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Corruption



 
 
Corruption is essentially termed as an "impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle; depravity, decay, and/or an inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means, a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct, and/or an agency or influence that corrupts."

Corruption, when applied as a technical term, is a general concept describing any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duties it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system's original purpose.

Its terminological usage possesses connotations of evil
Evil

Evil, in many cultures, is a broad term used to describe intentional negative moral acts or thoughts that are cruel, unjust or selfish. Evil is usually good and evil, which describes acts that are kind, just or unselfish....
, malignance
Malignant

Malignant is a medical term used to describe a severe and progressively worsening disease. The term is most familiar as a description of cancer....
, sickness
Sickness

Sickness may refer to:*Illness*Disease*Sickness behaviorIt could also refer to:*The Sickness, the debut album by Disturbed*The Sickness , the 29th book in the Animorphs series...
, and loss of innocence
Innocence

Innocence is a term used to indicate a general lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. In a Criminal law, innocence refers to the lack of guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime....
 or purity
Purity

Purity is the absence of impurity in a substance.Purity may also refer to:* in Buddhism, Purity in Buddhism refers to a spiritual purity of character or essence....
.

Ethics and Corruption

Mike W.






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Quotations


Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist.

Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver."–Edmund Burke

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

Communism is the corruption of a dream of justice.

Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad.

Corrupted freemen are the worst of slaves.

Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.






Encyclopedia


Corruption is essentially termed as an "impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle; depravity, decay, and/or an inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means, a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct, and/or an agency or influence that corrupts."

Corruption, when applied as a technical term, is a general concept describing any organized, interdependent system in which part of the system is either not performing duties it was originally intended to, or performing them in an improper way, to the detriment of the system's original purpose.

Its terminological usage possesses connotations of evil
Evil

Evil, in many cultures, is a broad term used to describe intentional negative moral acts or thoughts that are cruel, unjust or selfish. Evil is usually good and evil, which describes acts that are kind, just or unselfish....
, malignance
Malignant

Malignant is a medical term used to describe a severe and progressively worsening disease. The term is most familiar as a description of cancer....
, sickness
Sickness

Sickness may refer to:*Illness*Disease*Sickness behaviorIt could also refer to:*The Sickness, the debut album by Disturbed*The Sickness , the 29th book in the Animorphs series...
, and loss of innocence
Innocence

Innocence is a term used to indicate a general lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. In a Criminal law, innocence refers to the lack of guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime....
 or purity
Purity

Purity is the absence of impurity in a substance.Purity may also refer to:* in Buddhism, Purity in Buddhism refers to a spiritual purity of character or essence....
.

Ethics and Corruption

Mike W. Peng describes corruption as the abuse of public power for private benefits, usually in the form of bribery. Also, corruption distorts the basics of competitions by misallocating resources and slowing economic development. Furthermore, according to Transparency International
Transparency International

Transparency International is an international non-governmental organization addressing corruption. This includes, but is not limited to, political corruption....
, which is headquarted in Berlin, Germany, and is probably the most influential anticorruption nongovernment organization (NGO), there is a high correlation between corruption and low economic development (Peng, 2008, pp.70).

Classifications

Specific types of corruption include:
  • Political corruption
    Political corruption

    Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption....
    , as the dysfunction of a political system or institution in which government officials, political officials or employees seek illegitimate personal gain through actions such as bribery
    Bribery

    Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the Offer and acceptance, Gift, Offer and acceptance, or Solicitation of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other pers...
    , extortion
    Extortion

    Extortion, outwresting, or exaction is a crime, which occurs, when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion....
    , cronyism
    Cronyism

    Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy....
    , nepotism
    Nepotism

    Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives or friends based upon that relationship, rather than on an objective evaluation of ability or suitability....
    , patronage
    Patronage

    Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege and often financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors....
    , graft
    Graft

    Graft may refer to:*Grafting, where the tissues of one plant are affixed to the tissues of another*Medical grafting, a surgical procedure to transplant tissue without a blood supply...
    , and embezzlement
    Embezzlement

    Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets, usually financial in nature, by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
    . Political corruption is a specific form of rent seeking
    Rent seeking

    In economics, rent seeking occurs when an individual, organization or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic and/or legal environment rather than by trade and production of wealth....
    , where access to politics is organized with limited transparency, limited competition and directed towards promoting narrow interests (rent seeking is not to be confused with property rental).
  • Corporate corruption
    Corporate crime

    In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation , or by individuals that may be identified with a corporation or other business entity ....
    , as the abuse of power by corporate managers against the shareholders or consumers.
  • Data corruption
    Data corruption

    Data corruption refers to errors in computer data that occur during transmission or retrieval, introducing unintended changes to the original data....
    , as an unintended change to data in storage or in transit.
  • Linguistic corruption, as the change in meaning to a language or a text introduced by cumulative errors in transcription
    Transcription (linguistics)

    Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hearing....
     as changes in the language speakers' comprehension
    Comprehension

    Comprehension has the following meanings:* In general usage, and more specifically in reference to education and psychology, it has roughly the same meaning as understanding....
    .
  • Putrefaction
    Putrefaction

    Putrefaction is the decomposition of animal proteins, especially by Anaerobic organism, described as putrefying bacteria. Decomposition is a more general process....
     or decomposition
    Decomposition

    Decomposition refers to the process by which tissues of dead organisms break down into simpler forms of matter. Such a breakdown of dead organisms is essential for new growth and development of living organisms because it recycles the finite chemical constituents and frees up the limited physical space in the biome....
     of recently living matter. This physical process is the primary model of the metaphorical meaning of corruption, so advanced states of corruption in, e.g. a political structure are said to result in their putrefaction.
  • Tahrif
    Tahrif

    Ta?rif is an Arabic term used by Muslims with regard to what Islamic tradition supposes Judaism and Christianity to have done to their Bible. Traditional Muslim scholars, based on Qur'anic and other traditions, maintain that Jews and Christians have changed the Word of God....
     is the corruption of the Bible according to Islamic doctrine.
  • (Corruption in the context of global business)Corruption is the abuse of public power for private benefits, usually in the form of bribery. Peng, Mike W. "Global Business" Ohio, USA: South-Western Cengage Learning. 2008/09.


See also

  • Corruption Perceptions Index
    Corruption Perceptions Index

    Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians"....
  • Global Integrity
    Global Integrity

    Global Integrity is an independent, nonprofit organization tracking governance and corruption trends around the world using local teams of researchers and journalists to monitor openness and accountability....
  • Transparency International
    Transparency International

    Transparency International is an international non-governmental organization addressing corruption. This includes, but is not limited to, political corruption....


External links

  • details anti-corruption efforts worldwide.