2. Session Objectives
By the end of this session participants will be able to:
Introduce the notion of corruption in different contexts;
Describe the types of corruption as well as different forms
in which corruption manifests itself;
Describe the different approaches to identify causes of
corruption from a political, economic, institutional and social
angle.
4. Interpretations of corruption
The subject has been approached from different angles:
Moral and ethical discussions on corrupt behaviours.
A strict legal definition anchored on criminalised activities.
A “government deficit” definition:
institutions & systems’ vulnerability to corruption.
A broader concept: Corruption is the “misuse of entrusted
power for private gain.”
5. Factors/determinants of corruption
Corruption is a continuously evolving phenomenon affected by
various factors/determinants:
Political
environment
Economic and
structural policies
Social and cultural
settings
Institutional and
organisational
structures
6. Common typologies of corruption
Grand corruption / Political corruption
• Misuse of political power for private gain
– e.g. preservation/strengthening of power, personal
enrichment.
• Large scale corruption at the highest levels of
government, usually at policy formation level.
• Common forms of grand/political corruption:
vote-buying; election-rigging; non-transparent/illegal
political campaign financing; abuse of public property;
biased decision-making for personal interest.
7. Common typologies of corruption
Bureaucratic corruption / Petty corruption
• In public administration or at the implementation end of the
policies; e.g. bribes and speed money.
• Political & Bureaucratic corruption can go hand-in-hand (no
clear separation between elected politicians and bureaucratic
officials).
• Everyday forms of corruption – citizens/businesses/officials
gain personally, beyond official duty, in the process of
delivering public services of various types.
Bureaucratic corruption, administrative corruption and petty
corruption = synonyms in anti-corruption literature.
8. Common typologies of corruption
Systemic/Endemic corruption
• Corruption is an integrated aspect of the major institutions and
processes of the state.
• Corruption can be so endemic that it may be unknown how to
contain it.
9. Causes and symptoms of corruption
Important Questions
Why is corruption perceived to be more widespread
in some countries than others?
Within a country, does corruption vary from one
locality to another?
Within the public sector, are certain government
agencies more corruption-prone?
10. Causes and symptoms of corruption
Multiple causes
Causes are
inter-related
and reinforce
one another
this generates
and perpetuates
corrupt practices
and networks.
11. Symptom or a cause?
Corruption is as much a symptom as a cause of
development challenges.
Symptom
Cause
Challenges to Human
Development
Corruption
14. Corruption by a single individual – e.g. embezzlement
Corruption usually involves 2 parties (giver & taker):
• Corrupter – Corrupted
Anti-corruption strategy
should address both sides.
Most common forms of corruption (2)
15. What is Anti-corruption?
Anti-corruption is a response to curb or minimize corruption
activities or risks.
People talk about anti-corruption to refer to activities that range
from policy decisions, investigation, prevention, awareness raising.
Anti-corruption goes beyond responding to the normative anti-
corruption framework to cover systematic, comprehensive and
multi-disciplinary measures aimed to tackle corruption, including
both preventive and enforcement measures.
Anti-Corruption is therefore multi-faceted, denoting ethical values,
law enforcement and crime while at the same time it’s an
underlying development issues through leakages of public
resources.
16. Key messages
There is no exhaustive or universal definition of corruption;
Corruption is a phenomenon that has evolved with human
history and is continuously influenced by political, economic,
social or cultural contexts;
There are different types of corruption (non-exhaustive):
political corruption, bureaucratic corruption, grand corruption, petty
corruption, systematic corruption, etc.
There are multiple causes and symptoms of corruption.
A solid analysis is needed to determine the immediate,
underlying and root causes;
There are different manifestations and forms of corruption
(non-exhaustive).
Editor's Notes
This session is a very basic starting point but important to generate a common understanding of the subject “corruption” before the scope is broadened on the issue of anti-corruption.
Certainly, you should use the preparation time prior to the mission to gather knowledge about the country context. However, UNCT and other participants in the training will have more detailed experience. Use their knowledge about the context. Depending on what they have to say – experience based, perception based contributions – you could make a first reference to the differences and highlight that this subject which is of relevance for analysis, planning and monitoring will be covered in a subsequent session.
There is no universal definition itself but there are criteria, principles and factors that help to understand and grasp the complex phenomenon. These will be introduce in the following slides.
The facilitator may want to decided to develop the exercise explained in the last slide of presentation Nr. 0 (Welcome and Introduction) at this point to make the session more interactive with participants. The group exercise to define corruption could be done either directly after the Welcome and Introduction (so before the start of presentation 1) or at this point after presentation of the sessions objectives.
The notion of corruption is evolving over time. For instance, initial focus on the public sector has been broadened to include also cases of private sector corruption.
The different attempts to define corruption have their own limitation.
The definition of “misuse of entrusted power for private gain” might not sufficiently address cases of supposed influence. Also the supply side of corruption is only covered indirectly. A citizen who bribes a police officer in order to avoid a parking ticket induces that his counterpart, the police officer misuses the power entrusted in him for private gain. Both sides include corrupt behaviour.
During the negotiations of UNCAC, States parties decided to define the most common forms of corrupt behaviour rather than corruption itself. This leaves flexibility in case new forms emerge, if cases would like to go beyond the standard of the Convention or if the concept is broadened. Furthermore, the Convention does not only look at criminalised activities. Amongst other areas UNCAC also includes a chapter on prevention which sets out obligations in the area of governance (procurement, human resource management). Details will be highlighted in session 4.
Political environment - Aspect of hybrid systems, bargaining power and concentration of power within the society and political sphere etc.
Could we include more examples?
Highlight also private sector corruption
Institutional and organisational – Existence of clear rules and regulations (gaps in regulations can be as destructive as multiple overlapping regulations), conflict of interest regulations, oversight mechanisms, processes, criminal and administrative sanctions in cases of corruption etc.
Example of these societies and examples of ‘gifts’ can be useful to illustrate this issue.
Social and cultural setting – Traditional social support structures which are competing with the administration/government
However, despite of cultural diversities, the argument that corruption is a cultural phenomenon can be countered with the argument that States across the globe have found common ground and reached the mutual agreement that corruption needs to be prevented and criminalised.
The clustering into different typologies can help to unpack the “block” of corruption. The typologies are not a mere academic approach but help to make the subject less abstract, distinguishable, manageable.
The typologies are not exclusive. Depending on the country situation various types can exist in parallel. Variations per sector are also possible. For the process of programming in is helpful to break the notion of corruption down into different portions (e.g. types and forms) which might need to be addressed by different sets of measures.
The term grand/political corruption does not mean that this form does not include the private sector. Cases can involve big corporations which might or might not be owned by public officials through a construct of affiliated companies.
Possible questions to interact with participants.
It might be necessary and useful to highlight the aspect of perception and factors which might influence perception (vs evidence based). The subject will be discussed in more detail in the session on planning as well as monitoring.
This and the following 3 slides are optional or can be combined into one slide. Session 2 also offers more possibility to discuss this subject for various sectors.
Corruption undermines rule of law and public trust. It is a major challenge to strength. en democratic values
Highlight that the presented forms are non-exhaustive. Variations are possible depending on national legislation and local language.
UNCAC is formulated in a way which captures the most common internationally agreed forms of corruption (including the ones presented here).
Difference of type and form? The form is the specific manifestation of corruption – the act/corrupt practice itself.
The classification by typology is more analytical (e.g. relevance in country analysis) and refers to the level at which corrupt acts take place and in which frequency.
Note: A glossary is comprised in the resource guide be prepare to explain and define each form of corruption
Depending on available time, you could also shortly embark on the subject of anti-corruption. This might help to bring the aspect of corruption out of the criminal offence corner which often leaves corruption as a topic confined in governance and justice programmes
