Both bribery and corruption are terms we see in the newspaper every day. They have become so common that politicians not accused of it are rarer than the ones who are not, whether the accusations are true or not.
But what do they mean, really?
Bribery is a fairly straightforward term, in that it means to accept money or favours to influence, for example, a piece of legislation, the public opinion or a vote. The rules of what counts as bribery vary greatly from country to country. In many European countries, for example, only money or physical goods or gifts count as bribery. Things like dinners, donations or indirect favours don’t count. In some Asian countries, bribes are so common that it can be difficult, to, for example, see a surgeon without giving a sizeable donation first.
While most of us would agree that this is wrong, it is common practice in other parts of the world. The lines of what is a bribe and what isn’t are blurry and vary from case to case. That is part of the reason why corruption is so difficult to stop and sometimes even to spot.
Accusing others of being corrupt or taking bribes without providing evidence is a tool that is often used during elections and campaigns to drag the opponents through the mud. Hearing or reading such an accusation is hardly shocking anymore. At most it elicits a sigh and shake of the head rather than the outrage or indignation that one would expect. And, in fact, more often than not, these accusations are proven to be faulty as well. That is part of why we don’t take the accusations seriously anymore, albeit we should.
Corruption and bribery are serious offences that benefit very nearly nobody but the one giving and receiving the bribe. In many western countries, where we feel that ‘true’ corruption has been mostly eliminated, we no longer consider it a priority. In countries in South America corruption is running rampant and since, in comparison, the Western World is relatively corruption free, we look for other problems to solve.
Due to this blind spot we have inadvertently created ourselves, it is possible for true bribery to still take place. Just last year an EU official admitted to regularly taking dinner with lobbyists that had a less than vested interest in certain topics they were set to vote on. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that that did not ‘count’ as bribery, but that future votes would be looked at closely.
