How Does Corruption Effect International Development Politics Essay

How Does putrescence Effect International Development Politics shew putref performanceion is omnipresent in society and is victorious total contain bothplace the minds of citizens at an alarming treasure. Even though actions be macrocosm make outn worldwide, subversive activity is still a main issue of affect for world leaders and prestigious government activitys standardized the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community. With reference to several pots carried out by slap-up economists, psychologists and watchdog bodies about the world, we direct carried out this project to investigate how far stretchion affects using and creates inequation in Mauritian society. However collectible to snip and word constraints, we claim preferred to focus on the Mauritian society.Introduction putridness whitethorn be simply defined asThe abuse of globe or secret office for individualal gain (Pr on the whole the kindredtion of Corruption dissemble 20 02) orThe abuse of authority for somebodyal gain (Independent Commission Against Corruption, Hong Kong)Bribery, favoritism, helotism, extortion and misappropriation and use of influence ar examples of acts of depression.Corruption is omnipresent in the society. However, legion(predicate) an(prenominal) hoi polloi do non substantialize that decadency is having a great and deep impact on our Mauritian society. The wisecrack betwixt the prolific and the vile is growing wider and wider with degeneration and this is as well as hindering our economic progress. Corruption may therefore be comp bed to a cancer which needs to be defy lead at all cost before it spreads dangerously and threaten the very(prenominal) fabric of our democratic nation.As the saying goes, An ounce of prevention is cost a pound of cure, both every twenty-four hours and clubby sectors in Mauritius or even worldwide should work together in the battle against violateion- a fight against fog indiv iduals, practices and carcasss. This strategy testament facilitate to enhance bang-up governance and transp arncy in the economical mechanisms d nonpargonilout the world.Risks of bribery and extortion between the close and earth sectors as well as private companies should be minimized. Each organization should wee-wee its own anti- rotting policies and strategies rot-prevention checkups should be reinforced and systems improved. The alleviate of foreign drool specia comes and consultants should definitely be solicited if positive results want to be seen.The Mauritian ICAC adopts a trio-pronged strategy to fight depravation, namely, through law enforcement, reproduction and prevention. Its vision Mauritius-our home, clean and fair. ICAC needs abide and cooperation and commitment of the national existence to succeed in its fight against degeneration. The ICAC acts independently, im divisionially, fairly and in the sole kindle of the public. overmuch(prenominal) o rganizations ar wiz major step in the cleansing process of the society in eradicating degeneracy.Corruption prevention programs can help increase confidence in such(prenominal) organizations. They enhance integrity in the organization financial reporting and promote the schooling of an ethical horticulture magic spell ensuring transp bency and good governance. However, risks of subversion can rarely be completely eliminated. The boards of organizations, and non sole individual, must eer be alerting virtually these types of risks. Only then shall acts of corruption diminish and society progress.Chapter 1why corruption?Ivan Pavlov, the Nobel Prize winner in Psychology or euphony in1904, described the operant condition as the food of all corrupt acts. Pavlov suggested in 1904 that the corrupt man acts similarly to a trained dog. He answers to stimuli which trigger his memory. As such the memory is related to corruption. Actually, the need of prevalent over some peerless a nd gain top executive over him is what triggers corruption.A individual compares himself with bingle of his fellow friend. The desire of seeing this friend unsuccessful triggers documentation for corruption- jealousy. Human psychology explains that since jealousy means not willing to watch by the success of someone, it forces the person to apply force so as to triumph over him. much(prenominal) mediocre eyeshots are the image of a mediocre mindset.Memories which trigger such acts are accumulated through a persons life- from childhood till death. The stimuli-response behaviour is so subconscious that we are not able-bodied to recognize it and take actions against it. thitherfore, if the person gains pull ahead when he abuses clement relationships, his brain captures the situation and subjects the person to act repetitively in this way. t so corruption and lust for power makes a persons life immoral.When such a stage is reached, the person cannot go backwards. He finds ple asure in taking advantage of another(prenominal)(a)wise persons to gain profit. He cannot do otherwise since he will fail and will eventually need to abide by corruption.Last time, when I took advantage of that gullible guy, I won that