The Definition of Corruption According to Transparency International
HOW DO YOU DEFINE CORRUPTION?
Generally speaking as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Corruption can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.
Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good. Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies.
Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth. See animated definitions of many corruption terms in our Anti-corruption Glossary.
https://www.transparency.org/what-is-corruption/
The key concepts in corruption are power, abuse of power and personal gain. To say that one cannot commit abuse is to say that one has no responsibility. Why should we value a system which grants people power without expecting responsibility?
For me corruption is very wide term most of it you cover by your definition and examples. I would like to add corruption is in a way irrelevant to the amount of money ( notice there can be can be corruption on highest levels like country leaders and then on other site there can be corruption in sunday league football where someone buys other players with few beers). Key concept here for sure is power and its abuse and that power is not always equal to money although that is predominant thinking. Power is socially constructed concept which varries in each specific situation. Obviously in our times $$ is the predominant force but in past it was something else and in future who knows. Nice article sir!
I agree with transparency that corruption is the'misuse of entrusted power for private gain' and what encompasses this includes giving and receiving bribes, extortion, fraud, conflict of interest, and illegal monetary contributions to political parties.
I think it isn't a great system where we have people in charge who have this great power but don't act in a manner which is just or scrupulous
@demotruk,
Exactly that happens in my country. Specially politicians are at the top of the corruption tree. Then whole system is corrupted. We don't know where we can fix it. But we know we are the people who vote for those corrupted politicians. So, the responsibility of this corrupted system is ours. We gave the power to people who doesn't know about their responsibility!
Great post and respect you! Thanks for sharing this with Steem community!
Really appreciate your effort!
Cheers~
I see what you mean and I might even agree that people who have access to great amounts of resources might become corrupted by that power, but I think that's a different more broad usage of the term corrupted. But if this can be applied to Steem Power it can certainly be applied in the same way to having a lot of money, being famous (having an access to a wide audience), having a lot of land or having the mining rights to natural resources. This things can get to people's heads and can have negative affects on their character and behaviors which is the meaning of the term corrupted in this sense. It's like the usage in the colloquial expression "Power corrupts".
But if we are talking about the political definition you have put forward here, the word entrusted is actually crucial as I feel Steem Power is earned or purchased but not really entrusted by anybody. Yes, whales could act in selfish ways, ways that are detrimental to other people on the platform or to the platform as a whole, but I wouldn't call that corruption in the political sense. It's agents acting withing a market. They have resources that give them leverage, so their actions have larger effects, but that's not enough for corruption as defined above.
Corruption is everywhere. Everything in our life is basically a lie because powerful men want even more power...
Corruption scams these are now becoming normal things and people don't even give a serious think about it now a days that's sad.
It's not corruption, for it to be corruption people must be entrusted with power for the benefit of others and abuse the power for their benefit, not just grants power without expecting responsibility.
While Steem Power is self-elected, we are trusting the major stakeholders systemically. The system relies on at least the top stakeholders being responsible with their investment (in their own self interest as well), and the smaller ones being limited enough to not undermine the system.
So then it doesn't fall under corruption. If it falls under giving power without expecting responsibility then it's not corruption, even if you think it's implied, because it needs to be a specific agreement, not just something in between the lines that could be interpreted as such an agreement. Trust needs to be explicit in that whoever is entrusted agrees to honoring such trust, and if it doesn't then it's not corruption.
Responsible in their own interest is first and foremost, if that conflicts with the interests of the community that is not corruption. I think what you're expressing is that the top accounts could go rogue and actively undermine the system and the token. Yes, that is a possibility, but there is nothing that we can do, short of forking the platform and distributing the coin and all that, but then you're back to the same argument, the players might have changed but let say you have an explicit agreement not to undermine the platform, then you're just relying on trust and at the end of the day even if you were to entrust some people it won't guarantee corruption, or less corruption then here (which I don't think there's proof of that, not yet at least). I think the model we have is very formidable, even with the concentration of power we are less susceptible to corruption simply because of things like power down, voting power, and the witnesses.
thanks for share...
You are replying the same thing to everyone. Please don't do this.
I am only thankful for posting others without criticizing or giving value. Including to you. I do not ask for more. thank you
Ok. Please don't do it with my posts.
Thank you for your advice. I am sorry