Had a great meeting with Andrew Leckey and Linda Austin at Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Journalism.
Regarding to our conversation about corruption both in journalism and economics as well, I would like to add one thought.
As Professor Leckey said, corruption is human nature, in general, and it exists in all, even the most developed countries. Factors that can influence level of corruption in specific spheres are salaries, too.
And there is another one, very important element, in my opinion, is level of perception of corruption among citizen.
Somewhere it is perceived as unavoidable and even kind of normal in formal and informal human relationship in society. Thus it can be preserved for a long time – just because people find it okay to deal with it.
But societies where most people realize that corruption is abnormal, unfair, humiliating and criminal, much more likely will become healthy societies, and will do it faster.
This is a really insightful post because I think that depending on the country, the citizenry have a different attitude about progress, change and justice.
In the U.S., people are told that the power is in their hands and they must use that right to stand up for values like freedom, transparency in government, truth etc. We have the ability to organize, strategize and voice our opinion until we get it. We know we have the tools and resources to help us fight corruption, whether with scholars, journalists, lawyers or other occupations.
Other countries that aren’t used to this history of average people with grassroots activism holding government and institutions accountable, may look down on these actions and be comfortable with the status quo because they don’t know any better. They may also face negative consequences and therefore fear standing up.
My question is what does it take to motivate people in those societies to believe they can change their countries and get rid of corruption, without imposing a Western/imperialistic/self-serving force upon them?