CORRUPTION & DEMOCRACY

Political Corruption and Democracy

Name of Writer

Name of InstitutionPolitical Corruption and Democracy

Political corruption has been upon the human race since the beginning of the political system. Throughout the years, corruption has plagued us like a disease with typical phases that are momentary before the start of democracy. For many years, political corruption has been considered by scholars with reference to the third world countries or the transition states. However, it is believed that political corruption is only limited and marginal since the democratic and the market forces in industrialized countries are normalized. Hence, it could be stated that increase in political corruption is inversely related to the spread of democracy. Nonetheless, the whole argument about political corruption being limited and marginalized in the developed countries had to be improved, since the financial and economical crisis have brought up many names that were linked to or were elected officials in western European countries including Italy, France, and Great Britain. Hence, the argument that the demise of political corruption is dependent upon the spread of democracy needs to be looked at again in a broader sense, so that the real characteristics and the factors that authorize or encourage political corruption within a democracy can be taken care of.

The two major characteristics that led to the increase in political corruption within a democratic state are the increasing amount of decisions undertaken by the public and not by the private sector, and administrative decentralization, which increases the number of centres that are involved in the decision making process. The increase in the number of welfare programs, the development of the public sector and the propagation of laws and regulations has played a vital role in the spread of political corruption. Additionally, the local and the municipal government is more prone to political corruption, since it is more involve in giving out private contracts and is not properly regulated or scrutinized by the central government (Blake & Martin, 2006, pp. 1-14).

Although, it is true that the spread in corruption is related directly to the expansion of state influence in economic life; nevertheless, it must be realized that a variety of measures are obtainable to negate the use of discretionary powers by the administration. Even after all this, corruption persists in the system, it is because of the hurdles and obstacles that are present in the system that prevent them from working properly. These barriers are the conditions that allow and promote people to partake in illegal activities in order to profit from the instances of corruption. The conditions behind the spread of corruption is fairly simple, corruption would increase if the profit or gain from indulging in illegal activities are higher than the risk associated in getting caught. These are the factors that act as a rationale for both corrupters and corrupted to take part in activities that increases the spread of corruption (Newell, 2008, pp. 1-7).

The risks associated with these corrupt and illegal activities consist of different sanctions both legal and administrative, and official ...