How Political Corruption Affects Brazil and Stagnate Its Development

Destructive Ways on How Political Corruption Affects Brazil

Fogel depicts that “Political corruption in Brazil dates back to the time of Vargas and has since become a customary practice amongst state leaders”. The South American state has a population of over 200 million and as such is observed to have relevance in the global arena, but according to Jenkins corruption-related charges and convictions have destroyed the state's repute. Corruption is defined by Transparency International as the misuse of power bestowed on an individual for personal benefits. So the main question is “How political corruption affects Brazil?” the essay states that Brazil is one such state that has constantly been plagued by corruption and the effects have deterred the state's ability to develop.

According to Labrador, from the beginning of 2014, Brazil has encountered several corruption probes including state leaders and members from large corporations. Corruption has been said to complicate the efforts to revitalize the country's economy during its largest downturn in more than a century. Labrador depicts that to examine corruption from a state perception, the foundation will be fundamentally political. The explains that the term corruption is generally considered a critical issue and usually refers to the abuse of public office, as a result, politicians impart with public power refuse to be branded as being corrupt.

To understand the effects of corruption and how it is handled will be vital in indicating several theories that have been used to explain and mitigate corruption prevention over the last two decades. One specific theory that the article highlights is the 'principal-agent' theory, said to probably be one of the more influential theories in understanding corruption. According to this theory, corruption derives within the public sector based on the individual in charge, and the failure to monitor government entities. This creates a principal-agent liaison between the government and its administration in which agents unify to be involved in the corrupted act as the benefits seem to outweigh that of being sincere. On the other hand, theory such as the game theory explains the prevalence of public sector corruption by using economic literature to justify the reason public officials engage in corrupt decisions. The analysis from this theory indicates that, while some individuals fear the repercussion from engagement others have no disinclination to engage. The Understanding from these two theories is relatable, however, other recent theories have been developed to provide a better understanding as to why corruption exists.

According to United Nations Office on drugs and crime the collective action theory has emerged as a more contemporary alternative to explain why corruption continues despite being illegal. This theory plunges further than the traditional theories, by emphasizing the significance of factors such as trust and individual perception of others. According to the article, the theory depicts that the action of an individual result in the perceived action of another thus systemic corruption becomes a collective problem. The writer explains that the constant practice of corrupt acts eventually becomes a social norm. Nevertheless, despite the various collective explanation for corruption, it remains an unsolved and prevalent issue in many states including Brazil. 

Transparency International depicts that “Corruption has remained one the major impediments to achieving economic development in Brazil”. This literature will highlight how corruption factors including bribery, nepotism, and clientelism have robbed Brazil of its potential to develop. Firstly, The Legal Information Institute defines bribery as “the offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any element to influence the individual usually holding a position bearing public or legal duties”. The act of bribery usually is beneficial to the individual seeking personal favor and the individual granting the favor, as both will benefit from participating in the act. It is to be noted that, bribery defers from the customary legal practice and institutes a crime against both the receiver and the offeror.

In the case of Brazil, bribery has placed the country on the global map in what is classified as one of the biggest corruption cases of all time. The case was investigated by the Brazilian federal police in 2014 and is known as 'operation car wash', this case highlighted the largest money laundering and anti-corruption scheme in the States history. The operation is said to have lasted a decade and the result of the investigation has exposed high financial irregularities in the largest state-own company, Petrobras. The act of bribery was evident, as prominent contractors would pay an inducement to senior state executives and other public agents to acquire overpriced billion-dollar contracts. The effects of bribery affect state development and particularly the most vulnerable citizens as state resources are shared and misused among individuals from the societal hierarchy.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, bribery constitutes several negative effects on development including the misappropriation of state resources, delays in public service, increase cost, and inadequate public infrastructure. In Brazil, highlights that the quality of Brazilian infrastructure is unwarranted. The author further indicates that when compared to states with a similar level of socio-economic development, Brazil ranks well below the average level: Brazil ranks 123 out of 140 countries in terms of quality of overall infrastructure: 121 out of 140 countries in terms of quality of the roads, 98 in railway infrastructure, 120 in port infrastructure, and 95 in air transportation infrastructure. The effects of bribery have had a serious impact on Brazil's ability to improve in infrastructural development and indicates a clear cause for concern.

