Corruption and Anti-Corruption An Applied Philosophical Approach

This is a book aboutcorruption,and also aboutanti-corruption.The first half of the book concerns itself with the nature, causes, and moral implications of corruption, and the second half with the means for combating corruption. Moreover, this is a study inapplied philosophy.As such, the book does not restrict itself to one form of corruption, such as economic corruption. Rather, it considers many forms of corruption including ones that are not economic in substance or in motivation. Consider an academic who plagiarizes her colleagues' work in order to become famous, or a sadist who abuses his political authority by mistreating subordinates because he derives pleasure from doing so. Being an applied philosophical study, the book deals with practical issues, for example, how to combat bribery, but it does so on the assumption that prior philosophical work is required if those practical issues are to be satisfactorily resolved. Thus, we need to understand the nature of noble cause corruption, including its differences from other common or garden forms of corruption, if it is to be satisfactorily treated. Moreover, since it is applied philosophy, there is a need to take into accountempirical work,for example, on the causes of specific forms of corruption. Contrary to what is sometimes said and thought, corruption is at bottom a species of moral wrongdoing or of unethical behavior. It is not simply, or necessarily, a species of unlawful activity. Here it is important to stress that law and morality are not the same thing. Therefore, our starting point in this book is that corruption is a species of immorality. In Chapter 1, we provide aconceptual analysis of corruption,thus understood. We also offer a number of taxonomies of corruption, for example, organized, systemic, and grand corruption. In Chapter 2, we consider three generalconditions that are conducive to corruption:the nature of the moral environment, absence of accountability mechanisms, and lack of transparency. Each of these general conditions has a number of specific forms, for example, the moral environment might be one in which there are great inequalities of power. In this chapter, we also consider a number of different socioeconomic contexts in which corruption might exist. Here we make use of two case studies, one drawn from Colombia during the time of Pablo Escobar, the other from the Enron scandal. In Chapter 3, we consider a specific condition conducive to corruption, namely,conflicts of interest.We explore a variety of different conflicts of interest, for example, the Keating Five in the political arena, -and conflicts of interest in the media, the corporate sector, and clinical trials. Chapter 4 concerns itself with addressing the question "What is wrong with corruption?" We distinguish between what is morally wrong with corruption per se, for example, it undermines a legitimate institutional process, and what might be wrong with the action at the core of a corrupt action, for example, telling a lie (that, say, undermines a judicial process). We also discuss deontological, teleological, and consequentialist arguments against different forms of corruption and do so in the context of some specific case studies, for example, Watergate. In Chapter 5, we identify a number of differentrationalizationsused to justify corrupt actions, and we analyze two of these in detail, namely rationalizations arising out of noble cause corruption (doing evil for the sake of good) and transcultural interaction. Case studies used include the "Dirty Harry" scenario in policing, and the Lockheed and Bhopal scandals. The second half of the book comprises Chapters 6 through 10. In Chapter 6, our concern is with the locus of moral responsibility for combating corruption. In order to focus our discussion, we consider corporate corruption in organizational settings. We describe some oMiller, Seumas is the author of 'Corruption and Anti-Corruption An Applied Philosophical Approach', published 2004 under ISBN 9780130617958 and ISBN 0130617954.