...Does the United States present a Public Administrational model for the rest of the world for avoiding corruption? “Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of human life, and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish. This evil phenomenon is found in all countries… but it is in the developing world that its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a Government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic under-performance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development.” Koffi Anan, foreword, United Nations Convention against Corruption, 2003. When Democracy and central governance was formed in ancient Greece, it was for the very purpose of preventing the powerful few putting their needs above those of the masses they ruled – after all ‘Democracy’, stems from the Greek demos and kratia literally meaning the power of the people. For peoples familiar only with autocracies and hereditary monarchies, this was a radical notion. Why then, in some modern democracies, has the word government come to be almost synonymous with corruption? Corruption in government is...
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...Political corruption, as been defined by the World Banks, is the abuse of public office for personal or private gain (worldbank.org 1). This is definition is both objective and sufficiently enough to describe and to summarize all types of political corruptions that are happening all around the world. The keyword is private gain which include monetary or non-monetary benefits that the officer will receive whenever he or she misuse his or her power to disturb the competitive advantage of the free market system. Political corruption exists in various ways such as bribery, theft, bureaucratic corruption, system corruption and many more, which often executes in the most profound but complex ways. The causes of corruption is hard to simplify since political corruption always have deeply rooted in a region’s policies, bureaucracies, systems and not surprisingly history. However, the costs of it can be easily identify by looking at the most of the time below-par performance of both public and private sector. This happens when government interfere when they do not need to, therefore undermine implementation of both public policies and free market system. By the standard of irrefutable of a great nation, who can believe that the great nation of United States of America is corrupt? There sure have been couples of financial scandal in the past but there have never been a time where United States senator or other political officers to be involved in side dealing, vote-trading, log rolling...
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...June 17, 2016 @ 3:30 pm (EC Time) (15 marks). Question: Evaluate whether the Westminster model system of government adopted by English speaking Caribbean countries accommodates corruption Graded Discussion 2 by Sophia De La Rosa Williams - Wednesday, 15 June 2016, 9:05 AM Westminster system of Government can be defined as a democratic,parliamentary system of Government modelled after that of the United Kingdom system , as used in the Palace of Westminster (the Parliament of the United Kingdom).This system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature.It is used in most commonwealth nations.Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand,petty and political,depending on the on the amount of money, lost and the sector where it occurs.According to Arnold Heidenheimer corruption is "perversion or destruction of integrity in the discharge of public duties by bribery or favour".I think it is safe to say that corruption and the Westminster system go hand in hand, the Westminster system has an inbuilt lack of checks and balances,this system is also based on majority rule, which is the rule of first pass the post method of election.In Trinidad and Tobago the use of ones office as a bargaining tool is becoming more apparent each day,we have the Housing Development Cooperation (HDC),this ministry seems to be a strong hold for corruption and it has nothing to do with the ruling party because the opposition is...
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...Corruption in the Government and Politics Abstract Political and government corruption has been a big problem in America for a long time. After careful research and investigating, corruption has a way of splitting a country. Corruption in government and political corrupt seems to go hand-in-hand. In America corruption has been an issue at the highest level of government which starts at the executive level of the Presidency. Over the years corruption has reared its head in other areas of our government from the President throughout Congress and even into our state and local level government. Introduction Throughout the history of the United States of America corruption in government has been an issue. Corruption in government has been an ongoing problem from the beginning of our government. Corruption dates back to the conception of our Constitution of the United States. The constitution was created and delivered in the year 1787. It was the creation of hope that this document would set forth some rules and regulations for our country as well as the citizens of this great nation to follow. It included our rights as citizens and the guarantee of having a government to carry out the will of the people. Government and political corruption was an issue even for the framers of our constitution. Before the final draft of our constitution, the document was revised several times before it was presented. The idea was that by creating the constitution it would...
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...Corruption in Leadership: Public Service and Government Cynthia Klecha Abstract Corruption throughout the world is extensive. Corruption is defined as the twisting of integrity. A corrupt individual is an opponent of the truth; their virtues and ethics are deficient. In the United States, people in all positions of private district, public assistance, and government bureaus have been entangled in varieties of corruption. Corruption crimes include bribes, insider trading, patronage, embezzlement, electoral fraud, kickbacks, unholy alliances, conflicts of interest and several others. Corruption is a weapon that demoralizes the credibility of public institutions. It attacks the morality of justice and damages society. Effective law enforcement is essential to corroborate anti-corruption efforts. Law enforcement agencies are constructing anti-corruption teams to detect and punish any public or government official, along with any public servant who violates corruption laws. Introduction Corruption throughout the world is extensive. Corruption is defined as the twisting of integrity. A corrupt individual is an opponent of the truth; their virtues and ethics are deficient. Corruption is a weapon that demoralizes the credibility of public institutions. Corruption attacks the morality of justice and damages society. Corruption crimes include bribes, insider trading, patronage, embezzlement...
