Editing Political corruption (section)

==Types==

===Bribery===
{{Main|Bribery}}
[[File:Abramoff SIAC 20040929 2.jpg|thumb|[[Lobbying in the United States|American lobbyist]] and businessman [[Jack Abramoff]] was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation.]]
In the context of political corruption, a bribe may involve a payment given to a government official in exchange of his use of official powers. Bribery requires two participants: one to give the bribe, and one to take it. Either may initiate the corrupt offering; for example, a customs official may demand bribes to let through allowed (or disallowed) goods, or a smuggler might offer bribes to gain passage. In some countries the culture of corruption extends to every aspect of public life, making it extremely difficult for individuals to operate without resorting to bribes. Bribes may be demanded in order for an official to do something he is already paid to do. They may also be demanded in order to bypass laws and regulations. In addition to their role in private financial gain, bribes are also used to intentionally and maliciously cause harm to another (i.e. no financial incentive).{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} In some developing nations, up to half of the population has paid bribes during the past 12 months.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2005/09_12_2005_barometer_2005 |title= How common is bribe-paying? |quote=...a relatively high proportion of families in a group of Central Eastern European, African, and Latin American countries paid a bribe in the previous twelve months. |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120405045051/http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2005/09_12_2005_barometer_2005 |archive-date= April 5, 2012 }}</ref>

The [[Council of Europe]] dissociates active and passive bribery and to incriminates them as separate offences:
* One can define [[active bribery]] as "the promising, offering or giving by any person, directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage to any of its public officials, for himself or herself or for anyone else, for him or her to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her functions" (article 2 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173)<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url= https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168007f3f5 |title= Criminal Law Convention on Corruption: CETS No. 173 |publisher= Conventions.coe.int |access-date= 2016-02-28}}</ref> of the [[Council of Europe]]). 
* [[Passive bribery]] can be defined as "when committed intentionally, the request or receipt by any ... public officials, directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage, for himself or herself or for anyone else, or the acceptance of an offer or a promise of such an advantage, to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her functions" (article 3 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173)).<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

This dissociation aims to make the early steps (offering, promising, requesting an advantage) of a corrupt deal already an offence and, thus, to give a clear signal (from a criminal-policy point-of-view) that bribery is not acceptable.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} Furthermore, such a dissociation makes the prosecution of bribery offences easier since it can be very difficult to prove that two parties (the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker) have formally agreed upon a corrupt deal. In addition, there is often no such formal deal but only a mutual understanding, for instance when it is common knowledge in a municipality that to obtain a building permit one has to pay a "fee" to the decision maker to obtain a favorable decision. A working definition of corruption is also provided as follows in article 3 of the Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 174):<ref name="conventions"/> For the purpose of this Convention, "corruption" means requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue advantage or prospect thereof, which distorts the proper performance of any duty or behavior required of the recipient of the bribe, the undue advantage or the prospect thereof.

===Trading in influence===
{{Main|Influence peddling|Revolving door (politics)}}
[[File:The Bosses of the Senate by Joseph Keppler.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Reformers like the American [[Joseph Keppler]] depicted the Senate as controlled by the giant moneybags, who represented the nation's financial trusts and monopolies.]]
Trading in influence, or influence peddling, refers to a person selling his/her influence over the decision-making process to benefit a third party (person or institution). The difference with bribery is that this is a tri-lateral relation. From a legal point of view, the role of the third party (who is the target of the influence) does not really matter although he/she can be an accessory in some instances. It can be difficult to make a distinction between this form of corruption and some forms of extreme and loosely regulated [[lobbying]] where for instance law- or decision-makers can freely "sell" their vote, decision power or influence to those lobbyists who offer the highest compensation, including where for instance the latter act on behalf of powerful clients such as industrial groups who want to avoid the passing of specific environmental, social, or other regulations perceived as too stringent, etc. Where lobbying is (sufficiently) regulated, it becomes possible to provide for a distinctive criteria and to consider that trading in influence involves the use of "improper influence", as in article 12 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173)<ref name="autogenerated1"/> of the [[Council of Europe]].

