Prof. Dr.
Christoph Stückelberger, Basel/ Switzerland
The following ethical criteria can serve to judge corruption:
·
Justice: Justice means to diminish
the gap between poor and rich. Whatever benefits most the weakest of our
societies is just (J. Rawls). “Heavy“ corruption favours the lead of the power
brokers and widens the gap between poor and rich.
·
Equality, equal rights for all,
also for the poor: Bribes often pervert the rights of the weaker who do not
have the means to bribe or cannot get justice in front of corrupt courts. The
Old Testament puts it already in words: "Do not accept a bribe, for a
bribe makes people blind to what is right and ruins the cause of those who are
innocent." (Ex 23,8)
·
Truth: One of the motivators that lead to corruption
is time and again the fear of truth – which very often leads to perverting the
laws of the constitutional state and to violent actions. This form of
corruption is equally found in the bible, as seen above.
·
Freedom: Corruption creates an obscure tangle of
interdependences and blackmailing opportunities and thus compromises political
freedom in the sense of perceiving civil rights and duties and forestalls the
respect of human rights.
·
Productivity and Work: "Corruption replaces economic performances
and achievements by theft " (as stated by the Peruvian Bishop’s Conference
in 1989). It distorts the market because it does not reward achievements, but
existing power structures.
·
Rationality/Efficiency: Corruption increases the "efficiency"
for individuals at the expense of the overall system – which is inefficient in
economic terms.
·
Participation: Corruption is based upon intransparency
contradicting democratic control and participation of the public. To be able to
participate in decision making processes presupposes transparent information.
·
Human Rights: Corruption prevents the individual of getting
his or her lawfully entitled rights, as they have to be bought separately. The
propertied get one’s dues more than the unpropertied. The General Assembly of
the WCC in 1998 defined the protection of the individual from corruption as
elementary human rights.
·
Self-interest against Common Good: Corruption as abuse of
public or private power for private use (as to definition in chapter 2) puts
the self-interests in front of the common good. Corruption is "the undermining of the common wellbeing through particular interests of
individuals", as is rightly stated by economic
ethic-philosophers Peter Ulrich and Thomas Maak from St.Gall (Maak/Ulrich,
1999, 103).
·
Responsible use of power: A reason for corruption is
often the short-term economic survival (the necessity to obtain orders), but in
the case of those that bribe the reason is often greed and hunger for power;
this makes it impossible to carry out power in a responsible way.
These criteria are related in particular to
large-scale corruption. The petty, small-scale everyday corruption is more
likely to be justified from the moral point of view: Why is it objectionable
when a small official raises his pittance of salary to sustain his family? This
"small-scale" corruption of poverty is understandable, but
nevertheless ethically to be rejected. It’s part of the ethic dilemma that we
face as human beings and which brings about the fact that we cannot live
without guilt. This is the essence of Christian forgiveness. This remission of
guilt liberates us to be able to call injustice after what it really is – even
if it is not always possible to escape from it – instead of legitimizing it
ethically. Forgiveness liberates from the moral obligation to be innocent.