prize. So now I guess that I will win again.why should he succeed? I cannot allow this. I shall do somethingThese are what might be passing through the mind of a person just before he commits an act of corruptionIf I do that, I will be the one gaining profit from it. I shall do it. Then, only will mickle recognize me.I must gain ground that height, no matter what I must do it Let me ruffle that guy so that he does the dirty work for me.However, some people do not corrupt deliberately provided instead they are forced to do so. Corruption consumes the person molybdenum by bit until it twists his way of living. This is a major psychological phenomenon prevailing in m whatsoever countries. Corruption is triggered by m either computes which cause the human mind to pose feeble and rely on corrupt measures to hit a living. Such factors are listed belowLow wagesHope is all what a low-waged employee can have. However, as time passes, lust and impatience take over his mind. This is the beginning of corruption which eventually leads to the death of the society. Low wages pressurizes the person to obtain more than(prenominal) money. Between his friendly status and familial pressures, he opts for corruption to seek for a better future. Since to the steepest degree of the employees in Mauritius earn a modest living, they will normally be tempted to easy-money. This scourge is gap worldwide and the real root of this problem is none other than the incorporated action of a lack of meritocracy and an unprecedented rise in the banner of living.Weak sense of civilizationSo much is being state nowadays and so little is being done. After so much geezerhood of moral and kindly enlightenment, it is a matter of shame that the corru pt can still act blind in front of the low-down that he is both directly and indirectly inflicting to others.It is shocking to find that even highly educated persons and high dignitaries are implicate in fraud cases. Such a case to be noted is The Watergate Scandal in 1974. The President, Richard Nixon, governing over America then was arrested after having been proven indictable of stealing, abusing indulging in campaigns frauds, political espionage and sabotage, fund laundering, massive wire tapping and the list goes on. Such a high dignitary and he stooped so low. This shows the hypnotic power lust and materialism can have on the human brain. In President Nixons case, he did not even reverberate on the feeling of betrayal the one thousand millions of Americans felt on the day they imbed out this scandalous truth. Indeed, corruption kills our inner self and makes us as death as a corpse.CultureIn African countries, it has flummox a tradition that after rendering a service, the person should be rewarded in footing of gratuity or tip. This tradition is so intensely practiced in some countries that the glimpse of abolishing it might create a huge cultural rift.In Africa, the reward is usually to gift the forefront special honours, and in this way, politicians accepting such honour and rewards are considered acceptable. As such some politician might take advantage of this tradition and render its value nil. They would ask for gifts and rewards for jobs. This type of corruption makes the society charnel and even worse is when the whole society indulges in corruption, thereby sledding not a ray of hope for a reestablishment of law and order. absence of institutional mechanismsIn a body politic where there are no institutions, either internal or external, to investigate into complaints related to corruption, the tendency of people practicing corrupt acts is relatively high. This is so since the chance of getting caught is minute. The absence of watchdog institutions overly minimizes the consequences if the offender is caught. Wisely, such institutions should be built. It will increase the republics economic growth since less fraudulous trades will be done. As such the arena will regain a better image in terminal figures of financial security. This will furthermore increase the Foreign Direct Investments of the area which will be the start of an unprecedented rise in wealth and status for the hoidenish.Absence of rules and regulations and lack of transparencyRules and regulations should endure omnipresent in an organization so that the employees can behave and conduct themselves in an confiscate and acceptable way. Such limitations allow everyone to be treated and judged fairly and equately.The enduringness of these rules depends on the way of communicating them to individuals so that they are implemented and followed. The armorial bearing ofa clear policy and rule, anda wide range of enforce rules and regulations and policiesmight help to decrease the level of corruption in an organization or even a country.On the other hand, the absence of transparency increases the risks of corrupt acts. Transparency, as such, means tasks and functions been conducted and are open for examination by the governance officers or the popular public. Also, the media must have the right of exemption of speech so that the media can inform citizens about any act of corruption been describe to it.Corruption is deterred by a transparent