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Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on.
Some countries are seeing increasing protests at large scale corruption. In India, a largely non-violent movement has sprung up, which has also inspired anti-corruption campaigners in Nepal. In Brazil, inspired by the way protesters in Spain have used social networks, technology has been used to increasingly campaign against corruption there.
The global financial crisis has made conditions worse in many places for many people. Increasing food prices and other policy decisions governments are pushing through is leading to many volatile conditions, and it may be that this is giving a much needed push for large-scale grassroots and civil society movements against debilitating corruption.
This update to the corruption section includes an overview of some of the protests mentioned above.
Read full article: Corruption

Globally, corruption is a serious and widespread crime undermining democratic institutions, jeopardising economic development, and threatening the security and stability of governments. In Australia, barely a day goes by when the media does not report corrupt behaviour in political parties, the public sector, trade unions, sports bodies and companies. This book explores the extent and impacts of corruption worldwide, and examines the latest anti-corruption efforts in Australia. Also includes: worksheets and activities, fast facts, glossary, web links, index

"From ancient times to modern, corruption has been ingrained in human society and is still a powerful issue in the contemporary world. In Corruption: A Short History, Carlo Brioschi provides a thorough and entertaining look at how corruption was born and has evolved over time, without ever being stamped out. He examines corruption through politics and history-from Babylon to modern-day U.S. organized crime and the great market collapses-and concludes with reflections on the moral perception of corruption and its dangers for democracy"--

Corruption has been part of social interaction since the beginning of humanity. People have always wheeled and dealed, given and taken, sought position, benefits, and privileges. In modern societies there are laws that prohibit public officials from receiving benefits other than salary, and an expectation that in the private sector business undertakings will be conducted with integrity. This does not always occur, and there is considerable analysis of the causes and experiences of corrupt behavior as well as of the mechanisms that could be used to prevent it. Rather than define corruption, one might try to understand the suite of behaviors that are deemed corrupt, and these will vary from society to society, and will be treated differently in different types of societies. In essence, corruption involves the abuse of public position or entrusted office in return for private gain. It involves the unauthorized trading of entrusted authority. It may manifest itself in different ways, in bribery, extortion, conflict of interest, a public official hiring one's own company for government contracts, hiring unqualified friends or family members for government jobs, and so on. Sometimes there is a corrupt person in an organization, sometimes the whole organization is corrupt, or sometimes the society tolerates corruption on a grand scale. These variations lead to different interpretations and analyses of the concept. When a public official does wrong things, or fails to do what he or she should do, or does something permissible, but purposely does it in an improper manner, then there is a strong suspicion of corrupt behavior. The World Economic Forum estimates that corruption costs about 5 percent of global GDP (about $2.6 trillion), while the World Bank estimates that about $1 trillion per year is paid in bribes and about $40 billion per year is skimmed or looted by political leaders. On an everyday basis corruption hurts the public and undermines government. The impacts of corruption severely and disproportionally affect the poorest and most vulnerable in any society, and when it is widespread, corruption deters investment, weakens economic growth and undermines the basis for law and order. In wealthier countries corruption pushes taxes to higher levels than they need be, and reduces services to lesser quality than they might be.

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In the context of global capitalism the so-called developing countries are considered 'commodities' in offer in the global economy as emerging markets or for foreign investment. Countries need to show they are potentially highly competitive with low risk. The value of country characteristics is set by globalised managerial discourses, based on postcolonial ideologies that rate cultures and societies in terms of linear notions of progress and civilisation. Cultures and behaviours are judged positively or negatively according to the position countries supposedly have in the evolution of world society. In this framework one element that countries need to eradicate or reduce in order to be seen as 'attractive' is corruption. Towards this aim international and national government and non-government organisations have put in place anti-corruption campaigns. In communications with the general public, these schemes represent actors and acts of corruption through discursive strategies that characterize world cultures and their links with corruption in terms of postcolonial ideologies. In this paper I focus on the implications of the metaphor 'culture of corruption' for rating countries, questioning its effectiveness in anti-corruption campaigns. I argue that anti-corruption instruments based on postcolonial ideologies corrupt representations of national cultures and peoples behaviours, instead of targeting local and global sectors that gain from institutionalised corruption. Through the analysis of anti-corruption cultural texts publicly available in Mexico I illustrate how the ideological misrepresentation of corruption fails its stated aim, to transform a 'culture of corruption' into a 'culture of legality'.

During the transition period, the extent of corruption in China is higher than before. Meanwhile the forms and characters of Chinese corruption are also different in many important aspects from those of its past and of other countries. This paper explores the causes, consequences of corruption and anti-corruption campaigns of the Chinese government. The major conclusion of this paper is that further political reform toward democracy should be the direction of future anti-corruption efforts.