The international community has been paying increasing attention to corruption and how to control it. For one thing, international institutions, governments, donors, aid workers, and peacebuilders all realize that corruption has very high costs for society, but particularly in states emerging from conflict. Not only can corruption keep states in cycles of violence by funding armed groups and criminal networks, but it can also prevent the development of effective institutions of governance. When money and resources available to government are diverted by corrupt officials instead of being channeled for the benefit of citizens, the clock turns back on social and economic development. This, in turn, can create further instability. In these ways, corruption, governance, and conflict are all linked. But, corruption exists everywhere in some form and can be pervasive in some societies. Rooting it out is more difficult than it would seem.
What Is Corruption?
Almost everyone who studies it would agree that corruption is difficult to define and nearly impossible to measure. When a high-level government official steals millions of dollars for his/her own personal gain, it’s relatively easy to identify that as corruption. But, what if your neighbor gave preferential treatment to a friend or relative in her business dealings? Is that corruption? What if a parent made a donation to a school in order to prevent the expulsion of a child? What if you live in a conflict-ravaged country where food supply is limited and you pay the officials a little bit of money under the table to get extra rations to feed your hungry family? Corruption exists at many different levels. And, some would argue that a definition for corruption is impossible because it is a concept that is culturally determined and varies from one society to another. For example, gift-giving to officials may be expected in one country and prohibited by law in another. For the purpose of this guide, corruption involves the misuse of power by those who hold it—people who, in their official position, exploit the power with which they are entrusted by seeking private gain.
The private gain obtained by corrupt public officials, who have been entrusted with guiding and implementing public policy and service, is at the expense of both the common good and of those who don’t “cheat the system.” In this sense, corruption is widely viewed as an immoral practice and is increasingly condemned around the world. Even those compelled to participate in corrupt systems in order to survive are frequently fed up with the role that corruption may play in their daily lives. Corruption creates a system whereby money and connection determines who has access to public services and who receives favorable treatment. Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, put the cost of corruption succinctly in his Foreword to the 2004 United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Calling corruption an “insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies,” he added that it diverts funds intended for development, undermines the ability of governments to provide basic services, feeds inequalities and injustice, and discourages foreign aid investment.”1
These practices have particular repercussions in countries emerging from conflict because monies that are needed for development of, for example, roads, utilities, education, health care, and transportation, are diverted by greed and desire to survive and get ahead in a broken system.