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...dictionary, corruption is defined as “dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery” or “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. There are many ways which one may define corruption, as it is a very broad topic open to interpretation. Corruption is different from state to state, country to country. Corruption can be split into separate categories including grand, petty, and political. These categories vary greatly depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs (Shah 4). Grand corruption generally refers to acts committed at the highest level of government that usually distort policies and the general functioning of the state. This enables leaders to benefit greatly at the expense of the public good. On the other hand, petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by lower...
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...Democracy Introduction Illicit drug trade between Mexico and the United States, estimated between $17 billion and $38 billion a year in 2009 by the Drug Intelligence Center, has a long and storied past. Cartels operated with relative impunity from government prosecution during the seventy year reign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, (PRI). The movement from an authoritarian government system of the PRI to the liberal democracy initiated by the election victory of the National Action Party, (PAN), candidate, Vicente Fox, in 2000, disrupted the status quo. Election gains by PAN Representatives disrupted long standing agreements between the cartels and government officials which led to the increased violence that exists today. This paper will explore the history of the relationship between the cartels and the PRI. The effect of the increased violence from the cartels inhibits the efforts of PAN party officials to establish a lasting democracy. Literature Review Research shows the three distinct stages in the development of a cohesive relationship between drug cartels and government in Mexico and identifies the political and economic conditions that have allowed the drug trade to thrive. Comparing Mexico with Columbia, another narcotics state, provides an additional case study on the subject matter and highlights actions utilized successfully. A review of the current political and military efforts to curtail corruption within the government provides a point of reference to facilitate...
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...National Differences in Political Economy Learning objectives • Understand how the political systems of countries differ. • Understand how the economic systems of countries differ. • Understand how the legal systems of countries differ. • Be able to explain what determines the level of economic development of a nation. • Discuss the macro-political and economic changes taking place worldwide. • Describe how transition economies are moving towards market based systems. • Articulate the implications for management practice of national differences in political economy. This chapter discusses differences in national political, economic, and legal systems, highlighting the ways in which managers in global settings need to be sensitive to these differences. Political differences are described along two dimensions: collectivist vs. individualist and democratic vs. totalitarian. Economic systems are explored in terms of market characteristics: market economies, command economies, and mixed economies. Legal systems are discussed in terms of the protections they offer for business: intellectual property, product safety, liability and contracts. The opening case explores the political and economic situation in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998. The closing case describes the challenges facing Indonesia, a vast country populated mainly by Muslims that stretches over 17,000 islands. Indonesia...
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...groups, influence peddling from local and national government representatives – all these are scenarios that Bulgarian citizen hear and read about in Bulgarian media day after day. That is why when in 2005 Dogan said those words, Bulgarian society wasn’t shock by their content; it was no news to us. Actually, the only shock from these words was from the cynicism and the sense of impunity with which a party leader would talk before television cameras. Overall, Bulgarian society is rather used to the concept of corruption. Bulgaria has been ranked for years among the top in the world in terms of corruption (Mulcahy, 2012). What is peculiar, however, is that whenever a corruption scandal blows up in Bulgaria, the coverage that it gets uses the terms corruption, lobbying, and influence peddling interchangeably, as synonyms, without paying tribute to the fact that each one of them in reality represents a rather different activity. Could this be due to the fact that corruption and lobbying in Bulgaria are one and...
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...Corruption in Nigeria: A New Paradigm for Effective Control Written by Victor E. Dike Published on 30 November -0001 Created on 18 November 2003 • Print • Email Posted by Victor E. Dike in Guest Articles on November 18, 20030 Comments | inShare Causes of Corruption The causes of corruption are myriad, and they have political and cultural variables. Some studies point to a link between ‘corruption and social diversity, ethno-linguistic fractionalization, and the proportions of country’s population adhering to different religious traditions’ (Lipset and Lenz, 2000). Yet, other studies note that corruption is widespread in most non-democratic countries and particularly in countries that have been branded ‘neo-patrimonial,’ ‘kleptocratic’ and ‘prebendal’ (Hope, et. al (eds.) 2000; Lewis, 1996; also see NORAD 2000). Thus the political system and the culture of a society could make the citizens more prone to corrupt activities. Recently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had to relieve some of its officials of their posts recently because they were corrupt. And it was not too long ago that all the commissioners of the European Union (EU) resigned because they, too, were found to be corrupt beyond acceptable limits. And quite recently, the Enron Corporation (energy giant) and World-Com (a telecommunication company) in the United States were perceived corrupt because they ‘manipulated their balanced sheets, profit and loss account and tax liabilities.’...
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...New Factory Darlene Richardson Global Business Management Jason Britt South University Online October 6, 2015 Opening a New Factory Differences in the Political Economies During the cold war the United States had several rivals which included Chile. Whereas, in Honduras the United States bases were provided so that Nicaraguan rebels could be funded and trained by the U.S. Mexico has never been a major confliction but there have never tried to be a key player when it comes to be a go between with the other nations of Latin America. Recently, the countries of Honduras, Mexico and Chile have become encouraging for the business industry from the U.S. because the political environment has changed. Authorities from the rightwing have lobbied for closer relations with the U.S. Because of such relations it has caused Mexico to become the third largest trading associate of the U. S. However, Mexico and Honduras are dealing with a high crime rate when compared to Chile and Honduras and Mexico have had cases of political intimidation (Kingstone, 2013). The Cultural Barriers Tradition and family values are highly regarded in the Mexican culture. For example, working outside the home in a commercial organization is not as important to women then working in their homes. The children remain at home longer then in the U.S particularly the families that have middle and high incomes. The culture in Honduras has been integrated...