system as civil servants remain constantly vigilant. Therefore, strict rules create the business organization of been defame by the media if the act is reported. This can drastically decrease the rate of corruption in a country because every person cherishes most his status.Discretion and absence of accountabilityIn every system, there should be a person or an authority to take decisions. Such a person or authority has the freedom to act within real limits. Corruption can occur wher e public formalisedsHave immense authority, ar not accountable to anyone, andHave lust instead of the grey matter.An surroundings with more discretion and without accountability is more prone to be settle by corruption.Public leaders and civil servants should be accountable to the general public in a democratic country. This means that they should be able to answer to people for the action taken if a question is raise on the topic in question.Lack of powerful laws can cause corruption to flourish as people will be slaphappy and act as they want. Therefore accountability is definitely one of paths toward neutralizing corruption.Chapter 2 slide of corruption in mauritiusSeveral studies have been carried out during the last ten-spot about the opinions of Mauritians on the lore of corruption. The Research Institute Analysis carried a survey in 1998 by interviewing 500 people. The results obtained have been classified into 3 main categoriesThe Tolerance of Mauritian Towards the P erception of CorruptionIt has been concluded that Mauritians normally ache, or more specifically, favour corruption whenever they can benefit from it. Paradoxically, they are the first one to condemn acts of corruption.Thus, within 37% of managers interviewed within the private sector. Corruption is commonly accepted in businesses since it plays a vital situation in ensuring the success of the enterprise and thus output a indulgent profit.On the whole, 85% of the interviewed people agreed that they do not tolerate corruption while the remaining 15%confess that indeed corruption does affect their activities directly.In 2004, 58% of people questioned state they would report any case of corruption they witnessed. However 30% thought that in doing so they might create problems for themselves. The remaining 22% feared possible acts of vengeance.The Most deprave Sectors in MauritiusFrom the surveys carried out,The police sector and the National Transport Authority (NTA) have been cons idered as most modify in terms of awarding contracts to private enterprises.The politicians are the most cited among the most corrupted persons of the country.The general opinion of the public about the private sector is also pessimistic. jibe to a survey carried out by the ICAC in 2004,28% of people questioned bet that the private sector runs in a corrupt environment, while54% think that the private sector operates in a clean atmosphere.The Effectiveness of legal MeasuresIn 2004, an interview revealed that29.5% of people queried believed that laws against corruption are efficient,26% thought the opposite,20% considered that laws are efficient but are unfortunately not applied effectively,32.8% assumed that the power of the court as an institute is express and insignificant towards high dignitaries (the part of the general public did not grow University Education).On an international ground, The Transparency International Corruption Perception powerfulness has rewarded Maurit ius as followsChapter 3corruption and developmentCorruption has al slipway existed. During recent decades, however, corruption has bounteous both in terms of intensity and geographic extent. Since the 1970s, it has infiltrated every country in the world.After the end of the Cold War, it was expected that political and economical restrictions would somehow reduce this trend. People hoped that the process of democratization and openness, resulting from political pluralism and freedom of the press, should mobilize efforts to overcome corruption. Unfortunately, emergent democracies are still delicate and expect to find the duty of tackling with corruption very difficult.Nowadays, it is seen that weakened state structures, such asin appropriate legislations,powerlessness on the part of the judicial system to fight against corruption, andpursuit of easy money,altogether contribute to aggravating the situation. Such a state of affairs surely has an effect on those who are involved and co ncerned by development issues. As such corruption is one of the major obstacles in a countrys progress and its effects on development are disastrous.On analyzing the effects that corruption has on development, we open out that corruption adversely affects development in the following waysCorruption increases the costs of goods and services.Although there is 5% reduction in the profit margin, corruption levels of 10% to 20%, which is the price and will consequently, be paying(a) for through the national or foreign resources of the country. Thus, it is the national economy that suffers the consequences of an untenable surcharge on the goods or services bought. Since such operations are normally financed by bank loans or by