===Patronage===
{{Main|Patronage}}
[[File:John Q. Adams.jpg|thumb|alt=The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams' "corrupt bargain" of 1824 is an example of patronage.|The sixth [[President of the United States|president]] of the [[United States]], [[John Quincy Adams]]' "[[corrupt bargain]]" of 1824 is an example of patronage.]]
Patronage refers to favoring supporters, for example with government employment. This may be legitimate, as when a newly elected government changes the top officials in the administration in order to effectively implement its policy. It can be seen as corruption if this means that incompetent persons, as a payment for supporting the regime, are selected before more able ones. In nondemocracies many government officials are often selected for loyalty rather than ability. They may be almost exclusively selected from a particular group (for example, [[Sunni]] Arabs in [[Saddam Hussein]]'s Iraq, the [[nomenklatura]] in the [[Soviet Union]], or the [[Junker]]s in [[Imperial Germany]]) that support the regime in return for such favors. A similar problem can also be seen in Eastern Europe, for example in [[Romania]], where the government is often accused of [[patronage]] (when a new government comes to power it rapidly changes most of the officials in the public sector).<ref>{{cite news|last=Gallagher |first=Tom |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443792604577572910124653818 |title=The EU Can't Ignore Its Romania Problem |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=2012-08-09 |access-date=2012-08-10}}</ref>
<!-- The above was replaced 2014-09-03 with the following reference to Pakistan.  This is unacceptable, because it is potentially libelous without a citation to a credible source.  I'm placing this comment here, because the edit was made anonymously, i.e., by an IP number -- and it was made it 2 steps, which meant that I couldn't just revert it.  If the author is invited to insert this change here again with an appropriate source but without destroying the reference to Romania.  It might be appropriate to add sections on both Romania and Pakistan to the Wikipedia article on "Patronage".  If that was done, it might be appropriate to delete the reference to Romania here, retaining the one to Pakistan -- provided it was supported by solid reference(s). // Addition deleted:  "[[Pakistan]], where the government is often accused of patronage; namely Benazir, Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif are labeled corrupt politicians having numerous cases of corruption. Currently the Prime minister of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif are accused of murder."  -->

===Nepotism and cronyism===
{{Main|Nepotism|Cronyism}}

Favoring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism) of an official is a form of illegitimate private gain. This may be combined with [[bribery]], for example demanding that a business should employ a [[kinship|relative]] of an official controlling regulations affecting the business. The most extreme example is when the entire state is inherited, as in [[North Korea]] or [[Syria]]. A lesser form might be in the Southern United States with Good ol' boys, where women and minorities are excluded. A milder form of cronyism is an "[[old boy network]]", in which appointees to official positions are selected only from a closed and exclusive social network – such as the alumni of particular universities – instead of appointing the most competent candidate. Seeking to harm enemies becomes corruption when official powers are illegitimately used as means to this end. For example, trumped-up charges are often brought up against journalists or writers who bring up politically sensitive issues, such as a politician's acceptance of bribes.

===Gombeenism and parochialism===
[[File:UNCAC 1.png|thumb|[[United Nations Convention against Corruption]]]]
{{Main|Gombeen man|Parochialism}}
Gombeenism refers to an individual who is dishonest and corrupt for the purpose of personal gain, often monetary, while parochialism, which is also known as parish pump politics, relates to placing local or vanity projects ahead of the national interest.<ref>{{cite book |first=R. K. |last=Carty |year=1944 |title=Party and Parish Pump: Electoral Politics in Ireland |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNtIeXsK1ocC&q=parish+pump+politics |isbn=9780889201057 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=O´Conaire |first=L. |year=2010 |title=Thinking Aloud; A Spark Can Destroy a Forest |publisher=Paragon Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OFBKr_AHFcMC&pg=PA9 |isbn=9781907611162 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Shanklin |first=E. |year=1994 |chapter=Life Underneath the Market |editor-last=Chang |editor-first=C. |editor2-last=Koster |editor2-first=H. A. |title=Pastoralists at the Periphery: Herders in a Capitalist World |publisher=University of Arizona |isbn=9780816514304 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VxrbWr4-TRoC&pg=PA119 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bresnihan |first=V. |year=1997 |chapter=Aspects of Irish Political Culture; A Hermeneutical Perspective |editor-last=Carver |editor-first=T. |editor2-last=Hyvarinen |editor2-first=M. |title=Interpreting the Political: New Methodologies |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134788446 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8G0POl84yoC&pg=PA60 }}</ref> For instance in Irish politics, [[Left-wing populism|populist left wing political parties]] will often apply these terms to [[The Establishment|mainstream establishment political parties]] and will cite the many cases of [[Corruption in Ireland]], such as the [[Post-2008 Irish banking crisis|Irish Banking crisis]], which found evidence of [[bribery]], [[cronyism]] and [[collusion]], where in some cases politicians who were coming to the end of their political careers would receive a senior management or committee position in a company they had dealings with.

===Electoral fraud===
{{Main|Electoral fraud}}
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an [[election]]. Acts of [[fraud]] affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or both. Also called voter fraud, the mechanisms involved include illegal voter registration, intimidation at polls, voting computer [[hacker (computer security)|hacking]], and improper vote counting.

