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Corruption in Developing Countries a Cultural Phenomenon
Introduction
Corruption is a pervading phenomenon across most developing countries. It is as a matter of fact, present in developed countries too. This essay tries to analyze the way corruption has penetrated societies in developing countries. The reason for building up such a level of corruption in these countries in most cases has been various parameters other than just their need for more money. There is also the possibility that culture had influenced public working and service. Most of the developing countries were erstwhile colonies that were plundered. The tax money squandered by the ruling class is not new to these societies. The expectation for a people-centered rule was not expected out of these people. Corruption has also influenced the way culture in these countries has evolved. Here we analyze the factors and how they have combined to influence corruption in developing countries.
Corruption and its reach
Most of the developing countries are replete with corruption issues unlike what it is in a developed country. Corruption has literally, entered every walk of life in the country. This includes a simple social measure that the government promotes to the large-scale projects that the government encourages for the overall development of the country. In all these cases, corruption has poked its head in. Corruption rankings of most of the developing countries are below 6.0 in the ranking scale released by Transparency International. Of course, the least has been just below 3.0 on the scale and these countries are either underdeveloped or developing countries (Times Staff, 2007).
Corruption is observed in most of the government-related operations of developing countries. Every measure that the government takes to reach the poor and the needy of the country is replete with corruption. This takes up different forms and states in most places. Implementing the rule of the law itself, in some cases is corrupt, making the judiciary also a signatory to such corruption in the country. The net result of such widespread corruption in most government agencies is that the day-to-day life of the people is affected. They presume corruption as a way of life and this has led to major changes in the lifestyle of the people and hence the culture of the people as well. Of course, whether the existing lifestyle and culture of the people brought in the corruption in the public life would remain a question.
Why is there corruption?
As Robert Rotberg (2004) says, the rule of the law in a country can be measured by the level of corruption in that country. Corruption starts occurring in a country when the rule of the law is not being implemented. No law in any country would sanctify corruption. The word corrupt is of Latin origin and means to destroy. Corruption is defined as a form of behavior that deviates from ethics, morality, tradition, law and civic virtue (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2001). There are many reasons cited by researchers for the reason for the increase in corruption. The major motivators are the disparity in wealth levels among people, the slackness in law and implementation of the law, the procedural loopholes, and to a great extent the culture in which the people live. In the 1970s research undertaken by Jagdish Bhagwati, Anne Krueger, and many others, it was found that corruption can occur where there is the availability of rent. Rents according to Paulo Mauro (Mar 1998), arise when there are controls and government interventions. This would bring about a large-scale possibility for the civil servants to make their money and allocate it at their discretion. This could be in allowing a work or trade restriction as well as in making the people follow specific rules and laws that are beneficial to the civil servant.
Rents also arise when government intervention is absent and when the civil servants are paid low salaries. It has been established by researchers that an improved corruption rating of a country has improved the overall performance of the country and the growth of the country (Mauro, 1996). Then, there is also the reason that an entrepreneur who wants to get some special favor done for him, would resort to corruption to get things done. This is valid for every person who is in the same state whether he is an entrepreneur or not. From a simple, need to make more money, the corruption transforms itself into misuse of position and then into a major impediment for the progress of the country.
There is also an economic counterargument to the impact of corruption. It has also been found that corruption would make government officials work harder and get around the bureaucratic impediments that abound in the path of an enterprise or investment. By taking a bribe, the official is committing himself to the successful execution of the project resulting in a swifter execution that otherwise would have got derailed. But that again brings into focus the social behavior of the people in the country and therefore, the culture of the people.
What is Culture?
Culture is defined by Banks, Banks, and McGee (1989) as, the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. Culture is the behavior of the people and their interpretations of the behaviors of other people. Culture, according to Damen (1987), is mankinds primary adaptive mechanism.
Culture is looked at as the way people behave in a society. And it is continuously evolving. Under both these conditions, it could be seen unless the culture changes or the culture is willing to accept certain shortfalls in performance; there is no way corruption could find a foothold. Culture also is the way by which one person interacts with the other in a society. Over some time, certain behavioral traits are laid into the cultural patterns of the society based on whatever is the accepted behavior. Changes in culture and influences are also noticed due to the impact of foreign cultures and practices. As Damen says, culture modifies itself to ensure that it helps the race to survive and adapt to the changing needs of society. Whether it is the Chinese women tying their feet or the Arab ladies wearing the burkha, the culture is an adaptive mechanism for their safety and the safety of society.
Culture and Corruption
In developing countries, corruption has altered the method of working. Huntington (1990) postulates several variables that influence corruption. Of these, the following having more bearing influence on social and cultural structures than the rest.
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Corruption tends to increase in a period of rapid growth and modernization. Both industrial and social growth tends to increase the amount of corruption that is happening in the country. Only if there are opportunities will there are corruption. And if opportunities are plenty, there is plenty of scopes to be corrupt. The growth in society is itself, a cultural change and not one of any other. Therefore, it is found that corruption is provided opportunities by cultural changes happening in the country (Expert Panel Survey Sep 2001). The changing equations in terms of wealth and power also influence the way work gets done in the government. With the increase in the social growth pace, the values of the society also get altered.
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Countries that have more social stratification would tend to be more feudalistic and the chances of corruption in such cases are low. This could be because there are fixed rules and laws that govern the interaction between each one of these feudalistic societies and their jobs are already defined in the culture of the society. This, therefore, leads to lesser corruption (Williams 1999). The opportunities for such corrupt behavior are also found to be less. If the culture of the society does not permit it, the chances that corruption would grow are pretty less.