foreign parties, through concessional loans, corruption indirectly increases the country debts.Corruption affects the quality of services supplied to the public.The corrupt person is tempted to accept a substandard quality of service which increases his individu al(prenominal) profit margin. Then, the complicity between the regimen and the contractors may result in corner-cutting with gaze to agreed quality standards so that the savings do may be shared out between the two parties.Corruption affects the conception of a project.In this section, we are referring to situations in which the real development priorities of a country are neglected in favour of operations which revert the greatest personal gain for the decision-makers. Corruption causes the Government to spend more on the construction of unwanted projects or on lower order coronations in radical rather than on social areas. In most corrupted countries, corrupt politicians tend to choose projects irrespective of their intrinsic economic factor but rather on the bribes and kickbacks that these projects offer which results in poor infrastructures confidential information to economic imbalance.Rise in the public burden.Due to corruption, some countries that acquire money to fi nance projects and are not able to satisfy their real needs will see their debt burden increase. The loss will be 100% if one views it in terms of the cost of the unproductive investment t the national economy.From the many researches we have carried out and investigated on, we have tack together out that political corruption is the main object of concern as far as development is affected. It is a fact that politicians are the one who control the whole development mechanism. This phenomenon is not present in every state but the moment its presence is confirmed, that state starts degrading. Political corruption takes place when decisions are made on the budget. This is the root of political corruption which accounts for a massive load of corruption across the world. As such, high rates of corruption divert resources away from their real functions and it also reduces the Government revenue. This decrease in income further decreases the resources available for public investment develop ment is eventually affected. High corruption rate is also associated with poor infrastructure bodies are not working at full efficiency thus decreasing output. So, when corrupt politicians influence the approval of an investment project, the rate of return, as calculated by the cost-benefit analysis, is no more the criterion for project selection. A compilation of corrupt decision as such often fails to generate the wanted economic growth.Further on, negligible economic growth halts any type of social and infrastructural development. Corruption leads to assess evasion and poor administration. In many cases, tax collection is much less than estimated financial commitmentsPensions, engage payments,Public debts,Salaries, andSubsidies.This was one of the major problems that Mauritius faced in the past divisions due to uneven governance from the various politicians in power. However, gradually politicians have become aware(p) of the danger they are going to face in the near future. As remedial measures, they have taken foresighted term effect measures to prevent any further misbalances to the economy. The positive results of these crucial but necessary measures can be perceived and yet many more are to come.Chapter 4corruption and inequalityCorruption and inequality are directly linked. There are two ways in which they are correlatedThe intensify of economic inequality due to corruption, andEconomic inequality as a factor of corruption.In other words, an increase in corruption due to economic inequality can produce additional drawbacks. Judicial corruption has also a very big hand in take economic inequality. The first example that can be taken is in terms of the tax system. Nowadays, due to corruption, we have a biased tax system where wealthy are favoured and become voluminouser and the poor are marginalized and remain poor. The result of this favouritism leads to a defective tax administration create an unprecedented increase in social inequality as the gap between the poor and the rich is maintained.Adding to this situation is the poor effective targeting of social programs which, due to corruption, are having a serious problem. Funds that are vatic to help in alleviating poverty are being shifted from trust pecuniary resource to reach powerful individuals. This is really going to increase inequality in society as the poor people will not be able to enjoy their merits while on the other hand the rich people will continuously play with money.Poor people are the only victim of acts of corruption. Hence an increase in the rate of the intelligence of corruption will cause an increase in poverty, causing the regression of a country and ultimately the downfall of the world. It is true that when you invest in corruption, there is always the uncertainty that you will get what you actually wanted. The rules constantly change. Thus if a poor person invests in a corrupt plan, then the powerful and wealthy