How to Measure Political Corruption - Assignment Example

How to measure political corruption and what are the difficulties involved? Introduction The use of power for illegitimate private gains by the government officials is known as political corruption. This illegal act is directly related with the duties of the government officials. This act involves the influence of trading. The forms of political corruption may vary but all of the forms include extortion, bribery, cronyism, patronage, nepotism, embezzlement and graft. By bribery a political person receives gifts or money in a dishonest way for the purpose of altering their behaviour and actions. It is a very common form of practice in corruption. Another important form of this type of corruption is extortion. Here the political persons get involves in various criminal offences for acquiring property, money etc from an individual or institution through illegal means. Political corruption depends on the jurisdiction and country. The practice of political funding differs from places to places. In some places considered as legal and in some places are considered as illegal. In many places government officials have indefinite powers. There the distinction between illegal and legal power is difficult. Institutional corruption is also included in political corruption. The problem of corruption in institute which is associated with the economic support from the government officials who have different interest related with the institution. Political corruption has a negative effect on the good governance and democracy of the country. It reduces the accountability in legislature and election. Corruption in politics hampers the representation process in policy making. Political corruption also leads in the compromising the rule of laws. This type of corruption often occurs at the higher levels of the state which a strong impact on politics. Political corruption leads to the improper use and resources misallocation. It influences the political system and government institutions. As a result institutional decay is a common phenomenon in this type of corruption. It is a deviation from ethical code of conduct and written legal norms by the ruling political party. The ruler systematically abuses the rules and regulations of the state to fulfil their personal gains. It is also perceived as an ignorance of principles and rational legal values of the state. The legal base of many authoritarian countries is weak. This helps to grow political corruptions and subjects to the downfall of their political system. How to measure political corruption Moral, ethical and normative standard are the necessary benchmarks to differentiate legitimacy from legality in the matter of political corruption. Political corruption is a complex and secret thing. Money and power in highly involved in it. Bribing is widely used in political corruption. Therefore a detailed analysis and tracking should be done on the flow of money in the political system. If this detailed study shows that high amount of bribing is involved in this process and the money flow of this system is not very clear that means high degree of political corruption is present in the system. The political system of a state must be trusted by its people. When a state experiences the lack of trust among the people towards its political system denotes that corruption is present somewhere in the political system of the state for which public becomes apathetic. Social peace is also associated with political corruptions. With the increase of crime in the society for legislative reasons states the level of political corruptions. High level of political corruption results in strong presence of violence in the society. The political parties want to establish their powers by ignoring the laws and misusing their powers. The Politics system of a state must be focused on providing peace and security to the citizens. The rise of various political problems and social disputes are the indicator of political corruption. The government officials, political leaders and the government institutions support the reason of these problems for their own benefits. They are not concerned about the general people. It shows that they are not performing the responsibilities of their duty and are not abiding the written and formal rules and regulations of the state. Due to the vast scale and nature it is very difficult to measure the political corruptions with perfect accuracy. Different surveys and indices are used to measure this corruption. In the modern world the best tool for measuring corruption is Corruption Perception Index (CPI). It was initiated in 1995. It was created for measuring the issues of corruptions in international politics. In 1999 CPI included 99 countries of the world. International transparency is involved in CPI. Political corruption levels are evaluated by expert opinion and assessments. Transparency International produced the index of corruption perceptions. In 2012 CPI has done different assessments and surveys in different institutions for measuring political corruptions. Survey of public opinions is also used as a measuring tool of political corruption. It provides a clear picture of the degree till which the politicians and the public officials accept bribes, grants illegal payments in different procurement process of public, misuses public funds and commit offences. The CPI index ranks different countries according to their level of corruptions. These are some of the countries which have highest levels of corruption. It is measured by CPI. Transparency International used The Bribery Index to measure political corruption. It provides an idea about the transactional corruption associated with the politics. This survey is based on two indexes. The Bribe payer index evaluates the tendency of bribing political persons or government officials. In the second index it indicates that in which type of situation bribery is predominant in political corruptions. Tracking different government organisation and institute can provide information about different types of political corruptions. This information gives an idea about the use of policies and practices by the government officials for their personal gains. It is an indicator to measure the possibilities of political corruption. A huge amount of money is involved in politics. Tracking of the money can be a useful measure for preventing political corruption. The information and the articles which are published in journals and magazines often becomes an indicator in measuring political corruptions. Many investigative journalists collect information and data from various sources regarding corruptions in politics. The journalists’ uses various research techniques for measuring the level of corruption. They gather information regarding unethical and illegal political matters. The journalists have the market exposure which provided them a large amount of information. Their strong influence creates a huge impact in measuring the degree and level of political corruption in the country. Anti corruption acts are implemented by the governments for measuring and restricting corruptions also in the political level. Through this act different political activities are evaluated and differentiated their legal and illegal nature. The anti corruption acts extracts money out of the political system so that people can get their deserved money and prevents the government officials to misuse their power. This acts influences the measures taken for the elections. Anti corruption acts transforms the impacts of lobbies in the political system. Through this process the country can estimate the level of corruption which is originated by the effects of various influential factors of politics. Political corruption often creates a negative impact on the national security. As a result the quality of all the governmental things and services deteriorates. Crime becomes a significant result in political corruption. Therefore criminal investigation is a strong measure for evaluating the level of corruption. In this matter political persons or government officials wants to fulfil their personal interest at the cost of misusing the country resources and their powers. They get involved in criminal actions betraying the nation which creates an adverse effect on the political condition of the state. Proper investigation of their crime helps to reduce and stop this type of political corruption. Perception is a useful tool in measuring corruption in politics. People residing in a society perceive the effects and impacts of the political system and its corruption. Strong perception result’s in the forming the capacity of measuring the degree of political corruption. When any incident happens in the country as a result of political corruption, then the people can perceive the impact of the incident on their life and society. This perception of the people helps to evaluate the corrupted members and the political system of the state. In the modern world media plays a vital role in measuring political corruption. Various important research and surveys are done through the power of media. Political scandals and incidents related to corruption are always highlighted through different media. In the present world various types media are present which have a strong influence in the in every aspect of the society. In a large extent media set up the stage for evaluating political consequences. The sources of the information provided by the media have strong evidential bases. Media reaches the maximum number of people and influences their perceptions on different things. It helps to compare between the proper political system and existing corrupted environment of the politics. Many illegal political facts and figures get exposed by the media. Therefore the effective use of the strong power of media helps to control political corruption and implement different measures. The Global corruption barometer is a survey done for tracking the public opinion all over the world. This corruption measuring tool focused on the bribery issues which are also related in political corruption. A proper assessment of public opinions is done in this process which had a contribution in forming effective measures for controlling political corruptions. Maintaining transparency in political process and system is a very important measure of controlling political corruption (Koehler 79-80). A transparent political system helps in building effective and good political system benefiting the people. Difficulties involved in measuring political corruption Political corruption is a very complex process. A large number of people are involved in the politics of a state and in different governmental institutions. Those people have various political and influential powers which create an impact in all the sectors of a state. Certain changes in the political system can even results in damaging the powers of the government. The major problem involved in measuring corruption, is the impact of influential political person in the society. Many political leaders take advantage of the weakness of general people for the purpose of fulfilling their personal means (Heidenheimer and Michael 97-98). With the use of their strong political power they often manipulate people in their favour. Sometime they the corrupted political leaders involve criminal activities and violence for accomplishing their illegal interest. As people get scared of them and denies to stand against them or to provide authentic statements and evidence against them. This manipulation results in the increase of political corruption in the country. The places where a high level of political corruption is present, there people feel uncomfortable to express their views and opinions in the social front. So there is a huge chance of getting wrong results from surveys and different assessments involved in measuring political corruption (Quah 47-48). The power of the general people is very limited in measuring political corruption. They cannot get detailed information about all the political factors and about the persons involved in this process. The general mass of people gets the information by different media which can be distorted or change (Rotstein 46-50). This creates a huge impact on the perception process of the people in measuring the degree of political corruption. They sometimes become unaware of the actual fact and form a perception on the basis of the changed and distorted information. This creates an adverse impact on the society. The laws and regulation of the country and the society becomes barriers in measuring political corruption. The legal obstacles become very strong and complex when the process becomes related with corruption and politics (Harris 95-97). Media and general people can interfere in all the political matters. Many political facts and figures are kept secret by political parties. National and international political matters are restricted only to few government officials and political persons. Strong regulations of laws are there to protect that information. As a result many things are not transparent which creates doubt and confusion among the people. Corruption done on that level is not easily accessible by people. Analysis and evaluations for measuring political corruption becomes difficult for this. In many cases the police and the judiciary system of the maximum states support the ruling political parties for their own benefit. It hampers the process of estimating and evaluating political corruption. Money plays a vital role in originating difficulties for measuring the degree of corruptions. It often influences and fabricates public opinions and results of many political actions and elections. Often different information sources are influenced by the monetary power of the corrupted political system which restricts to expose many political scandals which is involved in corruptions (Kochan and Goodyear 89 -92). In developing countries money changes the democratic ideas of the people. It establishes an unbalance situation