The Growth of Corruption Nepotism and Inefficiency - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Poverty and greed are often the main reasons why a lot of government officials based in developed and developing countries are very much into the practice corruption.
There are many ways in which corruption may occur. Such illegal act could manifest in different form and nature such as grand and petty corruption; bribery; active and passive corruption; embezzlement, theft, and fraud; Extortion, abuse of discretion, favouritism, nepotism, and clientelism, conduct creating or exploiting conflicting interests, and/or improper political contribution.1 (See Definition of Terms on page 11)
This study will focus on discussing the possible negative effects of corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency in many Pacific Island countries. It will be observed particularly in the way it could contribute to the people’s lost the confidence in the politicians as well as in civil service. In line with this matter, this study will gather several reported news events such as the culture of accepting bribe or ‘gifts’ in Solomon Island and under-the-table and red tape activities in Fiji. The study will also explain the effect of nepotism in the growth of inequality and the practice of corruption within a country. Eventually, this study will prove the negative impact of corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency in the Pacific Island countries by highlighting the harmful effects of each case in relation to the countries’ economic and political stability as well as in civil service.
In many countries, the concept of corruption is very broad and has not clearly received much clarification in terms of its meaning.2 Considering the definition of corruption by Joseph Nye (1967), “it is the abuse of power by a public official for private gain.”Corruption is not only limited to the public offices who are searching for some private gain.
Even though corruption or doing illicit and unethical business acts could temporarily improve the economic rates of return and benefit a few individuals; such actions would eventually generate a bigger opportunity lost as well as a higher economic cost more than its benefits. According to Robert Klitgaard (1988), the problem with corruption in developing countries is the fact that it could generate a lot of negative externalities that could degrade the overall performance of the system as a whole.
In the end, a country's economy has to compromise its long-term dynamic efficiency over the few corrupt officials of the government and civil service. In line with this matter, studies have shown that the practice of corruption would eventually devaluate the currency of their money causing the government and its local citizens to pay 20 to 100 percent more for goods and services. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More