John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton said that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This has been seen numerous times throughout history. From Hitler’s ideological world and his slaughtering of six million Jews in attempt to reach it, to Mohamed Suhato’s embezzlement of somewhere between fifteen and thirty five billion US dollars, which then led to the complete collapse of Indonesia’s economy; the world has set gaze upon some nefarious dignitaries. Clive Cussler has completely agreed with Lord Acton and his famous quote in the novel Sahara. The antagonists in this story become totally deleterious in there lust for absolute power, which leads to the deaths of innocent soldiers, the crippling of his country through the larceny of its assets, and the murder of doctors and civilians who pose a small threat to his domination.
In a corrupt mind the only reason someone cares for someone else’s life is if it directly benefits their own. The person in power is hungry for more and is willing to spend the lives of others in order to obtain it. General Zateb Kazim possesses no respect for human life at all in Sahara, and spends his soldiers like he spends the dirty money his corruption has brought him. His first expenditure of soldiers is in attempt to capture an immaculate speed boat that is travelling down the Niger River. Kazim has never seen anything like it and as the power hungry leader that he is- he demands that he obtain it. Without any prior knowledge to the origin of the boat or who it belongs to, he orders a group of two gun boats and an airplane to “capture that fine pleasure craft and execute whoever is onboard” (Cussler 117). Blinded by his greed, Kazim sends in his soldiers to attack the protagonis...
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...treme inhumanity presented by his labour camps, Kazim shows that a corrupted leader prioritizes power above human life.
Corruption related to power is seen in today’s world as frequently as it is in literature. The quest for ultimate supremacy does in fact lead to the decay of the antagonist’s morals and values in Sahara, which in turn cause him to needlessly expend soldiers, embezzle funds, and value his position above mortal being. In the act of trying to eliminate a potential threat to his empire, he expends soldiers like there a renewable resource. While trying to improve his already luxurious lifestyle, he cripples an entire nation. Finally, when perfectly innocent people know too much about him, his only solution is to eliminate them. When Lord Acton said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He couldn’t have been more correct.
Power. It is defined as the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. Throughout time, certain individuals have acquired power in their society as a way to govern and keep order among their community. Power is not a new concept; it was used in the past by many emperors, kings, and queens, and is still being used by presidents, prime ministers, and dictators. Although, it has been used to further progress societies into what the world is like today, not all power has been used for the best of mankind. But what goes awry to make power turn corrupt? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, it is illustrated how power can turn corrupt, when authoritative figures, who possess power, abuse it for their personal gain, rather than for the common good of the society.
To introduce the conflict of this story, Danticat recounts the public execution of two rebels, Numa and Drouin, by the Haitian government. In doing so,
Corruption occurs in many forms and several types of corruption are displayed in the movie. To understand some of the corruption and practices seen in the movie we need to look at some of the different types of corruption I have identified. There appear to be four main types (themes) of corruption and each type can be associated with specific characters and the people associated with them. The Characterisation of the individuals in the movie each support one of the types of corruption
Many view power as a tool to lead societies into corruption. However, depending on how a system of government is set up, that view may be erroneous. Power gives independence to the holder with freedom to use it either for good or bad purposes. When a leader is granted power without any consequences for misuse, unless a perfect human being, that leader will likely turn into some variant of a despot. Powerlessness, therefore, inherently causes corruption as humans suffer from congenital selfishness and greed.
In conclusion, these two pieces of literary work are great examples of how power can be used for good or evil. The consequences can be brutal as shown in the text. People can use power to their advantage and even that can be considered good or evil. The use and abuse of power is not only a great theme for these texts, but we, as readers, can also connect with the messages in our own everyday lives.
Throughout history, powerful empires with boundless control have had a tendency to fall victim to corruption. It is common knowledge, among political scientists and historians, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. William Shakespeare's "Othello, the Moor of Venice" (reprinted in Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. Arp, Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 6th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1993] 1060-1147) contains several themes, but one theme in particular supports the truth of this knowledge. In "Othello, the Moor of Venice," the theme of control is one that causes corruption. Othello's control is stolen by Iago and, Iago's overbearing control of Othello's emotions causes chaos and absence of control until Lodovico arrives at the end of the story.