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...These are some top 10 tips for doing business in Mexico: 1) In Mexico, personal relationships are the heart of most business actions. Take time to grow strong and lasting relationships. 2) Even though the impact of foreign multinational corporation (MNC) cannot be disregarded, most indigenous Mexican companies will be hierarchical in structure. 3) People from the USA are `North America` rather than `American`. 4) Key decisions are made by small number of people at the top of the ranking. Ensure that you are dealing with the perfect people. 5) make sure that you send people of the right level of seniority to deal with Mexican colleagues. Do not insult people by sending your subordinate colleagues to work with older, more superior Mexican managers. 6) Mexican managers are tend to be instructional and presume to give direct orders to subordinates. 7) As in many hierarchical cultures, the manager subordinate relationship is a reciprocal one. In exchange for loyalty, the bosses take personal interest in the well-being of subordinates. 8) Please, try not to condemn other openly in meetings as this could be construed as a discredit and have a severe bad long-term impact on your relationship in Mexico. 9) Do not be astonished if standard of punctuality do not meet your expectations. Time is a commodity and begin and finish times should be viewed as estimates 10) Agendas are not always utilized in meetings and if they are available, it will not always...
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...Forms of States, Governance, and Regimes: Reconceptualizing the Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa Prof Tom Lodge 16th of March 2015 Introduction In this review essay I will focus on arguments imposed by Staffan I. Lindberg, in his article Forms of States, Governance, and Regimes: Reconceptualizing the Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa. For the purpose of this essay I have selected two African countries (Ghana and the Republic of South Africa) that belong to most developed ones, in terms of their ability to accomplish the process of democratization. If we try to apply Lindberg’s three structural layers system to the chosen states we have to follow the structure of his method. In this regard, firstly we need to identify processes which will inevitably lead to democratization. In such a state we should expect a gradual change in the state form, from capstonian to more penetrative form of state, as Lindberg suggests. To do so we need to identify in which ways and areas is state penetrating society. 1. Forms of States According to Lindberg, there are two most common approaches to the study of African transformation processes. First theory is based on structural determinants of democratization, the second is underlying the importance of actor- oriented analyses. Lindberg distinguishes three structural layers of the state, on the basis of which we can identify the democratization trends in African States. First layer is form of state, which is...
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...Mexican Drug Wars Today Mexico and it citizens are in the middle of a major battle zone between powerful drug cartel who are going to extreme measures to claim their territories and gain more power. Mexican government have stated that their primary focus is on dismantling the powerful drug cartels, however they need to begin by doing internal cleaning within their authorities and politicians in order to be able to accomplish this. There are many factors that have gone into the drug cartels evolving into what they are today, but there is one that is above the rest and that is government corruption. The lack of authority and poor management in the Mexican government is the primary reason the cartels strength & control has grown to where it is today. The war on drugs in Mexico begin in Dec 2006, when their formal president Felipe Calderon ordered the federal police and army units to go out and battle the cartels directly by taking down high value leaders. Not only did this strategy fail, some critics say it made matters worse. The cartels begin escalating their violence in order to counteract the aggressive strategy of the government. With so many deaths associated to the drug trade and the fight for supremacy among the cartels in Mexico, going head to head with the cartels proved to be the wrong decision. With the Mexican government sending thousands of troops and federal police to contest this, it has only served to increase the death toll across Mexico. There have been...
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...overall economic standing, policy or reforms, political, social, and cultural conditions that a country displays. These factors can be measured in different ways such as the GDP, population, history, and various sources. In this paper, I will examine the economic structure of six countries and emphasize factors that contribute to the standard of living. Sweden Sweden is the world's 27th freest economy. According to the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom (IEF), it has an economy that is 70.4% free. Services, industry, and agriculture account for 59.8%, 38%, and 2.8% of GDP (World Factbook). It relies heavily on international trade, accounting for more than 50% of GDP. Main exports include paper products, machinery and transport equipment, and chemicals. The population is 9 million with a GDP of about $308.9 billion. Citizens are provided with a broad spectrum of public services and social welfare benefits that guarantee a minimum living standard and all residents are covered by national health insurance (Soldenberg). It is known to have one of the highest living standards in the world. Factors affecting economic freedom and living: 1. The ethics and adherence to the system in Sweden is very favorable to Swedes. The government is a socialist government. Judging by its social welfare benefits, the well-being of the people is tremendously considered in the system. Swedes are very pleased and very strongly support the welfare state (Sodenberg). Elections elections are held...
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