for accessing the resources in favour of few political groups. In many developing countries administrative system of the government is weak and complex. Sometimes the higher level government officials use their political powers and suppress many important work processes which affect the general people. Then to get the work done people uses or are forces to use unethical means like bribing. They do not disclose these facts openly which creates major difficulties in estimating the level of corruption in political matters. A huge cost is involved in performing different measures for evaluating political corrupting. Lack of relevant and authentic data increases the measuring costs. After making huge investments there is no surety that the survey or the measures will provide perfect and accurate results (Grossman 29-30). Often the mindset of the people changes quickly for the strong influence of some external and internal factors which results a failure of various measures. This results in the huge loss of money. Illiteracy of the people is a major problem in conducting measures of corruptions. Illiterate people do not understand much about different levels of corruptions and its adverse effects. Therefore it’s very easy to manipulate and provoke them. Government officials and political leaders use those people in achieving its personal gains. This issue causes hindrance in measuring the political corruptions. Morality of the people has a strong impact on the measuring policies and techniques (Scott 69). People having strong moral are definite about performing various measures for understanding the degree of corruptions. But whereas the weak moral people changes their mind frequently within a short span of time creating many difficulties in the process. Trading influences in a large extent to implement political corruptions. Trading has a strong co relation with politics. For many political factors the growth of the trading depends. A strong trading system provides a huge amount of money in the political system. So it’s very difficult to tract which trading institution is associated with the process political corruption (Kotkin and Sajó 39-42). If the country does not have strong rules related to protection and security then people will not get the courage to stand against the corruption in politics and take measures in assessing it. This creates difficulties in the measuring process. People will get de-motivated for this. Political corruption differs from places to places. The rules and regulations related to corruption also vary a lot. Therefore if any international measure is taken for estimating the level of corruption then it might happen that the measure is not considered appropriate in some countries depending upon its laws and regulations. Cultural influence can also affect various measures associated with political corruption. Political corruption is a vast subject. It inter related with economic, social life of the people. Sorting out the effective measures which are suitable or appropriate for the particular political condition is a very difficult task. Often strong political parties or ruling parties who are involved in corruption creates many problems in implementing different measures for assessing the level of political corruptions. Implementing anti corruption acts and policies through government is a time consuming process. Many complexities are involved in this process (Yadav 89-93). If the ruling government is corrupted then the acts and policies of anti corruption are rejected which results in the failure of this measure. Conclusion In the present world of globalisation political corruption is a very popular topic. It is important because political corruption has its immense effects on each and every aspects of the modern society. Different government officials and political persons are misusing their powers for their personal gains by exploiting public resources. Presence of strong political corruption deteriorates the condition of a state and causes failure of the government rules and regulations. Corruption in politics is present from a very long time. It is a sensitive issue. It possesses different meaning in different places according to the rules, regulations and culture of the place. In many countries political corruption is present from the top to bottom level of the political system. This creates a strong adverse effect on the state. It leads to the rise of different methods like bribery, nepotism, extortion etc influencing the degree of corruption in politics. Political corruption also has a strong presence in different government institutions. The high ranking government officials who have some political power fabricate and manipulate written formal rules and regulations according to their advantage at the cost of society. Different measures are used for estimating and evaluation the degree of this type of corruption. This is a very complex process. Various corruption measuring tools and methods are used in this process. Perception of the people regarding political facts and incidents plays a major role in it. It helps to form an idea and measure the intensity of corruption in the political levels. Media exposes different information which also includes many political affairs. Some other measures are also used in this process. But there are lots of problems are involved in implementing these measures in practice. The illegal and unethical actions of political leaders and government officials suppress these measures. The strong influential political power takes advantage of the weak government and political system. Strong legal system with efficient investigation can help to reduce the difficulties in measuring the degree of political corruption. Works Cited Grossman, Mark., Political Corruption in America: An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power, and Greed. London: ABC-CLIO. 2003. Print. Harris, Robert., Political Corruption: In and Beyond the Nation State. Kentucky: Psychology Press. 2003. Print. Heidenheimer. Arnold and Johnston, Michael., Political Corruption: Concepts and Contexts. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. 2011. Print. Kochan, Nick and Goodyear, Robin. Corruption: The New Corporate Challenge. Germany: Business & Economics. 2011. Print. Koehler, Mike. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a New Era. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2014. Print Kotkin. Stephen and András Sajó., Political Corruption in Transition: A Skeptics Handbook. New York: Central European University Press. 2002. Print. Quah, Jon., Curbing Corruption in Asian Countries: An Impossible Dream. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. 2011. Print. Rotstein, Robert., Corrupt Practices: A Parker Stern Novel. Los Angeles: Prometheus Books. 2013. Print. Scott. James., Comparative political corruption. Michigan: Prentice-Hall. 2008. Print. Yadav, Vineeta., Political Parties, Business Groups, and Corruption in Developing Countries. London: Oxford University Press. 2011. Print. Read More