Corruption and Globalisation

5204 Words11 Pages

Corruption and Globalisation - Both of them have been so pervasive in

recent years. According to a BBC survey, corruption ranked as the

second biggest problem people concern in the world and globalisation

ranked first. Are there any links between the two? To what extend they

are related to each other? And what effect do they have?

1. Introduction

Both globalisation and corruption are the words that have been used

frequently in public debates all over the world in the last few years,

and they are both complex concept. Globalisation is relatively new

while corruption is an old one. Whether there may be any links between

the two phenomena? And to what extend they are related? This essay

will attempt to explore the relationship between the two from the

definitions, causes, consequences and the solutions.

Corruption can be defined as the abuse of public power for private

gain. (World Bank, 2004) Corruption is attracting a lot of attention

around the world, and is a growing international and regional concern.

According to Corruption Around the world (Tanzi, 1998), in its

end-of-year editorial on December 31, 1995, The Financial Times

characterized 1995 as the year of corruption. The following three

years could have earned the same title. The writing of books on

corruption has become a growth industry in various countries.

Corruption came second on a list of the biggest problems facing the

world, the survey of BBC viewers worldwide found. Conflicts - war and

terrorism - ranked third, with 50%, followed by hunger, 49%, and

climate change with 44%. BBC World asked 1,500 viewers of its news and

international channel for the biggest problems in the world with 52%

saying the US and globalisation. (BBC NEWS, 2004)

Why is there so much attention nowadays on corruption? Did people

ignore corruption in the past? Or is it because there is more

corruption than in the past? Some of the main reasons could be:

- As countries trade more with each other, fair trade is expected and

unfair business or political practices are being paid more attention.

- The media is reporting much more about corruption cases, especially

in emerging market countries, such as China, India.

- Globalisation has brought individuals and companies that from

countries with no or little corruption to those countries where

corruption is more frequent.
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