Preprint Spending Public Money
Mention the issue of corruption in government and most people will immediately think of bribes paid or received for the reward of contracts for goods and services, or - to use the technical term - of adjudication.
If this is indeed the most common form of public corruption, it may be questionable, but it is undoubtedly widespread and almost certainly the most publicized. Hardly a day passes without the revelation of another great scandal in public adjudication elsewhere in the world. It has been the cause of countless dismissals of senior civil servants and even of the collapse of entire governments.
It is a source of astronomical waste in public expenditure, estimated in some cases at almost 30% or more of total acquisition costs. Unfortunately, more is said about what is being done. Few activities raise greater temptation or offer more opportunities for corruption than public sector adjudication.
At any level of government and in any governmental organization it acquires goods and services, often in quantities and in monetary amounts that defy understanding. People who make purchases - both those who carry out the award process and those who approve the decisions - are spending the money of "other people."
OPM (other peoples money) is a standard menu. A la ca carte is always preferred, TANSTAAFL is only for the crowds. However, country differences do matter; the comparison of several transparency rankings clearly identifies locations of better practices, where the state and the market have a distinct division of 'labor', concerning political and public culture. Capitalism as an economic system can only work, if the civil society follows a clear-cut fiscal ethic and logic.
Even if the granting process is completely transparent, audited, and public, there is still the possibility that the design of the adjudication in biased towards an specific, pre-planed alternative that conforms to all the terms required. To eliminate this phenomenon, a non partisan, objective, technical cabinet would be needed. In other words, people without subjectivity, political or economic interests. That would be very hard to find. What we can hope for, is a higher degree of transparency in every process of public contracting, from idea to implementation. Maybe that can be unreachable, not even in Plato's republic
It seems practically impossible. The intricacies, bottlenecks and unwarranted charges in the contract negotiations process create loopholes for public servants to inflate contracts.
This could only be true in developed countries. even then a few are corrupt
Artur Victoria
You ask: Do you believe that all governement contracts are corruption free?
I'm answering no. Is there anyone in the world who says "yes"?
Are there people who behave in a public office in such a way that they refuse to take advantage (without harm for others) when the opportunity presented itself?
No, Most if not all government contracts in my country , Iraq, are full with corruption in all kinds. They can be good examples if corruption is taught as a separate university course. This corruption has been going on for a long time and there is not even a glimpse of hope that corruption will be terminated in the near future.
Certainly not! Most of the government contracts are full of corruption.
Your question: "Are all government contracts corruption free?"
Answere: No!
PS: probably my shortest post on the forum so far.
Thank you, dear Colleagues, for your spontaneous amswers. Of course there are big differences in the magnitude of corruption in every country, I assume. The question could be whether religion which normally has high claims in commandments incl. a strong ethical attitude could mititgate corruption in a religious (for instance islamic) country.
I do not believe there was or is much corruption in the UK of this type although it does occur from time to time. Certainly some countries I've lived in it has been both rabid and rampant. Whether religious countries are less corrupt, probably not and anyway, Hein, in such societies morality touches some things but not all things. In the UK, on other issues, many of the most corrupt I came across were religious-so perhaps not.
The government benefits purchased with bribes vary by type and size. Contracts and other benefits can be enormous (grand or wholesale corruption) or very small (petty or retail corruption), and the impact of misinterpretation of laws can be dramatic or minor. Grand corruption is often associated with international business transactions and usually involves politicians as well as bureaucrats. The bribery transaction may take place entirely outside the country. Petty corruption may be pervasive throughout the public sector if firms and individuals regularly experience it when they seek a license or a service from government. The bribes may be retained by individual recipients or pooled in an elaborate sharing arrangement. The sums involved in grand corruption may make newspaper headlines around the world, but the aggregate costs of petty corruption, in terms of both money and economic distortions, may be as great if not greater
We have 2 types of answers: The one type consists only of the answer no, and nothing more. This is an expression. The problem is so big and there is so little hope to overcome it, you don't have to talk about it, you just get annoyed. That is why somewhat different answers are important, such as "corruption is not everywhere" (Nina D.) and the call to be careful with using big terms (Arben S.)
The other type of answer is more differentiated, describing and justifying facts. One can be particularly grateful for this. I support the thesis that we, as educated academics, must force ourselves not to avoid this topic of corruption - I am a layman in this field of fighting corruption and have experienced little corruption in my immediate vicinity, but only experience major events from the media. But it is important to talk about it in the education that is part of my academic profession and also to be prepared to take a clear, but also differentiated stand on it in public. As educated people, it is necessary that we at least deal with this unpleasant topic mentally and not only react with fatalism. Because we are responsible for a young generation that we should educate in an attitude of recognising corruption, talking about it publicly and defending ourselves.
- Continuation: Although the answers given cover a wide range of aspects, a very significant reaction is to answer the question with "no" at the end of detailed explanations.
Djafar Z. has highlighted different forms and sizes of corruption, but also emphasized that the big deals that are now related to corruption and are mostly done internationally, despite all the many small cases of corruption that in the daily lives of many people harm the lives of individuals and cohabitation, are perhaps much worse.
Apparently, however, there are differences in corruption, as Stanley W. makes clear, in addition to traditional corruption, which also takes on new forms. In my view, Pankar T.'s reference to 'Nations' with adequate 'Democracy Index' may provide a transparent 'Governance' also goes further.
