Corruption within government, or political corruption, is the abuse of entrusted public power for illegitimate, private gain. It occurs when elected officials, civil servants, or their associates use their positions to misdirect public resources, bypass the law, or grant special favors in exchange for personal wealth, power, or influence. Options include abuse of public office for private or partisan gain, bribery, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, campaign finance violations, insider trading, and nepotism/cronyism.
Corruption within the government takes many forms. For clarity, “corruption” and “failure in office” are individual issues that likely pertain to differing laws and methods of correction. However, the two concepts blur under certain circumstances.
Corruption is present in all offices within the three branches of government to varying degrees. Citizens can confront actions of corruption by:
-Judicial review of recorded actions in government
-Petitions that describe the observed issue and represent a public desire for correction
-Draw media attention to the matter to spread the word
-Forming complaints at the office of misaction
-Pressing Charges
Federal and State Governments enforce specific laws and ethics rules to penalize these acts. Unfortunately, weak ethics enforcement allows private interests to influence public policy via legal loopholes and entrenched corruption that may not be addressed/removed for extended periods of time.
Corruption is produced, tolerated and ignored by some members of government. What appears to be harmless to others or unlikely to be noticed by the public may not draw attention to itself. Corruption happens in the shadows where it’s difficult to detect; performed by lawyers, bankers, financial systems, shell companies, politicians, office holders, and others.
Without the public becoming aware, possibly no criticism or correction will take place. Residents of the State observe actions of public servants and transparency of their actions offers additional opportunity to observe issues that necessitate confrontation for correction.
For example, a government body tasked with oversight might suffer from regulatory failure due to incompetence, but if that failure is caused by an official actively shielding a corporation from penalties in exchange for campaign contributions, it crosses over into overt, prosecutable corruption.
When incompetence is willful a public official intentionally ignores rules, refuses to do their job, or turns a blind eye to wrongdoing, their “failure” becomes a dereliction of duty, which is a form of misconduct.
When “failure” is a cover for corruption, consistent failure can sometimes be a red flag for deeper corruption, such as when an agency fails to meet its goals because resources were embezzled or diverted elsewhere.
Institutional corruption is described as a systemic failure in an organization or government that systematically disadvantages the public—even without a single individual taking a direct bribe—is often referred to as institutional corruption.