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Corruption is not really about "perceptions" as the article tries to suggest. I live in Bulgaria which is often deemed the most corrupt EU country in most ranki

Corruption is not really about "perceptions" as the article tries to suggest. I live in Bulgaria which is often deemed the most corrupt EU country in most rankings. Everyday-life corruption is certainly more prevalent and perceptible here (bribing traffic officers, paying doctors under the table to do a better job, etc.), but the effects of these are negligible compared to the corruption on the high floors of the government. A single act of corruption like the government signing a rotten deal with a BigCorp may have much more complex implications and most people wouldn't perceive it as corruption.

vixen99 10y ago
Ditto Romania. http://www.euronews.com/2017/01/19/romanian-protests-target-government-over-corruption-drive http://www.euronews.com/2017/01/19/romanian-protests-target-...
matt4077 10y ago
The damage of small-scale bribery may be much greater than the actual money that changes hands. If I were to suddenly be appointed to high office, I wouldn't know how to be corrupt even if I wanted, and I wouldn't want to because I had not experienced it even once and therefore consider it a particularly immoral crime. And – at the risk of erring on the side of naiveté – I could imagine that major corruption such as the one you mention is actually easier to control. Public procurement, for example, is required to happen in open EU-wide bids. That means you get British (German/Dutch/Polish/...) companies involved in the process with a financial interest to investigate corruption.
- bluetomcat 10y ago
  Small-scale bribery is caused by poverty. Someone throws 10 euros at a traffic officer to avoid a speeding ticket which would cost 10 times as much and distort the monthly family budget. The officer is willing to accept the bribe because his daily pay is about the same as the bribe. At the end of the day, the offender has still paid for his offence and the officer brings in more money home, completely avoiding any interference with the corrupt government. Large-scale corruption happens almost everywhere in the Western world behind closed doors of corporate meeting rooms. But when some of it goes public it is considered a "scandal", not "corruption".
- coldtea 10y ago
  >The damage of small-scale bribery may be much greater than the actual money that changes hands. If I were to suddenly be appointed to high office, I wouldn't know how to be corrupt even if I wanted, and I wouldn't want to because I had not experienced it even once and therefore consider it a particularly immoral crime. That hasn't been a problem for lots of people in high offices, in otherwise "no small corruption" countries.

vixen99 10y ago

Ditto Romania. http://www.euronews.com/2017/01/19/romanian-protests-target-government-over-corruption-drive http://www.euronews.com/2017/01/19/romanian-protests-target-...

matt4077 10y ago

The damage of small-scale bribery may be much greater than the actual money that changes hands. If I were to suddenly be appointed to high office, I wouldn't know how to be corrupt even if I wanted, and I wouldn't want to because I had not experienced it even once and therefore consider it a particularly immoral crime. And – at the risk of erring on the side of naiveté – I could imagine that major corruption such as the one you mention is actually easier to control. Public procurement, for example, is required to happen in open EU-wide bids. That means you get British (German/Dutch/Polish/...) companies involved in the process with a financial interest to investigate corruption.

bluetomcat 10y ago
Small-scale bribery is caused by poverty. Someone throws 10 euros at a traffic officer to avoid a speeding ticket which would cost 10 times as much and distort the monthly family budget. The officer is willing to accept the bribe because his daily pay is about the same as the bribe. At the end of the day, the offender has still paid for his offence and the officer brings in more money home, completely avoiding any interference with the corrupt government. Large-scale corruption happens almost everywhere in the Western world behind closed doors of corporate meeting rooms. But when some of it goes public it is considered a "scandal", not "corruption".
coldtea 10y ago
>The damage of small-scale bribery may be much greater than the actual money that changes hands. If I were to suddenly be appointed to high office, I wouldn't know how to be corrupt even if I wanted, and I wouldn't want to because I had not experienced it even once and therefore consider it a particularly immoral crime. That hasn't been a problem for lots of people in high offices, in otherwise "no small corruption" countries.