Corruption

Corruption

In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. In economy, corruption is payment for services or material which the recipient is not due, under law. This may be called bribery, kickback, or, in the Middle East, baksheesh.

Contents

Etymology

The word corrupt (Middle English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere, to abuse or destroy : com-, intensive pref. and rumpere, to break) when used as an adjective literally means "utterly broken".[1]

Corrupt activities

By field

Politics

Political corruption is the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gain, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes[2] It can also take the form of office holders maintaining themselves in office by purchasing votes by enacting laws which use taxpayer money.[3] Systemic corruption, the complete subversion of a political or economic system. Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly known in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including the government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics. It is important to distinguish between the two methods of corruption of the judiciary: the government (through budget planning and various privileges), and the private.[4]

Police

Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. One common form of police corruption is soliciting and/or accepting bribes in exchange for not reporting organized drug or prostitution rings or other illegal activities. Another example is police officers flouting the police code of conduct in order to secure convictions of suspects — for example, through the use of falsified evidence. More rarely, police officers may deliberately and systematically participate in organized crime themselves. In most major cities, there are internal affairs sections to investigate suspected police corruption or misconduct. Similar entities include the British Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Philosophy

Frequently in philosophical discussions, corruption takes the form of contrasting a pure spiritual form with a corrupted manifestation in the physical world. Many philosophers, in fact, have regarded the physical world as inevitably corrupt (Plato[citation needed] being the most famous example of this school of thought). The Book of Genesis 6:12 similarly describes a world before the flood where 'everyone on earth was corrupt' (NLT).

Another philosophical use of the term "corruption" is in opposition to "generation," as in Aristotle's book On Generation and Corruption also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away.[citation needed] In this sense, corruption is the process of ceasing to exist and is closely related to the concept of dying given certain views about the nature of living things. In a moral sense, corruption generally refers to decadence or hedonism. In theological or political debates, certain viewpoints are sometimes accused of being corruptions of orthodox systems of belief, which is to say, they are accused of having deviated from some older correct view.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Corrupt | Define Corrupt at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/corrupt. Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
  2. ^ Chinhamo, Obert; Shumba, Gabriel (2007), Institutional working definition of corruption, Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa, http://www.actsouthernafrica.org/Working%20Paper%201-%20Draft%20Institutional%20Working%20definition%20of%20Corruption.pdf 
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Barenboim, Peter (October 2009). Defining the rules. The European Lawyer. 


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  • corruption — [ kɔrypsjɔ̃ ] n. f. • v. 1130; lat. corruptio, de corrumpere → corrompre 1 ♦ (1170) Vieilli Altération de la substance par décomposition. ⇒ décomposition, pourriture, putréfaction. 2 ♦ Littér. Altération du jugement, du goût, du langage. ⇒… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • corruption — CORRUPTION. sub. f. Altération dans les qualités principales, dans la substance d une chose. La corruption de la viande. La corruption de l air. Cela tend à corruption. La corruption du sang, des humeurs. Il y a des terres où les corps se… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • corruption — Corruption. s. f. v. Alteration dans les qualitez principales, dans la substance d une chose qui se gaste. La corruption de la viande. la corruption de l air. cela tend à corruption. la corruption du sang, des humeurs. Il se dit aussi dans le… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Corruption — Cor*rup tion (k?r r?p sh?n), n. [F. corruption, L. corruptio.] 1. The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • corruption — cor‧rup‧tion [kəˈrʌpʆn] noun [uncountable] 1. LAW the crime of giving or receiving money, gifts, a better job etc in exchange for doing something dishonest or illegal: • He denies twelve counts of corruption. • The Chamber of Deputies voted to… …   Financial and business terms

  • corruption — Corruption, Corruptio, Violatio. Corruption totale d aucun membre, Sideratio. La corruption et ruïne de toute innocence, Labes innocentiae, et ruina. Par corruption, Corrupte. Par corruption de dons, Per sordes. Sans corruption, Inuiolate. Juger… …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • corruption — I noun abuse of public trust, act of bribing, act of profiteering, baseness, breach of faith, breach of trust, bribery, complicity, conduct involving graft, corrupt inducement, corruptela, corruptibility, corruptio, crime, criminality, debasement …   Law dictionary

  • corruption — [n1] dishonesty breach of trust, bribery, bribing, crime, crookedness, demoralization, exploitation, extortion, fiddling, fraud, fraudulency, graft, jobbery, malfeasance, misrepresentation, nepotism, on the take*, payoff, payola*, profiteering,… …   New thesaurus

  • corruption — [kə rup′shən] n. [ME corrupcion < OFr corruption < L corruptio < corruptus,CORRUPT] 1. the act or fact of making, becoming, or being corrupt 2. evil or wicked behavior; depravity 3. bribery or similar dishonest dealings 4. decay;… …   English World dictionary

  • corruption — mid 14c., of material things, especially dead bodies, also of the soul, morals, etc., from L. corruptionem (nom. corruptio), noun of action from pp. stem of corrumpere (see CORRUPT (Cf. corrupt)). Of public offices from early 15c.; of language… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Corruption — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Corruption (homonymie). Carte du monde evaluant l indice de perception de la corruption selon tra …   Wikipédia en Français

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