Corruption - and how it affects the political legitimacy of the state.

There is quite clearly no one universally accepted definition of corruption. What is universally acknowledged is that man has been and continues to be the perpetrator of corruption and its victim throughout history, says G. Shabbir Cheema, Director of Management Development and Governance Division, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in his article, opposite.

Corruption is a form of social relationship. It is an act or series of acts that take place within a given culture under a specific set of circumstances. The cultural and environmental circumstances may differ from country to country. These differences make it almost impossible to come up with a generalized definition of what constitutes corrupt behaviour. Notwithstanding the differences in the perception of corruption, there is a central core element of corruption which is decried by most cultures, viz, most instances of bribery, fraud, extortion, embezzlement, venality, perversity, misuse or appropriation of public organization funds for private or personal use, and orally unsound or debased behaviour.

Corruption has enormous and varied adverse implications for society, and in particular for the central bureaucracy, which is the key link between the Government, as allocator of crucial and scarce resources and services, and the public and the ruling elite. Here, our particular concern is to look at the political legitimacy of the State and the implications of corruption for the central bureaucracy.

A corrupt administration is a direct abuse of the natural foundation of Government. Institutions designed to govern the relationships between the citizens and the State are used instead for personal enrichment of public officials and politicians and the provision of benefits to the corrupt. The adverse implications of this phenomenon include loss of revenue from the State to the individual, increased cost of doing government business, misallocation of public funds, social strife and political instability, and stifles economic growth. Corruption also stifles initiative and enterprise, and creates the problem of securing the loyalty of non-corrupt bureaucrats of contaminating the fresh and non-initiated corrupt bureacrats.

The United Nations General Assembly, concerned about the dysfunctional consequences of corruption, adopted a resolution on 28 January 1997 requesting that the Secretary-General assist Member States in designing strategies to prevent and control corruption. A cooperative effort is envisaged in which the United Nations works with other intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to develop an implementation plan. One of the immediate responses to the request is the publication in July 1997 by UNDP of a discussion paper on "Corruption and Good Governance".

The paper begins by isolating the underlying causes and consequences of corruption, and then assesses the options for combating corruption. It concludes by evaluating other international efforts to combat corruption and considers the role of the international lending and donor communities in supporting systematic reform and in ensuring the integrity of the projects they finance.

Finally, the study advises that a serious anti-corruption initiative requires "ownership" by the country's leaders. No comprehensive reform programme can be credible with the support from the country's political and economic elite.

The Assembly resolution recognizes that the fight against and prevention of corruption ought to be part of any serious attempt to reform the governance institutions of developing and transition States. It calls on the Secretary-General to work with Member States in developing national anti-corruption strategies. This request fits well with UNDP's existing programme on governance. UNDP defines governance as "the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a country's affairs at all levels. Governance comprises the complex mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, mediate their differences and exercise their legal rights and obligations." Governance includes the performance of State institutions, as well as interactions among Government, the private commercial sector and civil society, including nonprofit and volunteer groups.

UNDP stresses that improved governance is a condition for sustainable human development. It supports targeting assistance to promote governing institutions, such as legislatures and the judiciary, public and private management, civil society institutions as advocates and monitors, and decentralization of Government. It emphasizes the importance of transparency, accountability and the rule of law - features of Government that can check self-seeking behaviour by public officials and those with whom they deal. One of its priorities is to help nongovernmental organizations and Governments interact fruitfully. Another is to help improve the legal and regulatory environment in which these organizations operate.

RELATED ARTICLE: UNDP's Projects on Good Governance

Seen from the perspective of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the main focus of good governance is primarily aimed towards responding to requests for technical assistance in strengthening governance institutions in developing countries, as well as countries in transition. Examples of projects in this area include electoral support in Bangladesh, assistance in rebuilding a devastated judicial system in Rwanda, human rights training in Central America, and strengthening of parliamentary procedures in Moldova.

The rapid increase in requests for international assistance in the area of good governance is a testament to the overall global political changes that have taken place in the past decade and to changing political circumstances within developing countries themselves. In many countries, particularly in the least developed countries, there is a growing impatience with the continuing absence of economic progress. Many are rich in natural and human resources and it has become increasingly apparent that what perpetuates a state of economic stagnation in one country, while a neighbouring country progresses steadily, is often an absence of efficient governance institutions.