I see the first step that a society fighting corruption must take as being to be able to talk publicly about it in the media and to bring in personal experiences of people or countries in which corruption is much less widespread than in many regions such as India or Africa, as has been suggested here. In a democracy I would also stand up for a political party with an anti-corruption program whose electoral goal is to reduce the prevailing corrupt practices. And third, good education is important to control corruption in society and to create institutions that fight it. Liberal democracy in particular needs independent control bodies to combat corruption.
Oh, this can only be in the contrary in my country. Government contracts are corruption incorporated. It just to be economical with the truth to say that government contracts are corruption free.
It there exist control systems, absoutely independend from influence of the state or the parties then every community has the chance to get a goverment without big corruption.
Sadly, I think that all contracts are subject to biases. They are just different and at different levels. Such biases exist (friends, old school friends, family, politics, social clubs and groups of one description or another) in construction, printing, media and medicine. Perhaps it is impossible to eradicate in even its mildest, less troubling forms?
No I do not agree with the opinion that all contracts of the government are free from corruption especially the third world countries. On the contrary, they are full with all kinds of corruption.
No, not at all. Government contracts are corruption assured. It is corruption from the beginning of the proposal submission to the final recommendations.
Government contracts. Bribes can influence the government's choice of firms to supply goods, services, and works, as well as the terms of their contracts. Firms may bribe to win a contract or to ensure that contractual breaches are tolerated.
In every state that claims to be a democracy, there must be independent supervisory bodies that examine all treaties and balance sheets of state bodies and offices. In many cases, special audits are carried out by special investigators on special request. In Germany, the reports of the "Federal Audit Office" plays such role of examination. This institution examines the balance sheets and contracts of the government, the ministries and all relevant state authorities, are examined. Every year the published report is quoted by the media, which authority has made particularly problematic expenditures and in which projects was invested uselessly. I believe that this works quite well in Germany. State officials are obliged to work without corruption. They can be punished by the courts and dismissed if there is evidence of bribery. However, that is rare. What is important is that every person responsible in the state apparatus has an ethos that forbids them from being corrupt. Every company has internal control bodies, and the state needs them all the more.
No, government contracts are awarded with fat envelope (bribe).
Where states and governments have not yet protected themselves by independent control systems that uncover mismanagement and name the people responsible for it in public, they should be set up. Parties can make such demands the goal of their policies and can seek the approval of the electorate in the next elections. But if it is not wanted, by the majority, nothing will change. The problem will not be solved by itself or through prayer.
" All government contracts are corruption free" regarding this statement and onsidering the environment of Third World countries I can say that it's impossible.
It's really a dream for us.!!!!!!
Thanks.
It is very difficult to draw a line of demarcation for the corruption practices in the government & business areas .MAL practice may involve for certain categories of employees who are to abuse power for helping personal agency for carrying out their work for which such people receive commission ,or money for which after getting the success they make a practice for the corruption as such person have no norms ,no principle as they live as a mercy of their destiny but forgetting the fact that all days are not equal .
With this while reviewing my data for certain information , I came across a similar question which I desire to place before you for your perusal
It is an old time saying that power corrupt power & absolute power corrupt absolutely .It is in this line the person with power take undue advantage of his position of MAL practices to favor the person to give him the undue advantage by taking a bribe so to say corruption with this person & this cycle has been going on unless the Mal practicing found for his guilt .
This is my personal opinion
I don't agree with this idea if consider the contracts made by most governments in the middle east. Most of them are full with all kinds of corruption.
It is an important contribution to this discussion that it has been mentioned: States which have the claim to be liberal, democratic and equipped with institutions of controlling to prevent and to decline corruption nevertheless tolerate the influence of lobby groups, their influence should be seen as very strong, at all. To articulate and to assert interests of big groups and trusts is rather normal in Western countries. This kind of influence is part of a liberal system of economy, it is also observed by critical medias so that there are balances and control institutions. But this is not the really big corruption scene where things happens hidden, underhand and forbidden.
The Global Corruption Report 2005 finds that a lack of transparency in large-scale projects can have a devastating impact on economic development. “Corrupt contracting processes leave developing countries saddled with sub-standard infrastructure and excessive debt,” said Eigen today. Corruption raises the cost and lowers the quality of infrastructure. But the cost of corruption is also felt in lost lives. The damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes is magnified in places where inspectors have been bribed to ignore building and planning regulations. Corruption steers money away from health and education programmes towards large capital-intensive infrastructure projects. Corruption can also have disastrous environmental consequences
The government benefits purchased with bribes vary by type and size. Contracts and other benefits can be enormous (grand or wholesale corruption) or very small (petty or retail corruption), and the impact of misinterpretation of laws can be dramatic or minor. Grand corruption is often associated with international business transactions and usually involves politicians as well as bureaucrats. The bribery transaction may take place entirely outside the country. Petty corruption may be pervasive throughout the public sector if firms and individuals regularly experience it when they seek a license or a service from government. The bribes may be retained by individual recipients or pooled in an elaborate sharing arrangement. The sums involved in grand corruption may make newspaper headlines around the world, but the aggregate costs of petty corruption, in terms of both money and economic distortions, may be as great if not greater.
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