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  • Essay / How political corruption affects Brazil and stagnates its development

    Destructive ways on how political corruption affects BrazilFogel describes that “political corruption in Brazil dates back to the time of Vargas and has since become a customary practice among the leaders of the state. The South American state has more than 200 million inhabitants and, as such, is considered important on the world stage, but according to Jenkins, accusations and convictions related to corruption have destroyed the reputation of the State. Corruption is defined by Transparency International as the abuse of power vested in an individual for personal gain. So the main question is “How does political corruption affect Brazil?” » the essay states that Brazil is one of those states that has been constantly plagued by corruption and the effects of which have deterred the state's ability to grow. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get the original essay According to Labrador, since the beginning of 2014, Brazil has faced several corruption investigations involving executives of State and members of large companies. Corruption would complicate efforts to revitalize the country's economy during its biggest recession in more than a century. Labrador shows that to examine corruption from the state's perspective, the basis will be fundamentally political. The explains that the term corruption is generally considered a critical problem and generally refers to the abuse of public office. Therefore, politicians charged with public power refuse to be called corrupt. To understand the effects of corruption and how it is managed will be essential to point out several theories that have been used to explain and mitigate the prevention of corruption over the last two decades. One specific theory highlighted in the article is the “principal-agent” theory, considered to be probably one of the most influential theories in understanding corruption. According to this theory, corruption drifts within the public sector depending on who is responsible for it and the inability to control government entities. This creates a principal-agent bond between the government and its administration in which agents band together to be involved in the act of corruption because the benefits seem to outweigh those of being sincere. On the other hand, theories such as game theory explain the prevalence of corruption in the public sector by using economic literature to justify why public officials make corrupt decisions. Analysis of this theory indicates that although some individuals fear the repercussions of their commitment, others are not reluctant to become involved. The understanding of these two theories is comparable, however, other recent theories have been developed to better understand why corruption exists. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the theory of collective action has emerged as a more contemporary alternative to explain why corruption continues despite being illegal. This theory goes further than traditional theories, emphasizing the importance of factors such as trust and individual perceptions of others. According to the article, the theory describes that the action of one individual results in the perceived action of another, so that systemic corruption becomes a collective problem. The author explains that the constant practice of corrupt acts eventually becomes a social norm. Nevertheless, despite the various collective explanations of theCorruption remains an unresolved and widespread problem in many states, including Brazil. According to Transparency International, “corruption remains one of the main obstacles to Brazil’s economic development.” This literature will highlight how corruption factors, including bribery, nepotism and cronyism, have robbed Brazil of its development potential. First, the Legal Information Institute defines bribery as “the offering, giving, solicitation or receipt of any influence over the person ordinarily occupying an office involving public or legal functions.” The act of corruption generally benefits the person seeking a personal favor and the person granting the favor, as both will benefit from their participation in the act. It should be noted that bribery deviates from usual legal practice and constitutes a crime against both the recipient and the offeror. In the case of Brazil, corruption has put the country on the global map in what is ranked as one of the largest countries in the world. cases of corruption of all time. The case was investigated by Brazilian federal police in 2014 and is known as "Operation Car Wash." The case exposed the largest money laundering and anti-corruption scheme in state history. The operation reportedly lasted a decade and the results of the investigation revealed significant financial irregularities within the largest state-owned company, Petrobras. The act of corruption was evident as prominent contractors paid incentives to top state executives and other public officials to acquire overvalued billion-dollar contracts. The effects of corruption affect the development of the state and particularly the most vulnerable citizens, as state resources are shared and misused among individuals in the societal hierarchy. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, corruption constitutes several negative effects on development, including embezzlement of funds. state resources, delays in public service, increased costs and inadequate public infrastructure. In Brazil, emphasizes that the quality of Brazilian infrastructure is unjustified. The author further indicates that, 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 overall infrastructure quality: 121 out of 140 countries in terms of road quality, 98 in rail infrastructure, 120 in port infrastructure and 95 in air transport infrastructure. The effects of corruption have had a serious impact on Brazil's ability to improve its infrastructure development and are a clear cause for concern. Second, there is nepotism. “Nepotism is a method of showing favoritism toward business associates and family members.” Nepotism involves using one's power to offer favors, including job placement, without taking into account an individual's level of qualification. Nepotism in the public sector, according to the author, has become an unaccepted but uncontrolled practice that goes against the expectations of the population who believe that public workers should be selected on the basis of merit and not favoritism. Some of the negative effects that nepotism contributes to development include discouragement among workers, which can lead to underemployment within a state; fear of being demoted or fired if the identified problems need to be resolved; loss ofproductivity, because the beneficiaries of favoritism generally do not have experience in the field of employment assigned to them; the inability of senior managers to be promoted; and the inability to reprimand favorites. These effects of nepotism are a clear indication of an unproductive organization and, as such, are not beneficial to the development of the state. According to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, “it was not an act of nepotism when he appointed his son Eduardo as ambassador to Brazil. the United States.” But this was far from what many Brazilians thought; for them, it was clearly a case of nepotism. To prove that it was not nepotism, a study was carried out to establish the legality of the act and the results indicated that appointments to high positions do not constitute nepotism. To complement this conclusion, in 2008 the Supreme Court banned nepotism by ruling that it did not apply to political appointments. Despite this decision, the public believes that this act constitutes nepotism, as traditionally, appointments to these positions were either made to career diplomats or political appointees. On some appointments, Sánchez points out how donors to Trump's presidential campaign were named ambassadors, compared to the appointment of Krishna R. Urs, the U.S. ambassador to Peru, who is a foreign service expert with over three decades of experience. These appointments highlight the difference in the selection process and clearly show where the act of nepotism prevails. Sanchez in the article said that "no matter the qualifications of the president's son, accepting an ambassadorship will be seen as a disconcerting indication of nepotism." Nepotism as a factor in corruption is not adequately researched and as such there are a limited number of cases highlighting this issue. Nevertheless, there still exists as a major problem of corruption which undermines the development of Brazil's economy to the extent that citizens with the level of expertise necessary to aid development often find themselves unemployed or underemployed. Finally, cronyism as a factor of corruption is defined by Goldsmith as a complex type of corruption. relations between political representatives and their supporters. The ties between the two are usually based on the supporter's ability to receive material gifts. In exchange for these items, the supporter must ensure that the political representative gathers enough supporters to successfully retain his or her position. This is a political game that is not only widespread in Brazil, but is a global phenomenon among political representatives. Nichter describes that “politicians often buy votes freely.” Vote buying was never banned in Brazil, and as such, politicians were never reprimanded for it, as it was considered a norm and not an illegal act of corruption. However, in the 1990s the issue became urgent and more than a million Brazilians signed a petition against vote buying, resulting in the state's first national law, not only to mitigate this act, but also to intensify prosecutions for cronyism throughout the Brazilian elections. In the years that followed, cronyism became the main reason for the impeachment of more than a thousand Brazilian politicians. Nichter describes that Law 9840 eliminates Brazilian politicians for buying votes with immunity and that the risk of being prosecuted has been significantly increased. Despite efforts to reduce cronyism as a factor of.