Introduction
Governments act in their citizens’ interests by promoting beneficial projects, policies, and services. Those in leadership positions act on behalf of the electorate to transform their lives and experiences. Unfortunately, corruption and economic abuses are common malpractices whereby some powerful individuals to pursue their selfish interest at the expense of the people. These malpractices impact the distribution of public resources, widen income gaps, promote nepotism, and reduce chances of overall social and economic development. Such predicaments explain the issues of unaccountability and corruption on the part of any government amount to a global societal problem capable of worsening citizen’s overall achievements. Countries need to fight corruption and improve accountability by maximizing transparency in the public sector, punishing dishonesty, integrating public administration reforms, and supporting stakeholder engagement.
Background Information
Researchers and scholars have applied the concept of corruption to describe various activities that erode trust and affect the welfare of citizens. For instance, Hossain et al. (2020) observed that ancient civilization identified various malpractices that affected the success and trust of governments, such as misappropriation of resources and theft. In the middle ages, new strategies emerged to help punish wrongdoers in different positions of power (Ceschel et al., 2022). Some of these tactics included hanging, abdication, and loss of privileges (Falisse & Leszcynska, 2022). The emergence of modern governance structures have presented unique opportunities for engaging in corrupt dealings. In their work, Hossain et al. (2020) indicated that societal customs, habits, and behaviors are linked to this issue. Specifically, cultures promoting malpractices and cunning tendencies create loopholes that eventually increase corruption.
Unaccountability and corruption remain systemic in both the developed and developing worlds. According to Ceschel et al. (2022), these malpractices affect the overall growth and performance of the economy, thereby making it impossible for most of the members of the society to achieve their maximum potential. Some key factors are known to trigger corruption, such as absence of political will, ineffective policies, governance breakdown, and poor planning (Hope, 2017). This predicament has made it impossible for many underdeveloped countries to achieve their goals.
Unaccountability and Corruption as Societal Problems
Modern societies continue to grapple with a wide range of predicaments that affect people’s dreams and expectations. Any government characterized by unaccountability will promote action plans and formulate policies that resonate with the demands of the voters. Without proper control mechanisms, those in leadership find it hard to fight some of the recorded vices, including corruption and misappropriate of public resources (Ceschel et al., 2022). In most cases, this issue creates loopholes that allow those in influential positions to use public funds for personal gains. Such individuals will recruit their friends, partners, or relatives to occupy key offices even if they lack adequate competencies.
Without proper mechanisms to address the challenges associated with corruption, members of the public eventually lost their trust in the government of the day. The created offices, ministries, and departments fail to act in the best interests of the citizens (Ceschel et al., 2022). Corrupt dealings result in the wastage of public resources and taxes that could be utilized to improve the delivery of services and construction of infrastructure. In some cases, most of the projects undertaken in corrupt societies tend to be substandard and incapable of supporting the population for more years (Falisse & Leszcynska, 2022). Additionally, these vices are associated with substandard services, including healthcare, transportation, and energy supply.
Diverse Perspectives
Cultural groups, researchers, and populations tend to develop and promote divergent views regarding the issues of government accountability and misappropriation of public resources. For example, many people in the West believe that firms or business entities engaging in any form of business with the government should adhere to outlined guidelines and contractual agreements (Ceschel et al., 2022). This approach fosters transparency while limiting chances of malpractices. However, a person in the developing world would require that those who want to engage in similar transactions with the government to bribe officials. In such nations, proper mechanisms and laws to punish such people could be missing (Falisse & Leszcynska, 2022). In countries characterized by increasing cases of corruption, cases of bribery could be acceptable under certain circumstances. For example, someone could support the malpractice if it creates room for avoiding imprisonment.
Some cultures promote nepotism and cronyism since they help their people ascend to power and eventually promote development projects to their neighborhoods. Government leaders across the globe tend to appoint loyalists even if they lack adequate skills (Hossain et al., 2020). This trend creates room for impunity and allows the new leaders to engage in questionable dealings. Collective action theory is a new theory that describes the persistence of corruption in many regions despite the presence of laws illegalizing it (Hossain et al., 2020). Leaders might apply attributes of trust and allow others to undertake specific positions without monitoring their past behaviors.
