The nature of corruption

Professor of Cornell University Kaushik Basik writes in Project Syndicate about the causes of corruption and what needs to be done to overcome it:

“One of the results of the start of a special military operation in Ukraine is that the scale of Putin's corruption has increased so much that it has become a global problem whose consequences are felt in Europe, Africa, Asia and the American continent. This is normal to lay guilt for what happened on political leaders who contributed to such a development of events, but, however, not very productive. In order to eradicate kumovism, we must better understand the mechanisms and motivation that pushing politicians to go expensive nepotism and greater corruption.

The history of Indonesia gives a good example of dynamics, which encourages politicians to make a choice in favor of kumes. When the dictator Suharto received power after the anti-communist coup supported by the Americans in the mid-1960s, he promised to put an end to corruption, which grew during the reign of his predecessor, Sukaro. However, the Suharto regime was no different from the regime of his predecessor, who supported the oligarchs and pursued a strict policy. Similarly, Putin attacked the oligarchs, who flourished under the rule of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, but then simply put his friends in their place.

<...> In countries with prosperous corruption, the leaders always have enough who to suspect of corruption. However, <...> excessive measures to combat corruption can only aggravate the problem. The logic here is simple. Having come to power with the anti -corruption program, many political leaders understand that if they fight corruption and pursue everyone in a row, they risk losing supporters. Therefore, if, of course, the leader is not a person of high moral virtues, for him the best way to overcome corruption is to pursue political opponents and their supporters, while protecting his allies and proxies. The level of corruption among rivals may really decrease due to excessive control by the authorities, but it will grow among friends and allies, who will soon understand that nothing threatens them. The growth of the overall level of corruption and kumovism depends on changes in the dynamics of corruption practices among two groups ( friends and opponents - Polit.ru )

To prevent such a development of events, the most important thing for the government is to create independent institutions endowed with legal powers to combat corruption schemes. The Singapore Bureau for the investigation of corruption practices, which was founded in 1952, is the best example of the advantages that the State Agency, endowed with the necessary autonomy for the investigation of cases in the interests of society. Although the political system of Singapore has a number of serious flaws, it managed to achieve significant success in the fight against corruption. ”