The colonists’ experience with Britain establishes that tyranny could appear in a political body as well as in a single ruler. Tyranny is a society where society is confined by the government whom has absolute power; oppress the people, and are subject to an absolute ruler. As stated before, the British control prior to the revolutionary war on the colonist is the absolute example of tyranny. Before the Declaration of Independence was published, Thomas Jefferson put out A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Jefferson stated that the colonist will establish a congress in time protests against the British rule King George III, stating that the colonies are tied of the tyranny and claimed the British did not have the write to rule
Power is the source of all corruption as supported by Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities. The characters Monseigneur, Marquis of Evermonde, and the revolutionaries all become corrupt in the end because of the power they possessed. If they did not possess power, they would not have been able to complete the actions they had planned to. Then, if they’re actions did not occur, the corruption they caused would cease to exist
Power is a difficult concept to identify; it has been defined in several ways by many scholars. Hinings et al. (1967) state that power is analogous to bureaucracy, while Bierstedt (1950) and Blau (1964) state that it is purely coercion (Stojkovic et al, 2008). Moreover, Hall and Tolbert (2005) identify that there are five types of power, reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert (Stojkovic et al, 2008). According to studies these five types of power are important and needed in a criminal justice agency for greater effectiveness and efficiency.
The statement, “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”, simply means that the more power one has – the more control one has over people – then the more corrupt it is possible for that person to become. This statement is certainly correct if the person with the power has certain proclivities towards corruption. There are many examples in the book, “Animal Farm”, by George Orwell, of power corrupting those in charge because they had these tendencies. In the story, the most powerful animals are the two pigs, Napoleon and, to a lesser degree, Snowball. During the course of the story these pigs used their power to get more power, and in the process their inclinations towards corruption triumphed. When Old Major, the boar who came up with the idea of all animals uniting against humans, died, Napoleon and Snowball saw an opportunity where they could take control and took it. Napoleon used force to get rid of Snowball and take all the power for himself, and he used fear to keep the other animals from revolting. He used scapegoats so that he could not be blamed for anything that went wrong, and propaganda to brainwash the animals into loyal slaves. Napoleon changed and broke the commandments of Animal Farm to benefit himself, and he lacked empathy for all those who worked hard for him, executing those that might cause him trouble.
In The Looting Machine by Tom Burgis, the author discusses corruption and the effects of corruption on Africans living under the resource curse, or Dutch disease. He also talks about a system responsible for the looting of Africa’s natural resources to benefit individuals and companies from Chinese, French, American, Brazilian, British, Israeli, and African elites. Burgis suffered from PTSD, which stemmed from the aftermath of the Jos massacre and other events he experienced in Africa. To cope with his PTSD, Burgis wrote down what he saw during his research, experiencing tremendous guilt in the process. Instead of his initial reasoning that the Jos massacre occurred due to “ethnic rivalries”, he started to see the real reason and how the massacre
As shown in literature, corruption and the abuse of power is an ongoing discussion. When it comes down to the point where people are being used and abused physically and psychologically, it creates a hostile environment for both the subjects and the abuser. As represented in the two similar texts Lord Of the Flies and “I Only Came to use the Phone”, corrupted authority and abuse of power usually end up leading to the collapse of a society or a world of chaos and violence.
The allure of power and the difficulty of resisting said temptation has long been an issue for several rulers. In the metaphorical comparison of the Russian Revolution and Animal Farm by George Orwell, both face the temptation of power and ultimately fall to is corruption. Stalin and his animal representation, Napoleon, are proof that the quote “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” by Lord Acton rings true.
The topic of power is portrayed in many books and is used to demonstrate what a person will do when given power. Essential books that deal with power are Machiavelli’s The Prince, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravits. The Prince and The Art of War are not books of fiction but books of strategy on gaining power on how to maintain it. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a book of fiction where Duddy strives to acquire power in any means necessary. Relevant in each book are themes that relate to power and how one can pursue it, these themes are: morals, ethics and fortune.
Authority in a society is a necessary evil which when unfettered, results in the abuse of power. Power has long been considered a corrupting and a disrupting force in function and in influence. Underlying motives and greed fuel those who seek to gain and or abuse this power. The Crucible examines this twisted force as it corrupts societies’ clergy, blinds its justices, and empowers those who seek to abuse it. Arthur Miller shows how power can be a corrupting influence and how it can blind the judgment of authoritative figures.