Political Corruption Essay -- Ethical Issues, Public Tolerance

Political corruption is a serious problem limiting development in emerging economies. Many scholars have identified corruption as the new enemy of democratization, blaming it for limiting political and socio-economic development of most developing nations (Bardhan P.,1997; Seligson M., 2002, Canache D. and Allison M., 2005). Although no one can really measure â€Å"corruption† due to its discrete nature and the different discourses defining it, citizen’s perception of corruption can give us an idea of its direction. Manny current approaches to the study of corruption take into consideration the importance of corruption perception indexes (Johnston 2005, Acemoglu D. and Robinson J. 2001, Canache D. and Allison M., 2005), and the availability of democratic channels such as regular popular elections, freedom of the press, civic society organizations, private property rights and individual rights (O’Donell G, 1994). Corruption index reports such as Transparency Inte rnational, LatinoBarometro, Freedom House) show extensive public awareness of mass corruption in developing countries (TI, 2011; LB 2009; FH 2010). Awareness of corruption does not seem to trigger any major demands to fight corruption seriously. The question leading this literature review is why citizens, after accurately perceiving corruption and perceiving it as wrong, fail to adjust their opinions of, or simply ignore, the leaders or democratic institutions that govern them? The question of public tolerance of political corruption has assessed from different approaches. Some scholars, for instance, focus on the direct link between citizens and organization/leaders based on clientelism, nepotism, cronyism, and other informal ways of wealth redistribution (Kurer, O. 1993, R... ...ing the social construction of the â€Å"sense of ownership† of public institutions can lead us to the understanding of civil society’s sense of entitlement accountability. We have seen, for instance, how reviving civil society’s sense of entitlement to the public wealth have driven leaders in and out of power. Most of the South American leftist regimes depend on this â€Å"sense† of ownership/entitlement to win election and to stay in power. However, few of these countries show serious interest in institutionalizing the citizen-government relationship, especially if it threatens their stay in government. Further research, nonetheless, should help us understand how remittance, language and expectation of leaving the country contribute to the creation of a passive/inactive civil society. Researchers of both corruption and democratic theory should consider these approaches. Political Corruption Essay -- Ethical Issues, Public Tolerance Political corruption is a serious problem limiting development in emerging economies. Many scholars have identified corruption as the new enemy of democratization, blaming it for limiting political and socio-economic development of most developing nations (Bardhan P.,1997; Seligson M., 2002, Canache D. and Allison M., 2005). Although no one can really measure â€Å"corruption† due to its discrete nature and the different discourses defining it, citizen’s perception of corruption can give us an idea of its direction. Manny current approaches to the study of corruption take into consideration the importance of corruption perception indexes (Johnston 2005, Acemoglu D. and Robinson J. 2001, Canache D. and Allison M., 2005), and the availability of democratic channels such as regular popular elections, freedom of the press, civic society organizations, private property rights and individual rights (O’Donell G, 1994). Corruption index reports such as Transparency Inte rnational, LatinoBarometro, Freedom House) show extensive public awareness of mass corruption in developing countries (TI, 2011; LB 2009; FH 2010). Awareness of corruption does not seem to trigger any major demands to fight corruption seriously. The question leading this literature review is why citizens, after accurately perceiving corruption and perceiving it as wrong, fail to adjust their opinions of, or simply ignore, the leaders or democratic institutions that govern them? The question of public tolerance of political corruption has assessed from different approaches. Some scholars, for instance, focus on the direct link between citizens and organization/leaders based on clientelism, nepotism, cronyism, and other informal ways of wealth redistribution (Kurer, O. 1993, R... ...ing the social construction of the â€Å"sense of ownership† of public institutions can lead us to the understanding of civil society’s sense of entitlement accountability. We have seen, for instance, how reviving civil society’s sense of entitlement to the public wealth have driven leaders in and out of power. Most of the South American leftist regimes depend on this â€Å"sense† of ownership/entitlement to win election and to stay in power. However, few of these countries show serious interest in institutionalizing the citizen-government relationship, especially if it threatens their stay in government. Further research, nonetheless, should help us understand how remittance, language and expectation of leaving the country contribute to the creation of a passive/inactive civil society. Researchers of both corruption and democratic theory should consider these approaches.