Political corruption

Political corruption is using powers of government officials or their network contacts for inappropriate private gain.

The forms of corruption are very different between one another. Examples of political corruption are lobbying, bribery, extortion (which refers when to someone commits blackmail or bribery against or threatens other people through putting a feeling of fear by telling certain people something will happen if the victim does not comply), nepotism (the unfair use of power for receiving job employments or benefits by family or friends), patronage (improperly using state money/goods to reward families, certain groups or races in exchange for voting for certain political party members) and embezzlement. Corruption is often linked to human trafficking, money laundering and drug trafficking. But political corruptions are not limited to these illegal acts. Misuse of government power for certain other purposes, an example of which is police brutality is also classified as political corruption.

Political corruption hurts democracy by going against the formal process. Corruption in elections and in legislature reduces responsibility and falsely represents the related creations of policies.

Economies having a high level of political corruption tend to not be as financially successful as one that has low level corruption. Political corruption not only threatens justice and ethical values. Recalls of loans by international banks, along with massive selling of emerging market stocks from international mutual funds, is associated with (and can actually cause) crises in economics and currency problems in certain countries. Examples of these problems are in Asia, Africa and Central America.

Political Corruption Media

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  A map depicting Corruption Perceptions Index in the world in 2022; a higher score indicates lower levels of corruption.*     100 – 90*     89 – 80*     79 – 70*     69 – 60*     59 – 50*     49 – 40*     39 – 30*     29 – 20*     19 – 10*     9 – 0*     No data

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  Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the Panama Papers leak on April 15, 2016

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  American lobbyist and businessman Jack Abramoff was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation.

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  Reformers like the American Joseph Keppler depicted the Senate as controlled by the giant moneybags, who represented the nation's financial trusts and monopolies.

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  The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage.

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  United Nations Convention against Corruption

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  Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty in the corruption trial over the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal. He is currently serving his sentence in Kajang Prison.

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  Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović is often described as having strong links to Montenegrin mafia.

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  Ferdinand Marcos (pictured with his daughter Imee) was a Philippine dictator and kleptocrat. His regime was infamous for its corruption.