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There are many different forms of government corruption and every country is likely to be affected to some degree.
Definitions of government corruption include:
- Large sums of money being donated to a political party by multinational corporations and large organisations to encourage the party to govern in their favour.
- New members of parliament being instructed to follow party dictates rather than the views of the electorate they represent.
- Policies which are controlled by groups outside of the poliical party.
- Policies developed by a party after they are in power which differ considerably from the policies stated by the party before the election.
- Mis-use of government funds to achieve personal gain rather than the gain of the country or economy.
Corruption is more common in countries which have low political competition, few government accountability mechanisms, and few economic opportunities. If political opportunities outweigh economic opportunities, people will enter politics in order to make money which causes corruption to increase.
Government corruption has profound effects on the country as a whole. Countries with a high level of government corruption will typically have a low GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, a low level of innovation and a low level of healthcare spending.
This statistic is based on the perception of people in the country and as activities which are considered corrupt in some countries may be considered acceptable in others, these values do not necessarily measure the true level of corruption. |