From corruption to extortion: Conceptualization of post-communist corruption

Moral outrage and lack of comparison distorts the understanding of the natureand politically determined functions of governmental corruption in post-communist transition. As post-communist societies move towards open market systems and corruption is no longer limited to the public sector, politics is transformed into a potent tool for illegal transactions. The political structureitself creates corrupt practices that become a structural feature of transition societies. This article offers first a critical discussion of both moral theories of corruption and the thesis that posits a link between corruption and democracy deficit in post-communist countries. Subsequently, it sketches a neo-functionalist approach that puts corruption in a specific social context.With respect to East/Central Europe, corruption is presented as a betrayal ofpublic trust that serves specific requirements of an emerging ``extortioniststate.' These requirements relate to the expansion of extortion opportunitiesand their institutionalization into a semblance of a Tule of law system.     

浅析行政腐败

目前,行政腐败是我国社会中最严重的腐败现象之一,也是全世界所面临的共同问题之一。行政腐败现象与其他腐败现象相比呈现出反复性、集中性、群体性和牵连性等特点。在我国主要表现为集体共犯式腐败、人事腐败和以权谋私等。产生行政腐败的原因有多种,我们应该从政治、经济、文化、思想等多方面分析,通过立法、司法等途径,通过体制改革,增强打击力度,以维护正常的社会秩序。     

论边缘腐败行为——重温江泽民同志以德治国的论述

无论是传统意义上还是一般社会民众的心理上,法律的制裁是惩治腐败的第一要素,尤其是刑事法律高压手段是惩治腐败的最为有力的工具。人们衡量国家惩治腐败的力度,控制腐败的标准,往往是某一阶段我国检察机关所查办的职务犯罪案件的数量。正是基于此,近十年来,人们对不断增长的职务犯罪案件的数量和腐败行为所破坏的社会公平机制,颇有微词。人们往往将惩治腐败不力的原因,较多地自然归为承担查办职务犯罪案件重要职责的检察机关的打击力度不够,或党和国家惩治腐败的决心不     

Hard responses to corruption: Penal standards and the repression of corruption in Britain, France and Portugal

Despite its difficulties and inconsistencies in framing those practices andconducts recently unveiled by the press and judicial investigations whichhave caused considerable public discontent, the penal definition ofcorruption still highlights an interesting conceptual diversity across spaceand time that should not be overlooked. Most official discussions about andreferences to corruption and its volume are still framed within these hardparameters. It is, therefore, important to look at the intricacies ofcorruption as a crime in order to understand the virtues and failures ofnational repressive efforts. While crime statistics are of limited use for itsmeasurement, they can nevertheless help to interpret the way corruptionhas been treated through repressive instruments cross-nationally over aperiod of time.The aim of this paper is to assess the dynamics of the various processes ofsetting and revising penal standards to the conduct of office holders and theresults observable from the application of corruption and related offencesacross countries with different legal traditions.     

Social sciences and the evolving concept of corruption

The term corruptio appears in many languages, but behind it lie several contrasting strands of thought and language. Current political usages of corruptio--emphasizing bribery, which in turn is just one of several families of ideas to which the term has variously been attached--date from the late 18th or early 19th century, have been strongly influenced by Anglo-Saxon legal thought, and may be traced to Roman roots. But French lexicographers developed a richer and more diverse vocabulary to encompass the crimes of civil servants and judges in addition to those of the people who sought to influence them. Religion, and in particular offices within the Church, also strongly influenced the ideas and vocabulary of corruption. Ultimately, corruptio can be said to have Biblical origins and a core meaning centered around injustice. The complexity and richness of the idea of corruption, as viewed from that perspective, in often lost in the narrower and more technical usages that dominate contemporary debate and analysis.     

Democratic transitions and forms of corruption

Any transition to democracy has implications for corruption. This papertakes a contextual and procesual approach to the analysis ofdemocratisation and corruption. It disaggregates some variables wherebydemocratisation can provide the context for the development of corruptionand crime. This paper does not argue democratisation causescorruption and crime. Nor does it argue democratisation does not providethe social space for the reduction of corruption and crime. This paperconcentrates on the areas in which democratisation provides an oftencomplex environment for the development of corruption and crime.     

Symptoms of corruption and union denial

Labor Racketeering is often the result of collusion between employers and employee representatives in which in exchange for something of value the employee representative ignores his obligation to union members. Given the limited investigative resources of unions, proving the receipt of a bribe is most often beyond their ability. However, the artifacts of racketeering such as inexplicable substandard contracts or lax contract enforcement remain evident. The harm to the members remains the same. As a consequence, in disciplining union employees, unions should sanction them for involvement in the creation of these artifacts as if bribes were proven. Charles A. Carberry is the Chief Investigator for the Independent Review Board (IRB), the body that pursuant to the Civil RICO settlement between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the government investigates corruption and supervisors resulting disciplinary actions against union members. The views expressed herein are Mr. Carberry’s and not necessarily those of the IRB.     

