inEurope,Asia,Africa andAmerica! … Conclude not from all this, that I have renounced the Christian religion, or that I agree withDupuis in all his Sentiments. Far from it. I see in every Page, Something to recommend Christianity in its Purity and Something to discredit its Corruptions … TheTen Commandments and theSermon on the Mount contain my Religion.
Corruption exists because there is too much, not too little, market.
Ha-Joon Chang, inBad Samaritans (2008), Prologue, p. xxv
History shows that, at earlier stages ofeconomic development, corruption is difficult to control. The fact that today no country that is very poor is very clean suggests that a country has to rise above absolutepoverty before it can significantly reduce venality in the system.
Ha-Joon Chang, inBad Samaritans (2008), Ch. 8: Zaire vs Indonesia, Should we turn our backs on corrupt and undemocratic countries?,Prosperity and honesty, p. 151
Thieves at home must hang; but he that puts Into his overgorged and bloated purse The wealth ofIndian provinces, escapes.
TheLord looked down fromheaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seekGod. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
The whole idea of using markets to figure out who gets what is predicated on corruption — it’s a way to paper over the fact that some people get a lot, most of us get not much, and so we invent a deus ex machina calledmarket forces that hands out money based on merit. How do we know that the market is giving it to deserving people? Well, look at all the money they have! It’s just circular reasoning.
Corruption is a tree, whose branches are Of an immeasurable length: they spread Ev'rywhere; and the dew that drops from thence Hath infected some chairs and stools of authority.
John Fletcher,The Honest Man's Fortune (1613; published 1647), Act III, scene 3.
A key point of the texts attributed toShotoku is thatifrulers andbureaucrats believe they are the owners rather than the servants of the law, corruption will follow. Corruption was already a problem in the 7th century, and the Shotoku writings define it as privileging the officials’ private interests over the public ones. …Manipulatingthe public in the interest of the private is the very definition of corruption.
How the faithful city has become a whore! ... Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them.
Oh! Can you believe it? Thechaste city has become awhore! She was once alljustice, everyone living as good neighbors, And now they’re all at one another’s throats. Your coins are all counterfeits. Your wine is watered down. Your leaders are turncoats who keep company with crooks. They sell themselves to the highest bidder and grab anything not nailed down. They never stand up for thehomeless, never stick up for the defenseless.
As the world changes the forms of corruption also gradually become morecunning, more difficult to point out - but they certainly do not become better. ~Søren KierkegaardFalse words are not onlyevil in themselves, but they infect thesoul with evil. ~Plato
As the world changes the forms of corruption also gradually become more cunning, more difficult to point out - but they certainly do not become better.
As the world changes, the forms of corruption also gradually become more cunning, more difficult to point out - but they certainly do not become better.
In thedeveloping world, corruption is public enemy number one. Everydollar that a corruptofficial or a corruptbusiness person puts in their pocket is a dollar stolen from apregnantwoman who needshealth care; or from agirl or aboy who deserves aneducation; or from communities that needwater,roads, andschools. Every dollar is critical if we are to reach our goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity.
In 2004,Transparency International listed the ten worst kleptocratic rulers of recent times.Mobutu came in third, followed bySani Abacha (Nigeria, 1993-98; stole US$2-5 billion);Slobodan Milošević (Serbia/Yugoslavia, 1989-2000, US$1 billion);Jean-Claude Duvalier (Haiti, 1971-86, US$300-800 million);Alberto Fujimori (Peru, 1990-2000, US$600 million);Pavlo Lazarenko,Ukraine (1996-7, US$114-200 million);Arnoldo Aleman (Nicaragua, 1997-2002, US$100 million); andJoseph Estrada (Philippines, 1998-2001, US$78-80 million). Second wasFerdinand Marcos,Philippine president from 1965 to 1986, who with his wifeImelda — famed for her vast collection of shoes — plundered thePhilippine economy through a system of ‘crony capitalism’, amassing a vast fortune while ordinaryFilipinos went hungry. Opponents were arrested by the military — over 60,000 from 1972 to 1977 —- and many tortured and murdered, including opposition leaderBenigno Aquino. A popular rebellion in 1986 finally forced him from office and he fled with his wife toHawaii. Transparency International put his stolen wealth at US$5-10 billion, others much higher. Marcos died in 1989 before he could stand trial. The worst kleptocrat wasMohamed Suharto, Indonesian president from 1967 until 1998 but virtual military ruler from 1957. His brutal regime saw 2 million massacred following an attempted Communist coup in 1965, 250,000 killed in his1975 invasion of East Timor and hundreds of thousands tortured and murdered during hisdictatorship.
