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Athens Panel Debate
The Athens panel debate focused on the key question - If corruption is a transitory phenomenon, which fades away during the process of economic growth, wouldn’t countries do better by tackling poverty and inequality head on - rather than focusing on corruption?
The rich and lively responses to this question raised various complex issues on corruption and human development in Asia-Pacific.
Responses by panelists
A number of conceptual issues were examined including the definition of corruption itself. There emerged a consensus on broadening the definition of corruption saying that it goes beyond the public sector and public officials - it involves the private sector, politicians, lawyers, accountants and businessmen. It also transcends borders. In many cases, the line between what is legal and illegal is blurred. Corruption could involve co-opting of legislation (as in state capture) as well as co-opting other countries, bringing it in the realm of technical legality. For example, a regime in one country colludes with another to sell its resources to another country without benefits accruing to people. This re-conceptualization helped to correct many inaccurate perceptions of the problem. For example, corruption is present in all societies; developed countries or democracies are not immune. Population perception indices, such as the CPI, paint an incorrect picture of poor countries (in many of these countries, only a small fraction of the population is corrupt, and yet the entire country is characterized as corrupt through perception surveys). Click here for a summary of the debate.
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