Many people think that political corruption is axiomatic because all politicians are corrupt. This conception is false because there was in living memory a Prime Minister of Britain who could not be corrupted. She had to be dismissed by her enemies on charges of bigotry, hard hotheadedness and stubbornness. There are also records of an uncorrupted politician in ancient Greece.
There are many interesting books on the topic of how politicians become corrupted. Some start off as primary school teachers, pastors or trade union leaders and within a decade find themselves living it up on the world stage quite oblivious of the sufferings of their countrymen.
It is something of a tradition for writers to refer sarcastically to banana republics and basket cases usually situated in Africa or South America. Similarly they may be tempted to pontificate about human rights abuses in China. However the time may be coming round for books to be written on the ways in which corruption festers quietly behind enthusiastic American rallies and European elections.
Hypocrisy may be seen as a sort of soft corruption that is immoral because it is dishonest and insincere. For example, a country that openly criticizes other countries for human rights abuses but overlooks these abuses when it comes to convenient arms deal is hypocritical. Hypocrisy may not result in violence or death but it is nevertheless a sort of slithery moral slime that rots the very fabric of power in a country.
Bribery is closely associated with hypocrisy but is not quite as sinister since it does not involve self deception, but rather blatant dishonesty. A spectacular instance of bribery took place in South Africa shortly after a 'free and fair' democratic election which brought former 'freedom fighters' to power in a blaze of publicity. With straight faces the Press informed the public that the country needed fleets of naval craft, submarines, aircraft and other military hardware even though the country had no discernible enemies. Behind this spectacular fraud were bribes paid to politicians by European firms.
The role of the Press in combating political corruption is the subject of books written by those with inside knowledge. It is the task of investigative journalists to expose corruption to public scrutiny and that has been admirably done in many instances, for example when the shenanigans of Richard Nixon were exposed in America. However, problems in the process arise after corruption has been exposed because the self interest of journalism can become a sort of political issue in itself as journalist begin to wield power and find themselves subject to the same sort of temptations that politicians experience.
Collusion between politicians and the print media has been a feature of the world for most of the twentieth century but the situation in the early twenty-first century is changing rapidly. Suddenly it is becoming apparent that a conspiracy of silence has shielded politicians who have hobnobbed with vicious dictators, `allowing them to get away away with murder, figuratively and literally. As the paper based press fades away it is replaced by TV stations which is closer to the public so that lies and omissions are easier for the public to detect.
In the new world of the twenty first century political corruption will have to take new forms because old tricks are under public scrutiny as they have never been before. New e books and online publishing resources allow more texts to be published without government or editorial censorship. In the early years of the century some old scoundrels have already been found out and ousted. This must be good for the planet.
There are many interesting books on the topic of how politicians become corrupted. Some start off as primary school teachers, pastors or trade union leaders and within a decade find themselves living it up on the world stage quite oblivious of the sufferings of their countrymen.
It is something of a tradition for writers to refer sarcastically to banana republics and basket cases usually situated in Africa or South America. Similarly they may be tempted to pontificate about human rights abuses in China. However the time may be coming round for books to be written on the ways in which corruption festers quietly behind enthusiastic American rallies and European elections.
Hypocrisy may be seen as a sort of soft corruption that is immoral because it is dishonest and insincere. For example, a country that openly criticizes other countries for human rights abuses but overlooks these abuses when it comes to convenient arms deal is hypocritical. Hypocrisy may not result in violence or death but it is nevertheless a sort of slithery moral slime that rots the very fabric of power in a country.
Bribery is closely associated with hypocrisy but is not quite as sinister since it does not involve self deception, but rather blatant dishonesty. A spectacular instance of bribery took place in South Africa shortly after a 'free and fair' democratic election which brought former 'freedom fighters' to power in a blaze of publicity. With straight faces the Press informed the public that the country needed fleets of naval craft, submarines, aircraft and other military hardware even though the country had no discernible enemies. Behind this spectacular fraud were bribes paid to politicians by European firms.
The role of the Press in combating political corruption is the subject of books written by those with inside knowledge. It is the task of investigative journalists to expose corruption to public scrutiny and that has been admirably done in many instances, for example when the shenanigans of Richard Nixon were exposed in America. However, problems in the process arise after corruption has been exposed because the self interest of journalism can become a sort of political issue in itself as journalist begin to wield power and find themselves subject to the same sort of temptations that politicians experience.
Collusion between politicians and the print media has been a feature of the world for most of the twentieth century but the situation in the early twenty-first century is changing rapidly. Suddenly it is becoming apparent that a conspiracy of silence has shielded politicians who have hobnobbed with vicious dictators, `allowing them to get away away with murder, figuratively and literally. As the paper based press fades away it is replaced by TV stations which is closer to the public so that lies and omissions are easier for the public to detect.
In the new world of the twenty first century political corruption will have to take new forms because old tricks are under public scrutiny as they have never been before. New e books and online publishing resources allow more texts to be published without government or editorial censorship. In the early years of the century some old scoundrels have already been found out and ousted. This must be good for the planet.
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