The University of Latvia
Faculty of Economics and Management
Essay
Theory
of corruption
Extramural
courses (on Sundays)
1st
year student 3rd group Sv1
Inga Silmale
Ekon 000079
Academic Year 2000-01
Introduction
Term corrumpire
in Roman law used to define verbs such as to break, falsify, bribe, tear, and
it used to denote illegal activity directed against/towards something or
someone, for example against/towards a judge. This term is made of two Latin
words, correi which means parties to an agreement, and rumpere,
which means to tear, break, cancel, etc. As a result a term emerged that used
to describe the activity of two or more parties whose aim was to create an
impediment to normal functioning of legal process or of process of public
management.
The reasons corruption appears
Corruption =
monopoly + discretion – accountability. This means that if a public official
enjoys monopoly in relation to some service requested by counteragent, and if
this official has a significant degree of discretion in applying or determining
regulations and if this official also enjoys lack of accountability – in these
circumstances the corrupt practices are most likely to take place.
Variations in the level of corruption
Most students
of corruption agree that corruption is a phenomenon that occurs worldwide and
that it can be observed both in developed and developing countries. In the
countries with economies in transition, such as Latvia, corruption can attain
particularly high levels because virtually all the conditions for its
appearance are present.
Consequences of corruption
In the
current discussion on the negative and positive aspects of corruption (yes,
there ARE positive aspects of corruption) there emerged a new point of
view backed by many authors – the corruption certainly can foster economic
development at some point of economic transition, but remaining at that
particular point can result in disastrous consequences for society.
Corruption and morale
Corruption is
traditionally regarded as an example of amoral behavior, as a consequence of
which the usefulness of contact with an amoral (corrupt) individual is being
re-appraised because of fear of possible punishment and also because of
intrinsic antipathy of humankind to amorality.
Fighting corruption
The
interesting fact is that in order to maximize public good, the total
elimination of corruption is not necessary. In fact it is sufficient to reach
some optimal level because the costs of total elimination of corruption may
well exceed the benefits. In order to reach that optimal level several schemes
of restraint are being offered.
The issues
mentioned above are being studied within the framework of various models of
corruption; however each of these issues is being approached from a different
point of view. There are roughly three directions of studies: 1) study of
examples of external corruption, i.e. when the bribe comes from outside an
organization; 2) study of examples of internal corruption, i.e. when corrupt
practices take place between the members of an organization; 3) study of other
topics such as non-singularity of balanced corruption conditions, cycles of its
appearance, etc. Apart from these three directions there are other works that
focus on the impact and/or influence of corruption in concrete situations.
Usually
corruption is a symptom of deep problems in society, which is confirmed by
empirical data gathered by students of this phenomenon. This data shows the
existence of close link between corruption and economic downturn, fall in
investment activity, lack of credible warrants in property and contractual
rights, low level of civic activity and weakness of judicial institutions and
legal process in general, deep ethnic divisions and conflicts. This also means
that corruption is not only an economic phenomenon and this is why it should
become subject for social, psychological, and political analysis.
Conclusion
In
many countries, aside from lack of public goodwill and civic activity, there is
also lack of qualified professionals and equipment necessary to fight
corruption. Moreover, in some countries, the laws that were designed to protect
people became cozy tools used by "corrupt community". This includes
the immunity law for public officials and banking laws that forbid disclosure
of information about account holder. In sum, the level of corruption is
determined on the one hand by the extent of state's presence in the economy,
and the maturity of the society and deepness and thoroughness of societal
control over activities of the state on the other.
In Latvian anti-corruption law this term is defined as
illegal obtainment of property or other goods and benefits by persons in public
office or of similar status, by way of use of their status or opportunities
related to this status. This also includes bribery in form of goods and
benefits illegally offered to and/or obtained by such persons.
In the last five years, the Eastern and Western Europe
underwent through sharp economic changes. While privatization brought about
competition, at the same time we can see that fundamental business and ethical
principles are still lacking. The studies have shown that in customs, public
management, police, banking sector, and in private enterprises the corruption
is regarded as a normal way of life.
Bibliography
1.
www.tvnet.lv
4.
www.law.lv
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