Psychology of corruption |
IN an interview a few years ago, one of Pakistan’s biggest business magnates said, “If I tell you the amount of the biggest bribe I have ever paid, you will have a heart attack.” He said he had bankrolled the playboy lifestyle of the son of a former top judge in return for favourable treatment in court cases related to his business empire.
A former chief minister once famously said “A degree is a degree! Whether fake or genuine, it’s a degree! It makes no difference!”. He rejected allegations of corruption against him, asserting “there is nothing wrong with corruption”.
In another interview, a former governor said that “little has changed regarding the country’s corruption problem; people take commissions for almost everything and even after being charged and fined by the National Accountability Bureau, I still hold high office. Everyone has a price and political or legal consequences are rare”.
These are not isolated examples but something everyone is aware of in Pakistan. People talk of ‘corrupt officials’, ‘lack of accountability’ or ‘poor laws’. While these explanations are not wrong, they are incomplete. Corruption persists not merely because laws are broken, but because psychological, social and institutional forces make unethical behaviour feel normal, justified and low-risk. Understanding corruption as a psychological and social system, rather than simply a criminal act, is essential if Pakistan is to move beyond slogans and towards meaningful reform.
Corruption in Pakistan is not merely the result of immoral individuals.
Corruption is rarely committed by people who see themselves as immoral. Research in psychology shows that individuals often engage in unethical behaviour while maintaining a........