What about the other parts of the world? ThecriminologistGary LaFree and thesociologistOrlando Patterson have shown that the relationship betweencrime anddemocratization is an inverted U. Establisheddemocracies are relatively safe places, as are establishedautocracies, but emerging democracies and semi-democracies (also called anocracies) are often plagued by violent crime and vulnerable to civil war, which sometimes shade into each other. The most crime-prone regions in the world today areRussia,sub-Saharan Africa, and parts ofLatin America. Many of them havecorruptpolice forces andjudicial systems which extortbribes out of criminals and victims alike and dole out protection to the highest bidder. Some, likeJamaica (33.7),Mexico (11.1), andColombia (52.7), are racked by drug-funded militias that operate beyond the reach of the law. Over the past four decades, asdrug trafficking has increased, their rates ofhomicide have soared. Others, like Russia (29.7) andSouth Africa (69), may have undergone decivilizing processes in the wake of the collapse of their former governments. The decivilizing process has also racked many of the countries that switched from tribal ways tocolonial rule and thensuddenly to independence, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa andPapua New Guinea (15.2).
Steven Pinker,The Better Angels of Our Nature (2012)
False words are not onlyevil in themselves, but they infect thesoul with evil.
None of the governments, as they now exist, is worthy of thephilosophic nature, and hence we see that nature warped and corrupted; just as a foreign seed, when sown in an alien soil, generally loses its native quality, and tends to be subdued and pass into the plant of the country, even so this philosophic nature, so far from preserving its distinctive power, now suffers a decline and takes on a different character.
At length corruption, like a general flood (So long by watchful ministers withstood), Shall deluge all; and avarice, creeping on, Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun.
Alexander Pope,Moral Essays (1731-35), Epistle III, line 135.
If some infringement of traditionalliberties andprivacy is involved, then I believe it is a price which the community ought to be prepared to pay, if it really wishes to see corruption ousted from our public life. If it is not ready to surrender some of these liberties, then it cannot easily, in the future, complain that the Government is reluctant to tackle the evil with sufficient vigour.
Translation: The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.
Variant: The more corrupt the state, the more laws.
Original Quote: And now bills were passed, not only for national objects but for individual cases, and laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt.
We believe thattransparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, bettergovernment and stronger democracies. All governments can benefit from increased scrutiny by the world community, as well as their own people. We believe this scrutiny requiresinformation. Historically that information has been costly - in terms of human life andhuman rights. But withtechnological advances - theinternet, andcryptography - the risks of conveying important information can be lowered.
Spiritalis enim virtus sacramenti ita est ut lux: etsi per immundos transeat, non inquinatur.
The spiritual virtue of asacrament is like light: although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted.
Augustine of Hippo,Works, Volume III. In Johannis Evang. Cap. I. Tr. V. Section XV.
'Tis the most certain sign, the world's accurst That the best things corrupted, are the worst; 'Twas the corrupted Light of knowledge, hurl'd Sin, Death, and Ignorance o'er all the world; That Sun like this (from which our sight we have) Gaz'd on too long, resumes the light he gave.
I know, when they prove bad, they are a sort of the vilest creatures: yet still the same reason gives it: for, Optima corrupta pessima: the best things corrupted become the worst.
Owen Feltham,Resolves, XXX. Of Woman, p. 70. Pickering's Reprint of Fourth Ed. (1631).
So true is that old saying, Corruptio optimi pessima.
Samuel Purchas,Pilgrimage,To the Reader; of religion. Saying may be traced to Thomas Aquinas,Prim. Soc., Art. I. 5. Aristotle,Eth. Nic., VIII. 10. 12. Eusebius, Demon. Evang. I, IV, Chapter XII, St. Gregory,Moralia on Job.
The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the well-being of society, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck.
Theodore Roosevelt, address at the Corner-stone laying of the Office Building of House of Representatives (April 14, 1906).
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