Government Corruption
In today's political world, government corruption goes hand in hand with the daily operations of governments. Learn about the current state of governmental corruption in any country you need explored. Get help writing a research paper on the corruption of government from the writers at Paper Masters.
The problem of corruption in government is as old as government itself. Traditionally, and still today, this corruption comes in two forms.
- First, there is a government official who enriches themselves at the public's expense.
- Second, the government official who circumvents the law or abuses the powers of their office.
Corollary to these kinds of corruptions are figures outside of government, such as influential members of the business community, who benefit financially from this corruption and may, in fact, be the chief instigators of the malfeasance in the first place.
This has plagued the U.S. government since its inception through the patronage system in which supporters of the winning political party tended to be rewarded with government jobs or contracts. Since the Progressive Era, the federal government has increasingly sought to regulate different sectors of the economy. It can be debated to what extent this was necessary and appropriate. But the effect was for businesses who now found their practices coming under government scrutiny to use lobbyists to grease the engine of big government on their behalf. Some large companies also found a way to use the regulatory apparatus against their competition and drive small firms out of business. This is an example of how corruption can stem from good intentions. In a democratic republic responsibility for such corruption ultimately rests with the people and their ability to discern the ways in which the results of corrupt government practices have proven desultory.