Article "What is the Problem About Corruption?" by Colin Leys

A detailed Summary of Article "What is the Problem About Corruption?" by Colin Leys

In his article, "What is the problem about corruption?", Colin Leys describes a variety of factors that relate to corruption. The main features of his discussion revolves around the subjective views of corruption, and how these often result in global assumptions. One of these assumptions is that corruption necessarily and always has negative consequences for the public and all aspects of politics. When stating that "It is natural but wrong to assume that the results of corruption are always both bad and important" (222), Leys acknowledges that it is natural to view corruption and its consequences as always bad. It is entailed in the very definition of the word. In his article then he proceeds to explain the reasons for which corruption do not always have a bad or even important effect.

Firstly, it is important to take into account the time and context from which the text was written - 1965. This is more than 30 years ago. Obviously, politics and society have changed significantly since then. Furthermore, the research and analysis Leys calls for have also considerably improved since the time of his writing. These two factors should be taken into account when analyzing the validity of the quotation above.

The question is however, are Leys' views still valid for current politics, 30 years later? Once again there will be many different viewpoints regarding the issue. I do not believe that the moralist viewpoint will have changed: corruption is always bad and always important. A political analyst would however have a different view. Furthermore, I also believe that Leys view of corruption as affecting different parties either for good or bad also still holds true. The African Center for Economic Growth, from the current point of view, defines corruption as "the abuse of public office for private gain." This is very similar to Leys' views, but does not include the effects of corruption on the scale of politics or the public. The Center's document is also focused only on economic corruption, and is links to poverty.

Another aspect that Leys considers in much detail is public interest. Once again he points out that this concept is very vague in some political paradigms, as the public includes many different persons with many different interests. To define public interest is therefore complicated at best. Instead, the author considers other aspects surrounding public interest, such as development, equality and the official purpose of the government. In broad terms, the focus of the latter would be to promote the first two in order to benefit public interest. Leys however points out that these are not always compatible. As an example, the author mentions the example of the USSR, which postponed equality to favor development. He also ment

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Approximate Word count = 1048
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics