Corruption, Poverty and Inequality - Assignment Example

Sociology answers Ans Corruption has become increasingly prevalent in recent times. It is not restricted to third world, developing nations. While Western nations appear to have cleaned up their act on their home turf, they are still paying bribes in poor nations. Several corruption scandals have erupted, such as the U.S. conglomerate Halliburton paying bribes in Nigeria while the oil-for-food program alleged payment of huge bribes by 2400 companies around the world. (Williamson, 2006). British aerospace manufacturer BAE Systems was alleged to have paid bribes to members of the Saudi royal family in order to secure lucrative arms contracts. (Temko and Morgan, 2006) The problem of corruption is not a new phenomenon, neither is it confined to any particular country; according to the English historian Edward Gibbon, it is the “most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.” (Ghazanfar and May, 2000). Almost every country is plagued by corruption, although its intensity may vary and different countries may rank differently on a corruption index. Companies in Russia, China, India and Brazil are most likely to pay bribes in order to procure contracts, whether in their own countries or abroad.(Williamson, 2006). According to one survey, Cameroon was ranked as the most corrupt country while Denmark was rated the cleanest.(Ghazanfar and May, 2000). The problem of corruption is most acute in the developing countries. Leaders in such countries have amassed personal fortunes while in office by engaging in corrupt activities. President Mobutu Sese-Seko of Zaire diverted $50 million to $75 million from government funds to his own private account, while President Peron of Argentina accumulated $700 million in foreign bank accounts (Ghazanfar and May, 2000). The World Bank has pointed out that “the poor pay a higher share of their income on bribes than the rich.”(www.web.worldbank.org). In third world countries, corruption is only a symptom of the larger social, political and economic causes existing in these countries. One of these may be the fact that many of these developing nations are in a state of transition from colonial rule, so that there is an atmosphere of instability. Establishments in such countries are not yet set up to ensure total accountability and the tendency to engage in corruption is exacerbated by the low salaries paid to politicians and government officers, while citizens are clamoring for public services and amenities that are not yet filly developed.(Ghazanfar and May, 2000). Losing a job is no hardship since jobs are poorly paid in the first place and it becomes more profitable for individuals to seek benefits from Government and avoid payment of any fees; it is such self seeking behavior that leads to corruption.(Klitgaard, 2000) Thomas (2001) points out that the justice system in such countries is not fully developed either, police forces are ill trained and inadequately equipped while being subject to too high a degree of interference from political forces. Judiciaries are weak and poorly funded and therefore no match for white collar criminals; they only become increasingly susceptible to corruption. Case files are not properly filed and maintained, judges sometimes do not even have access to paper on which to write judgments, while their function is constantly hindered from too much interference from the executive branch of Government. Where accountability is concerned, government officials may protect themselves by deliberately destroying accountability, tampering with and destroying any evidence that exists against them. Corruption has a very destructive effect. It increases the cost of projects, deprives countries of the finances that are required for development and distorts the relationships of poor people with their Government because it creates a distrust of public officials and the police who attempt to extort bribes from them (www.web.worldbank.org). It diverts expenditure away from the vital areas of health, education and infrastructure into those areas where kickbacks can be handed out, such as construction and defense. (www.controlbae.org). According to Thomas (2001) the causes of corruption lie with the nature of governance itself, where the executive seizes too much power, so that the structure of Government itself consists of cronies, who are pressured to grant personal favors at the expense of greater accountability and honest dealings in Government. In such a volatile, unstable environment that is peopled by individuals who are keener to do favors for one other and benefit from government funds rather than putting it into activities that will benefit development, corruption becomes more common. One of the problems in such a scenario is that “ensuring accountability” becomes “the most difficult issue.”(Pope-Vogl, 2000). The consequences of corrupt behavior and the scope for punishment is also limited, hence there is no significant deterrent to corruptive conduct. In developing nations where companies engage in corruption while also seeking contracts in foreign countries, the justification that is offered is that it is a local practice that everyone engages in.(Williamson, 2006). The phenomenon is no less prevalent among companies from the western nations seeking to secure foreign contracts, as demonstrated by the case of Britain’s BAE systems. (Temko and Morgan, 2006). According to David Nussbaum, the Director of Transparency International, an anti-corruption organization, the argument that everyone engages in bribe paying offers no justification, because there are some countries such as Sweden and Switzerland where the bribe paying culture does not exist at all (Williamson, 2006). While the enhanced role of law enforcement activity has reduced the incidence of corruption in rich countries, their failure to also apply such strict standards to business done outside the country may be contributing to corruption, thereby replicating the trend that may be discerned in developing countries where law enforcement systems are weak and politically influenced. On the basis of the above, it may thus be concluded that while corruption is destructive and needs to be tackled, the reasons for its incidence are understandable. It is a widespread and multifaceted problem that is not an easy one to tackle and increasing accountability and strengthening law enforcement activity all over the world may offer the only viable options to tackle it. Ans 3: The AIDS epidemic is spiraling into a pandemic, with a U.N. Aids Report demonstrating that 3.1 million were killed due to the AIDS virus in 2001, of which 610,000 were children.(Boseley, 2002). An additional 5 million people were infected with the AIDS virus in 2002 and the virus is spreading into eastern Europe, while threatening to blow up into a pandemic in Asia. In India, a U.S. intelligence report estimated that there were 4 million people in India infected with the AIDS virus in 2001 and the number could escalate to 25 million by 2010.