===Embezzlement===
{{Main|Embezzlement}}
[[File:Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak.JPG|thumb|Malaysia's former Prime Minister [[Najib Razak]] was found guilty in the corruption trial over the multi-billion-dollar [[1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal|1MDB scandal]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The bizarre story of 1MDB, the Goldman Sachs-backed Malaysian fund that turned into one of the biggest scandals in financial history |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/1mdb-timeline-the-goldman-sachs-backed-malaysian-wealth-fund-2018-12 |work=Business Insider |date=9 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-07-28 |title=Najib Razak: Malaysian ex-PM gets 12-year jail term in 1MDB corruption trial |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53563065 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-23 |title=Malaysia's ex–PM Najib sent to prison as final 1MDB appeal lost |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/23/malaysia-ex-pm-najib-razak-loses-1mdb-appeal |access-date= |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> He is currently serving his sentence in [[Kajang Prison]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-23 |title=Najib arrives at Kajang Prison after court upholds jail term |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/08/23/najib-arrives-at-kajang-prison-after-court-upholds-jail-term |access-date= |website=The Star |language=en}}</ref>]]
Embezzlement is the theft of entrusted funds. It is political when it involves public money taken by a public official for use by anyone not specified by the public. [[Ponzi scheme]]s are an example of embezzlement. Some embezzlers "skim off the top" so that they continually acquire a small amount over a particular time interval. This method reduces the likelihood of being caught. On the other hand, some embezzlers steal a very large amount of goods or funds in a single instance and then disappear. Sometimes company managers underreport income to their supervisors and keep the difference. A common type of embezzlement is that of personal use of entrusted government resources; for example, when an official assigns public employees to renovate his own house.<ref>{{Cite web |title=embezzlement |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/embezzlement |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en}}</ref>

===Kickbacks===
{{main|Kickback (bribery)}}
{{See also|Anti-competitive practices|Bid rigging|Fraud|Charbonneau Commission}}
A [[Money trail|kickback]] is an official's share of misappropriated funds allocated from his or her organization to an organization involved in corrupt [[bidding]]. For example, suppose that a politician is in charge of choosing how to spend some public funds. He can give a [[contract]] to a [[General contractor|company]] that is not the best bidder, or allocate more than they deserve. In this case, the company benefits, and in exchange for betraying the public, the official receives a kickback payment, which is a portion of the sum the company received. This sum itself may be all or a portion of the difference between the actual (inflated) payment to the company and the (lower) market-based price that would have been paid had the bidding been competitive. Another example of a kickback would be if a judge receives a portion of the profits that a business makes in exchange for his judicial decisions. Kickbacks are not limited to government officials; any situation in which people are entrusted to spend funds that do not belong to them are susceptible to this kind of corruption.

===Unholy alliance===
{{Main|Unholy alliance (geopolitical)}}
An unholy alliance is a coalition among seemingly antagonistic groups for [[ad hoc]] or hidden gain, generally some influential non-governmental group forming ties with political parties, supplying funding in exchange for favorable treatment. Like patronage, unholy alliances are not necessarily illegal, but unlike patronage, by its deceptive nature and often great financial resources, an unholy alliance can be more dangerous to the [[public interest]]. An early use of the term was by former United States president [[Theodore Roosevelt]] ("To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day") from the 1912 [[Bull Moose Party|Progressive Party]] platform, which is attributed to Roosevelt,<ref>{{cite news|author=Patricia O'Toole |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207791-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060703102342/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207791-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 3, 2006 |title= The War of 1912 |publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=2006-06-25 |access-date=2009-12-05}}</ref> and also quoted again in his autobiography,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/55/15b.html |title=Roosevelt, Theodore. ''An Autobiography:'' XV. The Peace of Righteousness, Appendix B, New York: Macmillan, 1913 |publisher=Bartleby.com |access-date=2009-12-05}}</ref> where he connects [[trust (19th century)|trusts]] and [[monopoly|monopolies]] (sugar interests, [[Standard Oil]], etc.) to [[Woodrow Wilson]], [[Howard Taft]], and consequently both major [[political parties]].

===Involvement in organized crime===
[[File: Milo Ðukanović 2016.jpg|thumb|upright|Montenegro's president [[Milo Đukanović]] is often described as having strong links to [[Montenegrin mafia]].<ref>"[https://www.occrp.org/personoftheyear/2015/ OCCRP announces 2015 Organized Crime and Corruption ‘Person of the Year' Award]". [[Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project]].</ref>]]
An illustrative example of official involvement in [[organized crime]] can be found from the 1920s and 1930s [[Shanghai]], where Huang Jinrong was a police chief in the [[French concession]], while simultaneously being a gang boss and co-operating with [[Du Yuesheng]], the [[Green Gang|local gang]] ringleader. The relationship kept the flow of profits from the gang's gambling dens, prostitution, and protection rackets undisturbed and safe.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} The United States accused [[Manuel Noriega]]'s government in [[Panama]] of being a "[[narcokleptocracy]]", a corrupt government profiting on [[illegal drug trade]].<ref>Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Committee on Foreign Relations]], [[United States Senate]] (December 1988). [https://web.archive.org/web/20161007161802/http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/north06.pdf "Panama"] (PDF). ''Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy: A Report''. S. Prt. Vol. 100–165. Washington, D.C.: [[United States Government Publishing Office|United States Government Printing Office]] (published 1989). p. 83. [[OCLC (identifier)|OCLC]] 19806126. Archived from [http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/north06.pdf the original] (PDF) on October 7, 2016.</ref> Later the U.S. invaded Panama and captured Noriega.