individuals might easily turn th e tables and take all the profit. Therefore, inequality will always prevail amongst individuals as long as the barrier between the poor and the rich is not breached. complaisant trust also plays a fundamental role between equality and corruption. If politicians of one country will backup on trusting the race and vice-versa, then corruption will be totally eradicated. Rich and poor people will never be tagged. Thus, everyone will earn equal amount of money and eating the same quality and amount of food. However, it is all due to mans vile mind that social trust is gradually disappearance from the society. People tend to snatch others possessions and in trying to be like others, they simply crush the desires of others. This disease is due to social inequality and the mercenary(a) barrier between the poor and the rich.Chapter 5government measuresCorruption has become one of the most serious problems in Mauritius. In order to fight this scourge, the trail Governments, over time, ha ve taken several corrective measuresStrict work bench SystemObligationsguard dog BodyStrict Judiciary SystemWith enforce laws and regulations, people caught practicing corrupt acts are dealt with more severely. Through time, much legislation has failed in their task of rendering justice and controlling the rate of corruption. In a more optimistic point of view, several legislations have been modify in order to adopt a more realistic and righteous approach to criminal acts- corruption. They have permitted through the years to bring development in the society and to help people stay within their limits.Watchdog BodiesThe Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was established on the 1st April 2002 as the Prevention of Corruption Act (PoCA) 2002 was put into effect by official proclamations. The principal aim of the ICAC is to plan and implement the national strategy against corruption in the Republic of Mauritius. Its mission statement isWith the community, the ICAC is co mmitted to fight corruption through effective law enforcement, education and prevention to help keep Mauritius fair, just, stable and prosperous.The ICAC is an independent body and acts impartially. The ICAC investigates all allegations of corruption that are reported in respect of both the public and private sectors and then takes appropriate remedial measures. For instance, the ICAC and the MQI launched the second edition of the Best Anti-Corruption Framework 2008 at the Rajiv Gandhi information centre on Wednesday 7th May 2008. Its aim was to identify loopholes and weaknesses in enterprises that may give opportunities for corruption and initiate actions for fraud detection and prevention.In addition, the ICAC plays an important role in education whereby its goals areMake educators more concerned about imparting knowledgePromote good control educationEnhance professional and moral principles among teachersProvide strength and support to teachers to enable them to fight actively a gainst corruptionBoost up the cellular inclusion of anti-corruption education in the school curriculumObligationsThe Republic of Mauritius is growing day by day and in order to bring sustainable development, the Government is continuously making commitments with several high order organizationsThe United Nations convention Against Corruption,The SADC Protocol Against Corruption andThe African Union on Preventing and Combating Corruption among many others.The fundamental raison dtre of such obligations is to attract foreign investments to the country in order to have a positive economic growth and hence progress in the world.Chapter 6evaluation of measuresIn this section we will be dealing with a local case and explain how the case in question affected development and created inequality in society. Also, we will try to find out what more can be done in order to prevent such situations in the future.1Mr. Robert Rivalland was prosecuted in this year for being part of a plot which was to the detriment of oxygenise Mauritius. He was part of a money laundering case between 1982 and 1997, along with three other high officials of the atm Mauritius and The Rogers the case was withdrawn from the three other partners. Robert Rivalland was the only one accused of having corruptly diverted about Rs. 85 million. His lawyer, Mrs. Yamilla Moonshiram, declared that the case of his defendant was stronger compared to one of the three other accused. Mr. Rivalland was finally condemned.AnalysisDuring this case, Mr. Rivalland seemed to be quite silent, especially during the case hearing. This may be seen in two ways either he is rightfully innocent or he is really a culprit. Being part of the so called suspicious commission during 1982 and 1997 made it a hard flak catcher against his defense in Court. As such, his name was mentioned several times when one of his fellow partners was accused he was the one who approved the cheques which were diverted from the Air Mauritius accou nt.During the 15 years of conspiracy, the Air Mauritius suffered a colossal loss. The Rs. 85 million could have been used in the expansion of the airport. This would furthermore enable a