Does power inevitably corrupt? By Paul ZUBER & Louis MARCHAND

Power is the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. In our civilized world power emanates from politics.

Corruption is dishonest or unethical conduct by a person in a position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit. Corruption may include bribery and embezzlement. Corruption is sometimes a rationing and prioritizing system in response to shortages, and seems inevitable. In a world of shortages of resources, it is “human nature” to get something easily and to avoid hardships.

As people can be corrupted, so can political systems; political systems rely on people. No political system is immune from corruption as long as people are corruptible. However, it may be possible to craft a system that has sufficient accountability and transparency to quickly expose and eradicate corruption, but that's the best we can do.

Some political leaders try to get power by any means possible; corruption is often the easiest means. It is impossible for all politicians to work free of corruption. This is because cupidity, envy, or the hunger for power will get the better of some people. Politicians aren't vetted for corruption the way police officers are (and even a few police officers mess up and become corrupt).

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Humans cannot handle power without some degree of corruption, because they have a sinful nature. Wherever one finds power, someone willing to corrupt a functioning system is not far away. Political systems hold a lot of power and some people cannot be trusted with power. However, it is impossible to tell which people are more susceptible to corruption than others, so political systems will always be vulnerable.

Since 1995 Transparency International has published the Corruption Perceptions Index, annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private benefit." As it shown on the table, all countries are not free of corruption.

The countries are marked out of 100. The closer you are to 100 the less corrupt the country is. In the first place are Denmark and New Zealand with 90, France is 23^rd with 69, and the most corrupt countries are North Korea (12), South Sudan (11) and Somalia (10). It shows that, generally, the wealthier you are, the less corrupt you are.

Spain is a country lead by the “Partido Popular” (PP) which is a Conservative and Christian Democrat party. It is often associated with corruption. The corruption in Spain lead up to the economic crisis in 2008 and had many consequences. Unemployment hits a quarter of the active Spanish population and 29% of Spaniards now find themselves in poverty. That is why fewer people are voting for the PP, and more for “Podemos” (“We can”). The party was founded in March 2014 in the aftermath of the 15-M Movement protests, led by Pablo Iglesias, against inequality and corruption. Podemos is a left wing populist party.

In Romania corruption is also very common despite the fact that many Romanians are against it. Corruption has given rise to protests, calling for the dissolution of Sorin Grindeanu’s government which had passed a decree to soften the anti-corruption legislation. This decree, published on 1^st February 2017, significantly reduced the penalties for abuse of power and introduced a minimum threshold of 200,000 lei which is the equivalent of €44,000 euros, to initiate proceedings in most corruption cases. His detractors feared that the PSD leader would use it to settle his legal problems. Since January 31^st, Liviu Dragnea (a politician) has been tried for paying people for fictitious jobs. The damage is estimated at €24,000 which, if the decree is maintained, would enable him to escape from legal proceedings. Beyond that, this decree also raised fears that the fight against corruption in Romania would be reduced.

In recent years, the degree of corruption has exploded in many countries. The Tunisian parliament approved on the 22^nd February 2017 an anti-corruption law, six years after the uprising against the dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, widely marked by anti-corruption slogans. Since then, the phenomenon got worse and Youssef Chaed's government has made the fight against corruption one of its priorities.

Corruption is inevitable. People with power will always have pressure put on them and bribery is difficult to resist. Corruption compromises democracy. No country is immune from corruption and no political system either. Nevertheless, we can hope for a future with less corruption. More and more people are fighting against it. Politicians should know that with great power comes great responsibility.

In France, tolerance of corruption is becoming thinner. The general public wants its elected representatives to be above suspicion. And is corruption a problem in AURA? Here is a link to an article by franceinfo dated 21/02/17 which would tend to indicate that we are not spared the problem: click HERE!