Business Ethics

A general issue, but theoretically still poorly studied

As everyone knows, corruption is a major problem in the third-world. To the extent of being wrongly, the favored scapegoat for all the ills of underdevelopment. There is no putsch or revolution that is not projected or not done at the name of the required eviction of corrupt leaders as well as the fight against moral decay. One of the great slogans of the communist party of Mexico in the eighties was "contra la corrupción, somos la oposición”. Also, corruption is a statistically very significant factor in the prediction of "regime change" .

Corrupt behaviors are not limited to the course of developing countries:

- Contrary to what the Great Soviet Encyclopedia of 1975 says, the crime, financial or other, is not far from the characteristic of societies based on private property, exploitation and social inequality . In communist regimes, far away to be eliminated, corruption has increased, particularly in the operation of many economic and trade organizations, higher education as well as state enterprises and even in the party. This kleptocratic aspect seems even a constant politico-economic system of real socialism countries.

- "Businesses" and "scandals" are more often on the headlines of the industrialized countries and some think they even have a tendency to grow with the expansion of the State domain. The result is a significant discredit of the entire political class (both right and left side). Regarding “ordinary” corruption, the one of administrative officials, figures show that the phenomenon is far from being negligible. For instance, in 1985, more than one thousand people have been prosecuted in the United States for abuse of public office . All this is very unfortunate for our politico-administrative system. However, the main thing is that they may not be. Indeed, several authors believe that, qualitatively, the corruption is even more costly economically and politically. In developing countries...