Privatisation and corruption in Romania

Editor's note. The regime change in East and Central Europe and the reslting shift toward market economies and new political institutions have raised complex questions regarding the relationships between the public and private sectors of the economy and society. Romania's transition has been particularly difficult in both political and economic terms. That nation confronts the challenge of creating new conceptions of ownership and citizenship, and new standards of conduct, in a setting in which the government charged with these tasks has legitimacy problems of its own. In this Research Note drawing upon Romanian press accounts, Liliana Popescu-Birlan reviews the early stages of this process. She focuses in particular upon the difficulties involved in privatisation, and upon the implications of the process for problems of corruption.     

Swiss taxation of trusts currently and in the future

At the International Trust & Tax Planning Summit Conference,held from 30 October to 1 November 2006 in Coral Gables, Florida,Frédéric Vuilleumier considered the Swiss taxregime in a paper entitled ‘Inbound Guide: What ShouldYou Do When Assumptions Change?’ In this article, theSwiss direct tax system was discussed and the distinction madebetween federal and cantonal taxation, tax residence in Switzerlandand the question of jurisdiction under Swiss private internationallaw and the application of Swiss civil law where Swiss courtshave jurisdiction and the applicable law in matrimonial matters.The article is part of that paper and concentrates on the taxtreatment of trusts in Switzerland, the current position andthe impact of the draft circular to accommodate the then expectedaccession of Switzerland to the Hague Convention.     

Institutions and the culture dimension of corruption in Nigeria

Mention Nigeria to most people in the world and the retort is likely to be some reference to how corrupt the country is. Institutions, rules, and norms of behaviour have adapted toward the ultimate goal of predatory gain. When corruption becomes institutionalised in a society, it infiltrates the value-system, and it becomes a norm, part and parcel of culture. Nonetheless, one complicating and seemingly contradictory factor in this notion of the culture of corruption is that the majority of people in Nigeria do not internalise corruption as something morally acceptable. On the contrary, even if they have to take part in corrupt practices to get by or even to survive, they usually consider the practices as morally wrong. This work identifies, discusses, and analyses the weakness of institutions and the use and abuse of cultural norms as the primary reasons for endemic corruption in Nigeria.     

Political corruption in Russia and the Soviet Legacy

Signs of corruption in post-SovietRussia are abundant and its immediate cause, the rapidmove towards the market in advance of theestablishment of a legal infrastructure, readilyapparent. But the unqualified use of the term``corruption' risks substituting liberal judgements ofRussian capitalism for an historically grounded andsociologically informed understanding of Russia'sdeviance from Western standards. Here it is arguedthat ``corruption' in post-Communist Russia can mostusefully be understood as the extension of Sovietcoping strategies, developed in the command economy,to the opportunities opened up by marketisation. Thisoccurred in circumstances where the bureaucratic andideological constraints of the Soviet state were notreplaced by compensatory institutional and legaldisciplines. Rather than corrupting an establishedsystem of rights and obligations Russian ``corruption'represents the extension of the informal culture andpractices of the Soviet system to the opportunitiespresented by emerging Russian capitalism.     

Examining the links between organised crime and corruption

Excerpts

Examining the links between organised crime and corruption     

A framework for the analysis of corruption

The article sets out a framework within which the problem of corruption may be analysed in any specific country. It does not seek to establish the importance of such activity in a general sense, or seek to propose particular economic policy or institutional programmes that should be pursued in order to reduce the impact on the development process. Rather, the objective is to provide a structure for two distinct areas of analysis. Firstly, it considers the investigation of the determinants of corruption, emphasising the environment in which corruption evolves — whether shaped by international, national or specific institutional factors — and the manner in which the different parties to corruption interact and organise themselves in conducting these activities. Secondly, the article focusses on the importance of corruption for economic development by considering the different forms of corruption and the characteristics of these forms that are most critical for economic activity. Here, the distortions that are introduced into on-going economic activity are identified, together with the manner in which these distortions redirect activity in sub-optimal directions. In addition, the nature of the uncertainty attaching to these differing forms of corruption is considered, and especially the degree to which a form may be considered anarchic or structured in character: the former reflecting a system of intense uncertainty, and the latter one of less uncertainty — perhaps, only minimal uncertainty — as a predictable and stable set of relationships between parties is established. Finally, the article reviews the empirical work that has been undertaken in this field. This article, therefore, seeks to identify how detailed case study analysis, focussed on individual countries — and, indeed, on specific institutions or sectors within those countries — could valuably complement these existing studies, and provide a framework for those seeking to design policy that is appropriate to any individual circumstance. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.