Secondly, is Nepotism. “Nepotism is a method of showing favoritism to associates and family members”. Nepotism involves the use of one's power to offer favors including job placement while disregarding an individual level of qualification. Nepotism in the public sector according to the author, has become an unaccepted but uncontrolled practice that goes against the expectation of the population who believes public workers should be selected based on merit and not favoritism. Some of the negative effects that nepotism contributes to development including discouragement amongst workers which may result in underemployment within a state; the fear of being demoted or dismissed if the issues are highlighted to be addressed; loss of productivity, as recipients of favoritism are usually not experienced in the job area assigned; the inability of senior staff to be promoted; and the inability to reprimand favorites. These effects of nepotism are a clear indication of a nonproductive organization and as such are not beneficial to the development of the state.

According to Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, “It was not an act of nepotism when he nominated his son Eduardo to be ambassador to the United States”. This however was far from what many Brazilians thought, for them, it was a clear case of nepotism. To prove that it was not a case of nepotism, a study was done to establish the legality of the act and the results indicated that top-ranking appointments do not constitute nepotism. To complement this finding, in 2008 the Supreme Court barred nepotism ruling that it does not apply to political appointments. Notwithstanding this decision, the public believes the act constitutes nepotism as traditionally, appointments to these positions were either appointed to career diplomats or political appointees. About some appointments Sanchez indicates how donors to the Trump presidential campaign have been appointed as ambassadors compared to the appointment of Krishna R. Urs, the US ambassador to Peru, who is an expert in foreign service with over three decades of experience. These appointments highlight the difference in the selective process and it is clear where the act of nepotism prevails. Sanchez in the article stated that “it doesn’t matter how qualified the president son is, accepting an ambassadorial position will be seen as a baffling indication of nepotism”.

Nepotism as a corruption factor is not sufficiently researched and as such there are a limited number of cases highlighting the issue. Nevertheless, it still exists as a major corruption issue undermining the development of Brazil's economy in that citizen with the level of expertise to aid development is often left unemployed or underemployed.

Finally, clientelism as a corruption factor is defined by Goldsmith as a complicated type of relationship between political representatives and their supporters. The ties between the two are usually rooted based on the ability of the supporter to receive material gifts, in return for these items, the supporter must ensure the political representative garners enough supporters to be successful in retaining the position. This is a political game that is not only prevalent in Brazil but is a global phenomenon amongst political representatives.

Nichter depicts that “Politicians often buy votes with freedom”. Vote buying was never prohibited in Brazil and as such politicians were never reprimanded for it as it was seen as a norm and not an illegal act of corruption. In the 1990s however, the issue became pressing and over one million Brazilians signed a petition against vote-buying, resulting in the state's first national law to not only mitigate the act but also to intensely amplified prosecutions for clientelism throughout Brazil elections. In the years that follows, clientelism resulted as the main reason for the removal of over one thousand Brazilian politicians from office. Nichter depicts that, law 9840 eliminate Brazilian politicians to buy votes with immunity and the risk of being prosecuted was significantly increased. Despite the attempt to reduce clientelism as a factor of corruption, many Brazilians enjoyed the benefits of clientelism. It is therefore evident that the practice of corruption in governance includes both citizens and government officials and as such lack of development will most times affect the vulnerable who are not privileged to political ties and affiliation.

To conclude, it is evident that the factors of corruption including bribery, nepotism, and clientelism have robbed Brazil of its potential to develop. Bribery has resulted in Several developmental issues currently affecting Brazil including infrastructural development and lack of social and educational amenities; nepotism has resulted in mal-practices and low efficiency in state organization further resulting in the breakdown of Brazil's ability to form economic relationships with other states; and final the act of clientelism as created mistrust amongst citizen and government, thus resulting in constant protest due to inequality in the distribution of government resources.

References

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