What is Corruption? Part 2. | Context and Nuance

In the last post we got to a base definition of corruption for our common usage, 'the abuse of power for illicit gain.' Before we go deeper, look at examples, killing it or case studies, we wanted to introduce a few ideas that relate to the definitional debate, and look at some behaviours and terms that corruption is often associated with.

If you repeat an abuse of power often enough, it becomes institutional corruption. Not quite as catchy as the original, we'll work on it. / img: Brian Wertheim / Unsplash.

We are, to a point, looking at what isn't corruption. The term 'corruption' is often intentionally not used due to its definition not being entirely clear or it being an umbrella term. As mentioned in the last post, it might be referred to as malfeasance, dishonesty, misconduct or something similar. There are also words that might be linked to corruption or thought to be the same thing.

It is important to clarify what isn't corruption, or what might be correlated or connected in some form, to support common usage and overall understanding. The words greed, power and capitalism are a few that are connected. Below are a few statements with explanations that explore those connected terms and others.

You can be corrupt without power.

- Without the ability to control and influence certain outcomes (the power), then you cannot participate in a corrupt act. Power in this context can vary, and doesn't always have the same level of influence attached to it, i.e. a senior politician and a traffic warden both hold power of sorts that can be abused - they can both be bribed for example. A CEO doing business with criminals for financial gain, or shopkeeper overcharging for certain goods to make profit are also example of abusing power in a different context. We think that power must be held for a corrupt act to be initiated, but as mentioned, the dynamic of that power varies greatly.

- On the flip-side, you can be powerful, in the sense of position, influence and wealth but not be corrupt because of your moral standards, how you conduct yourself and utilise your influence.

Capitalism is corrupt.

- Capitalism as an economic system has been exploited by those in power to enrich themselves, their cronies and benefactors. But capitalism is just that, a system, one that can be used for good or bad outcomes for those directly participating in it and under its influence. The problem is that the capitalism we see in the world today was shaped by the few for their benefit, there was a lot of abuse of power and in many cases it remains that way. Hence, our experience of capitalism is that it is corrupt and those who operate in its sphere are easily corrupted. We can say then, that capitalism isn't an inherently corrupt system, but capitalism as we know is, can be, or has been, corrupted.

The corrupt are greedy.

- Greed is a common facet when thinking about corrupt activity, as it's about desire and selfishness. It can be a cause for the wealthy to pursue and gain more wealth/power. Greed could certainly cause corruption, or increase it, where someone with power wants things or has tasted illicit gain and wants more - their greed drives corruption. And then corruption breeds greed. We think that's what is known as a vicious circle.

The corrupt are greedy then. But you can be greedy and not corrupt, you might do everything in your power to gain wealth and capital but not abuse that power. You want the money, watches, houses, lambo's and 'rari's, go for it - this kind of greed is known more specifically as avarice. Avarice is ok with us to a point, don't break the law or abuse your power - and don't get too drippy.

Corruption is just for politicians.

- We touched on the CEO and shopkeeper above but most definitions from anticorruption and government organisations relate to abuse of political power, public office, and entrusted power. This is because the political arena is where we most often regularly see corruption scandals, and often where prevention efforts are focused. However, the truth is that corruption is everywhere and by focusing on one area, we miss others in which real people are suffering and struggling.

Corruption is always illegal.

- This is an interesting area that has been brought into the spotlight by various academics. If we take a simple approach, we can say that corruption is often present by default in otherwise legal systems, with no laws to guide it. For instance, when awarding government contracts, if the system has no check and balances, i.e. a fair and transparent process to award contracts, and is simply up to a few people who hold power. Then, there is a built in corruption, only when a scandal is brought to light is the situation addressed, if it never is then the system functions as it was designed. The system is not illegal, and is corrupt. Hence a kind of legal corruption exists and this is often what makes it so difficult to defeat corruption. Old systems and institutions with endemic corruption are tricky to change without political will and public desire.

Abusing power for private gain is always corruption

- In short, no it isn't. Say your dad (/parent/guardian) abuses his power by making you wash the car or mow the lawn for his gain - so he can chill. He's either being a lazy mug (who works all week to provide you with food and shelter (or not)), or he's teaching you life lessons and skills. In this (happily framed) example he is not causing any harm and the dynamic is obviously socially acceptable. Does that make us want to add to our common usage definition? No because the context is key, and we believe that when used in the correct context with sufficient nuance and explanation, it's pretty obvious what we mean by corruption. Yea you might be a son of a bitch and your dad might be an a-hole, but he's not corrupt. Well, not at home, he might be a dodgy politician or CEO though, so there you go.

We also cross over into the path of being morally corrupt, which might include dishonesty, lacking integrity, and corruption (on a personal level) as defined by us, but also might include perceived depraved or evil acts. The latter isn't what we are looking at in our definition or analysis of corruption.

The end is nigh

We hope that made sense, and will be useful to apply in context. This is an introduction for ideas that might be applied into a case study or example of a scandal that you might want to analyse. Each of these subjects may get a post of its own in future. Corruption is a complex and interesting subject that reaches into many areas of everyday life and the world we live in, if you didn't know, now you're getting to knowing.

Yours Superlatively,

Rotten&Co.

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