corruption defination suited on Congress

All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these organized crime activities. In some nations corruption is so common that it is expected when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government officials. The end-point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves".

  In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even    subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces  accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary  compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the unfair  provision of services. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of  government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices  are bought and sold.

In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some claim corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, the availability of bribes can also induce officials to contrive new rules and delays

Economists argue that one of the factors behind the differing economic development in Africa and Asia is that in the former, corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction with the resulting financial capital moved overseas rather invested at home. University of Massachusetts researchers estimated that from 1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 sub Saharan countries totaled $187bn, exceeding those nations' external debts.

Favoring relatives (nepotism) or personal friends (cronyism). This may be combined with bribery, for example demanding that a business should employ a relative of an official controlling regulations affecting the business. The most extreme example is when the entire state is inherited, as in North Korea or Syria.

Conditions favorable for corruption

1) Information deficits:

Ø Lack of government transparency.

Ø Lacking freedom of information legislation. The Indian Right to Information Act 2005 has "already engendered mass movements in the country that is bringing the lethargic, often corrupt bureaucracy to its knees and changing power equations completely."

Ø Contempt for or negligence of exercising freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Ø Weak accounting practices, including lack of timely financial management.

2) Lacking control over and accountability of the government.

Ø Democracy absent or dysfunctional.

Ø Lacking civic society and non-governmental organizations which monitor the government.

Ø An individual voter may have a rational ignorance regarding politics, especially in nationwide elections, since each vote has little weight.

Ø Weak rule of law, Weak legal profession, Weak judicial independence.

Ø Lack of benchmarking. The Peruvian organization Ciudadanos al Dia has started to measure and compare transparency, costs, and efficiency in different government departments in Peru. It annually awards the best practices which has received widespread media attention. This has created competition among government agencies in order to improve.

3) Opportunities and incentives:

Ø A large public sector and many regulations increase the opportunities for corruption. That is one argument for privatization and deregulation.

Ø Poorly-paid government officials.

Ø Long-time work in the same position may create relationships inside and outside the government which encourage and help conceal corruption and favoritism. Rotating government officials to different positions and geographic areas may help prevent this.

Ø Costly political campaigns, with expenses exceeding normal sources of political funding.

Ø Less interaction with officials reduces the opportunities for corruption. For example, using the Internet for sending in required information, like applications and tax forms, and then processing this with automated computer systems. This may also speed up the processing and reduce unintentional human errors.

4) Social conditions:

Ø Self-interested closed cliques and "old boy networks".

Ø In societies where personal integrity is rated as less important than other characteristics (by contrast, in societies such as 18th and 19th Century England, 20th Century Japan and post-war western Germany, where society showed almost obsessive regard for "honor" and personal integrity, corruption was less frequently seen).

Ø Lacking literacy and education among the population

Politicians are placed in apparently compromising positions because of their need to solicit financial contributions for their campaign finance. If they then appear to be acting in the interests of those parties that funded them, this gives rise to talk of political corruption. Supporters may argue that this is coincidental. Cynics wonder why these organizations fund politicians at all, if they get nothing for their money.

Certain countries, such as France, ban altogether the corporate funding of political parties.

A joint survey by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has also recorded an increase in the number of "unofficial payments" for licenses and state procurement contracts.