Corruption: causes, effects, and prevention strategies

¶ … Corruption a Problem in the Modern World

As globalization leads us towards a world economy, it becomes necessary to consider leadership in the world community. One of the most prevalent problems associated with leadership today is the problem of government corruption at every level of the spectrum. Corruption is not a problem that is unique to any one government, but often times depending on the resources at stake, such as conflict diamonds, becomes indicative of the corruption and level of the corruption associated with the resource. There are many cases of well documented corruption; defined cases of corruption. Then there are the more obscure cases of "scandal," which controversial and not quite meeting the definition of corruption, but nonetheless highly unethical or immoral behavior. This paper is focusing on corruption, those cases that are well defined beyond reasonable doubt as corruption, and some less obvious cases.

The Media and Government Corruption

One thing that is almost certain, where there is, at least in America, government corruption, there is going to be a journalist sniffing it out regardless of his or her company's political leanings. One of the most well-known such cases of media reporting on government corruption is Watergate. In June, 2007, the Watergate scandal will be 35 years old; still fresh enough in the minds of Americans, and politicians alike. In the case of the latter, enough so to cause them to cringe and perhaps even pause for a brief reflection on their own political lives.

In a nutshell, Watergate was about the abuse of political power and resources. It brought down an American president, forcing Richard Nixon to resign. In a Washington Times article, Jennifer Harper reports that in 1997 (Watergate's 25th anniversary) 62% of the people polled considered it to be more a disgrace than corruption, and defined, at that time, along the line of scandal. Nonetheless, laws were broken, jail sentences were handed down and served, and it was, and is, a prime example of government abuse of power and corruption. However because it is in time and place the proximity to the Vietnam war, most Americans tend to associate it with the American distrust of the government

Yes, Watergate has become a kind of myth," said G. Gordon Liddy, a radio talk show host who uses that platform to discuss Watergate, and who himself served four years of a federal prison term for his participation in the crime. Another side effect of Watergate is "People no longer feel that morality and competency in a president must coexist - they accept it, in fact. Watergate also inspired such spinoffs as wolf-pack journalism."

To demonstrate Harper's points on the wolf-pack journalism and people's acceptance of a president's lack of morality and competency enter President Bill Clinton, whose administration stood poised to discredit Monica Lewinsky as an emotionally affected stalker; until the dress splattered with the President's DNA came into the public discussion of the President's relationship with the White House intern.

Without her dress bearing the evidence of the president's relationship with her, Lewinsky would today no doubt be labeled a presidential stalker, demonstrating a sitting president's readiness and willingness to abuse power on many different levels. Bill Clinton was impeached, but to further demonstrate Harper's point, he completed his elected term as president.

The presidency of George W. Bush will be examined and investigated for years to come, long after Mr. Bush has fulfilled his second term as president, for corrupt business deals surrounding the Iraq war that have implicated him and Vice President Cheney by way of their ties to certain government contractors that have made billions off the war.

There is a new facet to political corruption, and that is represented by political players, but who have a very different role in the political scheme of things; the United Nations. In 1996, the Oil for Food Program was created to alleviate the human suffering in Iraq as a result of sanctions imposed against the country of Iraq after the Gulf War from 1990 to 2003 (when the U.S. invaded Iraq). The program was administered by the United Nations, and, without question, some of the goods and services exchanged through the program were directed to the people of Iraq who were in dire need of those goods and services.

Unfortunately, the humanitarian efforts and benefits were clouded when it became known that the Oil for Food Program was subject to widespread abuse, in some instances outright theft of money, goods and services associated with the program. "In 2004, the Iraqi newspaper Al Mada published a list of persons and organizations that supposedly received vouchers from the Iraqi government to purchase oil. Included on the list was the UN's head of the Oil for Food Program, Benon Sevan, as well as British MP George Galloway." The story grows more gloom, considering the target of the program as people, civilians, whose lives had been drastically impacted by the Gulf War and who were in desperate need of the goods and services of the program; when further investigation revealed that program had been "rife with corruption," and that smuggling and kickbacks had netted Saddam Hussein more than $10 billion dollars in illicit funds.

Not only did the corruption surrounding the program have a dire impact on the people who most needed that money; it cast a very dark cloud over the UN and its member's ability to remain dedicated to its humanitarian missions. The corruption was linked to the highest governmental offices in the UN and elsewhere around the world. It may be years, if ever, before we know the full impact of the corruption associated not just with this program, but with other charitable programs where huge amounts of money have been placed into the hands of the United Nations for administering programs with virtually little or no reporting or oversight on the use and distribution of those funds. In fact, as regards the Oil for Food Program, there is more evidence collected to demonstrate the suffering of the Iraqi people than there is about the corruption itself. What people want to know, however - with the understanding of the suffering that the program was meant to alleviate; is who, where, when and how concerning the theft of money, goods and services.

Widespread theft of money within the government and governmental organizations has a way of being investigated for so long that the scandal surrounding the corruption dies down, fades in the memory of people, and then is forgotten - or, as demonstrated by Watergate, people become callous in the face of being constantly barraged with instances of greed, corruption and immorality such that the impact of the event becomes minimized. This is what happened with the 1991 case of the House Banking Scandal.

In the House Banking Scandal, the General Accounting Office (GAO) found that in a one year period "members had written over 8,000 checks against insufficient funds in their House of Representatives bank accounts." The House Bank was a payroll office with banking authorities and functions. No penalties were levied against the insufficient funds, with the House members required only to cover the funds in the following month. However, and though many journalists have minimized the scandal; members often times left their balances uncovered, running in the red for long periods of time and accumulating large balance in what is tantamount to an overdraft. Allegations of corruption and abuse flew, causing some members with demonstrated bad faith in repaying the funds to resign. The problem went into investigation modes, meaning that much of the information was withheld from the public and, over the years, has faded in the minds on the lists of priorities of Americans. However, the House Bank was closed, which is in and of itself indicative of widespread abuse and pilfering.