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Political Corruption in International Business


The process of world globalization opens some great new opportunities for many businesses. International investment programs are beneficial for every party, and can help solving a lot of problems for the countries involved. They create new jobs where they are needed the most, and allow producing valuable goods at a lower price, filling the international market and providing people everywhere a chance to directly benefit from international business. However, political corruption that is prevalent in many countries can destroy all these opportunities.

Almost every newscast today tells a story of some company that has gone bankrupt due to accusations of tax evasion or some similar reason. Company leaders are chased by laws of the country where it has been registered, and their assets are redistributed among their former competitors. The very same globalization that increased the opportunities for international investment allowed people all over the world to be informed of this news. This allowed the problem of political corruption in some countries to be put on the spot, as many of these scandals are motivated politically.

Some governments see international investors as sources of private enrichment, and resort to extortion in order to benefit from them personally. When the chain of corruption goes to the very top of the government, it becomes unbreakable and any attempts to fight it seriously result in the total annihilation of the business in question. This is why many companies decide to go along with the extortion and give money to the parties demanding it. They see it as a lesser evil, which is a necessary price to pay in order to benefit from this branch of business on a grander scale.

The policy of ignoring the issue of corruption only makes the problem worse, as the demands grow on a regular basis and end up being too much to handle. This situation makes it impossible to conduct business efficiently, and eventually, every international investor comes to a breaking point and withdraws its money. Both sides of the business are affected in this case. Backlash of this decision hits every person, as no one is able to buy goods at lower prices. Even the corrupt officials lose in this case because they are deprived of the easy side income. Illogically, this only makes them start being even more demanding when dealing with the remaining international businesses in their countries.

Political corruption is a very serious issue in many countries, and it is the major reason that prevents many developing states from actual economic development since it becomes impossible to invest money into them. The establishment of various anti-corruption policies is a good start towards extermination of the problem. However, as these policies are designed and implemented by corrupt officials, their efficiency is low.

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