Policymakers and religious groups tend to condemn officials for failing to maximize government trust. These stakeholders believe that roper mechanisms are possible and capable of helping address the challenge of corruption. However, some community members appear to applaud or admire their corrupt leaders if they are to share their loot (Ceschel et al., 2022). The efforts intended to fight corruption will, therefore, remain counterproductive due to the nature of these divergent expectations. This knowledge can guide those in power and willing to fight the vice to address it from an informed perspective.
Proposed Solution
The best initiative towards tackling corruption entails the formulation of a multiagency team comprised of stakeholders with diverse backgrounds. A taskforce is possible whereby specialists in public funds, accounting, project management, religious groups, and ombudsmen will be involved to identify key sources of corruption (Ceschel et al., 2022). These partners will share ideas and present evidence-based strategies to minimize the malpractice. Another approach should entail the use of campaigns to sensitize and guide more citizens to take charge and be in a position to identity all questionable practices. The rationale behind this argument is that misappropriation of resources worsens the experiences of the greatest majority of the people (Hope, 2017). The idea will encourage more citizens to become more involved in efforts to deal with corruption.
Another plausible tactic entails the adoption of evidence-based standards in accordance with the recorded social, behavioral, economic, and market forces. Public officers will make informed decisions and focus on activities that solve people’s problems. They will go further to institute proper mechanisms for holding officials accountable while monitoring the continued use of public funds (Falisse & Leszcynska, 2022). Finally, the concept of sanctions is essential since it increases the strategies put in place to punish corrupt behaviors. When implemented properly, all key populations or parts of the society will record notable benefits from the proposed solution.
Evidence from Scholarly Sources
Key Statistics: Interpretations
The presented solution towards supporting the fight against corruption is multifaceted in nature since it combines divergent initiatives. Several researches and sources presented evidence-based insights to support this strategy. For instance, Monteduro et al. (2021) present institutional theory as a powerful framework that allows all key stakeholders to be part of the decisions intended to fight corruption. These partners will present ideas for holding leaders accountable, compelling them to prioritize services delivery, and punishing wrongdoers accordingly. Similarly, Monteduro et al. (2021) support a multifaceted approach towards fighting corruption since it is practical, informed by existing obstacles, and capable of integrating all key partners. The idea of accountability improves the overall performance of public officials since they will be in constant fear of possible punishment (Hossain et al., 2020). The consulted references, therefore, show conclusively that the solution is plausible and capable of mitigating corruption.
Some scholars have presented unique statistics that shed more light on the problematic issue of corruption. For instance, Farooque et al. (2022) use the United Nations (UN) report to identify Somalia and Syria as the most corrupt nations with an index score of 13. These figures explain why the countries are associated with poor health outcomes, lack of infrastructure, reduced strategies for service delivery, and reduced life expectancy (Farooque et al., 2022). In another study, Hossain et al. (2020) observed that tax evasion and bribery cost developing countries a total of 1.26 trillion US dollars annually. In another work Monteduro et al. (2021) reported that countries with higher levels of corruption had low literacy rates of less than 25 percent. Mortality rates were tripled those of the developed countries with low corruption levels, such as Denmark (Farooque et al., 2022). These statistics from peer-reviewed sources show that corruption is a serious social problem that calls for evidence-based solutions.