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A country whose culture glorifies and promotes entrepreneurial skills would offer better returns to economic opportunities. The ratio, according to Huntington, between the political and economic opportunities should be in favor of economic opportunities. If the political opportunities provide better results then, people would enter politics with the sole aim of making money in the government. But that will not help the people of the society. In a developing country or an underdeveloped economy, the economic opportunities do not provide the kind of results that would be desired by people. Therefore, the possibility that there is more corruption is high. This again is a cultural offshoot since the respect for entrepreneurial skills is not a part of any development activity that a government could offer. Governments should offer good salaries but not great avenues to become corrupt.
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Foreign businesses seem to be greatly influencing corruption in any country. They also influence the culture of the local life. They tend to make the people in the government listen to them by using money as the prime motivator. The rules of the government are altered using this factor and that leads to large-scale corruption.
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Johnston (2006) says that a weak civil society is the major cause of corruption. The weakness in civil society is not due to any lack of law but due to cultural practices that exist in it. This would also mean that civil society is not in a position to ensure that institutions to deal with corruption exist. This will further deteriorate the situation oriented towards fighting corruption.
Analysis
All these factors add to the fact that culture and corruption have a close link. The developed countries are also not out of corruption completely and fully. Several cases of corruption are known every other day and the extent to which money is squandered is also large. In all these cases, it is found that there is a direct relationship between the opportunities and the culture that provides these opportunities. In a society that is stratified and has clearly defined jobs for every group of people, there is an inlaid anti-corruption practice. Every person has to carry out his or her job without any let. This would ensure that the corrupt practices are to a minimum. However, such a system would turn corrupt by suppressing one category of people and the other not doing justice over some time.
On the other hand, the social disparities and the inequality in wealth distribution also lead to corruption. Stratification of societies has been found to cause corruption when there is a disparity in wealth between these strata of society. It is the cultural practice that sets about the corruption ball rolling here in most of the developing countries where the difference in wealth is marked.
With lots of foreign direct investment happening in most of the developing countries, several foreign companies are opening a shop there (The World Bank, Jun 2000). This, in turn, leads them to request governments to make special concessions for them. In some cases, many of the developing countries play host to manufacturing facilities that are banned in developed countries. In these cases too, the companies resort to corrupt practices to get their way. This also influences the way the companies work and the changes in the culture of the society.
Most of the developing countries do not offer a better ratio of political to economic opportunities in favor of economic opportunities. This leads to people preferring governmental work and political power. More people get into politics to make money than to serve society or for a political career. This would lead to a large-scale depletion of cultural pragmatism and leads to more corruption in the society. In the case of developing countries, this is more pronounced and therefore, causes more corruption in these countries.
Finally, most of the developing economies display the characteristics of swift growth in their economic status. This, in turn, means that the government is keen on ensuring many new things happen in society and there is industrial growth of a high degree. This would mean that there are more opportunities for the government executives to become more corrupt (Marquette, 2001). Secondly, more governmental regulations are relaxed during such a growth period. This would provide the official and public servants the power to make decisions and provide permissions to industries at their discretion. This would lead to large-scale corruption during the liberal period of growth. The cultural change to go for rapid growth and to grow wealthy as a nation is a major cause for such changes and the outbreak of corruption.
Conclusion
The culture of any society plays an important role in the existing corrupt practices in that society. Whether it is the existing behavior of the society or a new change that has come into the culture of the developing nations, unless such a change and cultural practice sets in, it is not possible for corruption to pervade the society. Corruption is more a part of daily life in most of the developing countries for a varied number of reasons. This again is only due to the acceptance by the society that such corrupt practices as common and as something that can exist in the society. This, in turn, is a cultural change or an existing cultural norm. That is why corruption is looked at in most of the developing nations as a cultural phenomenon and something inherent in the culture of the society.
References
Banks, Banks & McGee, 1989. Multicultural education. Allyn & Bacon, Needham Heights, MA.
Damen L, 1987. Culture Learning: The Fifth dimension of the language class room. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2001 Ed.
Expert Panel Survey, 2001. Corruption in South Africa: Causes and conditions for corruption. Published in Monograph No. 65.
Huntington, S.P., 1990. Modernization and Corruption. In Heidenheimer et al., Political Corruption: A Handbook. Transaction Publishers. New Brunswick, N. J.
Johnston M, 2006. Syndromes of Corruption. eBook.
Marquette H, 2001. Corruption, democracy and the World Bank. Crime, law and social change, Vol 36, No.4, pp 395 407.
Paolo Mauro, 1996, The Effects of Corruption on Growth, Investment, and Government Expenditure, IMF Working Paper 96/98 (Washington: International Monetary Fund).
Paolo Mauro, 1998. Corruption: Causes, Consequences and Agenda for Further Research. Finance and Development.
Robert Rotberg, 2004. Strengthening Governance: Ranking countries would help. The Washington Quarterly. Vol 28:1, pp 71 81.
The World Bank, 2000. Helping countries combat corruption. Operational Core services: Poverty reduction and Economic Management Network.
Times Staff, 2007. Moldova among most corrupt nations says watchdog. Tiraspol Times.
Williams R, 1999. The New Politics of Corruption. Third World Quarterly. Vol 20, No.3, pp 487 489.
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