(Boseley, 2002). Some of the poorest countries in Africa are the most severely afflicted with the virus and most of the victims die because they do not receive life saving drugs. The AIDS pandemic is also creating associated problems such as food shortages, the inability to work and a large percentage of orphans. The level of susceptibility to AIDS varies from society to society, and there may be different kinds of social, economic and cultural settings within which AIDS can appear.(Barnet and Whiteside, 2002). The AIDS pandemic is most notable in Africa, where there are the highest number of HIV infected persons. Underlying risk factors for AIDS may vary from country to country, for instance in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, it was war and the rise of corrupt governments which were the factors fuelling the AIDS epidemic. Conditions of war make children orphans and orphaned girls become ripe victims for sexual abuse while orphaned boys are forced to serve as soldiers and may also be sexually abused. But in the case of Tanzania, it was the gradual economic and social changes taking place in the country that were the causal factor accelerating the spread of AIDS.(Barnet and Whiteside, 2002). In South Africa, the causes of AIDS can be traced back to the history of apartheid prevalent in that country. Since work in this country was largely in the mines and factories that were operated by white South Africans, workers had to travel away from their families to find work and seek sexual gratification through intercourse with prostitutes, which created a culture ripe for the spread of AIDS. In fact, Barnet and Whiteside (2002) argue that the apartheid government may have deliberately employed HIV infected men to infect prostitutes. In India, truck drivers are a significant cause of spread of the disease, since most of them engage in unprotected sex with prostitutes and then pass on the disease to their monogamous wives.(Harding, 2002). Most of them are ignorant about the risk of AIDS and are unwilling to use a condom because they complain that it puts them off, or because they simply are unaware how to put one on. Poverty forces the prostitutes to agree to unprotected sex merely to earn a few extra rupees. A similar scenario also plays out in the African countries, where poverty and ignorance combine to produce unhealthy sexual behavior that causes the rapid spread of the disease. Some of the major causes leading to the proliferation of AIDS in African countries are unemployment and poverty. For example, the unemployment rates in South Africa have been rising steadily because a larger number of workers are entering the labor market each year with a too-high supply of semi skilled and unskilled labor while only a few new jobs are being created. The rise in unemployment may actually be understated because the percentage of employed persons has also included those in temporary, unregulated employment. (Cassale et al, 2004). Unemployment leads to poverty and a link has been established between poverty and an increased risk of infection with the AIDS virus. For example, in Botswana in the year 2000, the per capita household income was projected to fall by 13% and this corresponded to a rise in about four dependants infected with AIDS.(Botswana Institute for Development and Policy Analysis, 2000). Families suffering from poverty are unable to afford treatment for AIDS and may spend more on funerals because the disease spreads so quickly. Since poverty also goes hand in hand with ignorance, they may also be unaware of protective measures such as the use of condoms, which only heightens the risk of contracting the disease. In their assessment of why Africa in particular is afflicted with high levels of AIDS, Barnet and Whiteside (2002) have traced the history of the continent and done case studies on different African countries in order to highlight some of the factors that have made this region susceptible to the AIDS epidemic. These reasons are the geographical disadvantages, the disorder prevailing in these countries due to their relative instability after emerging from colonial rule, the relative deprivation and lack of access to adequate resources and the negative impact of poverty and unemployment, which leaves families without basic resources and the ability to fight infection through safe health practices. Furthermore, the political milieu existing in these countries may be such that it is difficult for people who are ignorant and poor to be aware of and educated about the dangers of the epidemic and raise awareness and consciousness among the people. In my view, the most significant cause of the AIDS pandemic is the lack of education and awareness. Poverty and unemployment only exacerbate the lack of access of poor people to information about protective measures against AIDS and the ability to pay for treatment when affected. This produces a large number of deaths and an increased population of orphans, impacting disastrously upon the social and economic framework of these countries. Bibliography * Barnet, Tony and Whiteside, Alan, 2002. “AIDS in the twenty first century: Distance and globalization”, NY: Macmillan * Boseley, Sarah, 2002. “AIDS epidemic bringing social collapse”, The Guardian, November 27, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/27/aids.sarahboseley; August 19, 2008. * Botswana Institute for Development and Policy Analysis, 2000. “Impact of HIV/AIDS on poverty and Income Inequality in Botswana”, (Executive Summary) http://www.unbotswana.org.bw/undp/docs/economic_impact_study_executive_summary_final.pdf; August 19, 2008. * Cassale, D, Mueller, C and Posel, D, 2004. “Two million net new jobs. A reconsideration of the rise in employment in South Africa, 1995-2003.”, South African Journal of Economics, 72(5). * “Corruption, Poverty and Inequality”, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPUBLICSECTORANDGOVERNANCE/EXTANTICORRUPTION/0,,contentMDK:20222075~isCURL:Y~menuPK:384473~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:384455,00.html; August 19, 2008 * Corruption and bribery: Poverty and economic development impacts”, http://www.controlbae.org/background/economic_development.php; August 19, 2008 * Ghazanfar, S.M. and May. Karen S, 2000. “Third world corruption: a brief survey of the issues”, The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, 25(3): 351-369 * Harding, Luke, 2002. “Truck drivers who carry more than cargo”, The Guardian, November 12, 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/12/aids.lukeharding; August 19, 2008. * Klitgaard, Robert, 1998. "International Cooperation against Corruption," Finance and Development, March, 1998: 3-6. * Pope, Jeremy and Frank Vogl, 2000. "Making Anticorruption Agencies More Effective," Finance and Development, June 2000; 6-9. * Temko, Ned and Morgan, Oliver, 2006. “Saudis threat to jet order puts British jobs on the line”, The Guardian, November 26, 2006, p 39. http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2006/nov/26/businessandmedia/news; August 19, 2008 * Thomas, M.A., 2001. “Getting debt relief right”, Foreign Affairs, 80(5): 36 * Williamson, Hugh, 2006. “West failing to curb bribery overseas”, The Financial Times, September 25, 2006. Read More