Reliability, Validity, and Biases
In terms of reliability, these above statistics echo the ones reported by the UN, thereby making them acceptable and applicable in the fight against corruption. With the researchers having adequate competencies and backgrounds in their fields, it becomes quite clear that their findings are valid and reliable. Any reader can trust the information and apply it to find meaningful solutions to the studied problem (Hossain et al., 2020). From the nature of these reports, it is notable that the authors have removed any form of bias, thereby delivering quality sources to describe the challenges associated with corruption.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The studied sources possess unique strengths that make the presented arguments meaningful. Specifically, they present authentic data that supports the intended argument, are published in peer-reviewed journals, and propose appropriate action plans for dealing with corruption. Additionally, the authors have strong backgrounds in the fields of economics, public services, and governance. The main weaknesses in the works include the writers’ overreliance on data from the UN. These professionals could have completed additional studies to present new perspectives regarding the identified societal predicament. The limitation of the reports is that they fail to present evidence-based solutions based on the recorded statistics to help fight corruption (Farooque et al., 2022). Future investigators can focus on this gap to apply the reported findings and offer additional guidelines to fight corruption.
Ethical Outcomes
The proposed multifaceted solution can trigger a number of ethical outcomes. The positive one is that the approach brings together all key stakeholders to present practical ideas and support projects that maximize the experiences of the greatest majority. For this outcome, a number of ethical questions will emerge that could inform future investigations and thoughts. The first one revolves around the practice of holding individuals accountable for engaging in corruption and eventually imprisoning them (Georgiou, 2021). This ethical dilemma arises from the idea that it could be impossible to identify or determine with finality whether someone has engaged in crime or not. This means that some people could be punished even if they have done nothing wrong. The second one is that those in power could promote inappropriate techniques in an effort to hide the culprits of corruption.
The negative ethical outcome from the suggested solution is that of conflict of interests. In most cases, the involved team players in the proposed solution could harbor hidden intentions or expectations from the fight against corruption. Through the adoption of the initiative, some individuals could accept bribes, thereby affecting the overall effectiveness of the process (Mlambo et al., 2019). The first ethical dilemma that could rise from this issue is that of bad administration. Those in power might be unable to provide the relevant services due to interference, thereby affecting the experiences of the beneficiaries. The second one is the inability to solve other challenges, such as poverty and poor health services.
Conclusion
Countries that want to fight the systemic problem of corruption need to improve public accountability, maximize transparency, allow stakeholder engagement, introduce proper reforms, and punish dishonesty. These attributes support a multifaceted approach towards fighting corruption that is data driven and informed by the mechanisms already in place. With different groups having divergent opinions regarding this malpractice, it becomes necessary to accommodate them in the decision-making process. Policymakers should examine the reported statistics and consider how the proposed solutions could help the outlined ethical concerns. The intended goals should be to tackle corruption, improve access to public access, and deal with poverty and other social problems.
References
Ceschel, F., Hinna, A., & Homberg, F. (2022). Public sector strategies in curbing corruption: A review of the literature. Public Organization Review, 22(3), 571-591. Web.
Falisse, J., & Leszcynska, N. (2022). Do anti-corruption messages improve public service delivery? Insights from a lab-in-the-field experiment in Burundi. The Journal of Development Studies, 58(1), 96-114. Web.
Farooque, O. A., Hamid, A., & Sun, L. (2022). National governance index, corruption index, and growth rate—International evidence from Sub-Saharan and MENA countries. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(6), 261-279. Web.
Georgiou, A. V. (2021). The manipulation of official statistics as corruption and ways of understanding it. Statistical Journal of the IAOS, 37(2), 85-105. Web.
Hope, K. R. (2017). Fighting corruption in developing countries: Some aspects of policy from lessons from the field. Journal of Public Affairs, 17(4). Web.
Hossain, F., Kumasey, A. S., Rees, C. J., & Mumman, A. (2020). Public service ethics, values and spirituality in developing and transitional countries: Challenges and opportunities. Public Administration and Development, 40(3), 147-155. Web.
Mlambo, D. N., Mubecua, M. A., Mpanza, S. E., & Mlambo, V. H. (2019). Corruption and its implications for development and good governance: A perspective from post-colonial Africa. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 11(1), 39-47. Web.
Monteduro, F., Checchetti, I., Lai, Y., & Allegrini, V. (2021). Does stakeholder engagement affect corruption risk management? Journal of Management and Governance, 25(3), 759-785. Web.