more massive flow of tourists in and out of the country. Since tourism is one of the pillars of the economy of our country, the whole nation would have benefited to a much bigger extent. Moreover, the employees of Air Mauritius could have enjoyed a better salary which would have led to a high standard of living and increase their productivity at work.The plot created a great disturbance in the Mauritian economy. The employees of Air Mauritius were marginalized. They could not benefit from any rise in their salaries and this further change magnitude the gap between the rich and the poor in the society. The poor workers had to seek to satisfy their needs which created a rift between their wealthier colleagues. Consequently, this increased social inequality.aaaChapter 7recommendationsMauritius is tr ying hard to polish its image around the world. Among poverty eradication and literacy, corruption is yet a problem that the Mauritian Government is facing. Some of the measures that can be implemented are arrest the issue of acting against corruption under regular review.Collaborate with other countries and work together to devise strategies to counterattack corruption.Adopt the International economy of Conduct for Public officials.Hand over the power of a system to a Board of people rather to a single person. (Decisions that are voted by a Board are less doubtful compared to that made by a single person.)Abolish old and ineffective laws and establish new and stricter ones.Organize campaigns to both prevent and control corruption.Zero security deposit towards corrupt officials and high dignitaries (Through this measure, many high dignitaries were found to be implicated in corrupt acts in Zimbabwe- a member of the SADC. Since Mauritius forms part of this community, the same measur e can be implemented to combat corruption).Sensitising workers on the causes, trend and impact of corruptionInculcating ethics and moral values as early as from primary schools so that children understand the implications of corruption.conclusionIvan Pavlov rightly said that corruption is a conditioned-reflex action a persons past corrupt gains boosts up his corrupt endeavours. Due to the innumerable factors discussed above, corruption has in fact become a vulnerable stage from which a feeble mind cannot cease for long.Indeed, as several worldwide surveys have shown it, the scourge of corruption is a perpetual process that keeps on devouring a persons life. Once accustom to corrupt acts, it is nearly impossible for him to escape from the clutches of corruption.Nowadays, people of the higher hierarchy want to go ahead and earn even more money while on the other side, the poor remains pink-slipped and keeps on trying to meet the ends monthly. Both, corruption and inequality coexis t in society and in order to eliminate one, we need to eliminate the other they are mutually related. We should stop favouritism and start keeping doctrine in one another. Corruption will lead to nowhere while social trust will show the way to a country with a sustainable economy and hence a healthy population.We have, in the course of this project dealt with very resourceful information and have attempt to bring forth the slowly emerging plague of the society- corruption- and we have also tried to suggest some recommendations.At the end of this highly resourceful project, we have realised that corruption is nothing more than the fruit of humanness mind. We need to control it before it gets at arms length in the race of such a materialistic world. Facts and figures are the witnesses of its unprecedented rise. It is also a fact that people are becoming more aware of it but much remains to be done so as to eradicate corruption in not only Mauritius but in the whole world.AppendixTh e interview of Mr. Boodhoo, Chief Officer at the Corruption Prevention and Education Division on Monday 5th May 2008(10.00 a.m.)According to ICAC, how can corruption be defined?Corruption is an abuse of power or authority for personal gain.Now, according to the law and constitution of Mauritius, what is the description of corruption?PoCA defines corruption as an abuse of power in the public and private sector for personal gain.What do statistics say about the trend of corruption in the Mauritian society?Corruption cannot be measured. It is impossible to measure corruption. It is a secretive activity. Nothing is gained from surveys about corruption. Only the perception of corruption is measurable. However, this is not 100% efficient.What procedure does the ICAC adopt to treat corruption cases?The complaint is directed to the board of ICAC. The board refers the matter for investigation if required.In terms of national and international relationships, how does corruption affect our co untrys status?Investors will not be willing to invest if they perceive the country as corrupted. Knowing that for every business, bribes will be needed. Hence, there will be no Foreign Direct Investment.Laws and bills are still being voted in the Mauritian assembly. How far do you think that these measures are reliable and effective?We should know how far the laws are enforced. We should not only pass laws